Jose Eduardo dos Santos is the President of Angola, having held that position since September 10, 1979. He also holds the position of President of his political party, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). http://www.silobreaker.com/biography-for-jose-eduardo-dos-santos-5_2259026395902509056_4

Jose Eduardo dos Santos was born August 28, 1942, in Luanda, Angola. He joined the MPLA guerrilla army in 1962, at the age of 19. From 1963 through 1970 he attended Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute in Baku, Azerbaijan, which at the time was a part of the former USSR. While there, he earned degrees in petroleum engineering and radar communications. He married Ana Paula dos Santos and together they had two children.

After gaining independence from Portugal in November of 1975 Angola fell into a prolonged civil war that lasted from 1975 to 2002. The first president of Angola was Agostinho Neto, who remained president until his death in 1979. Jose Eduardo dos Santos became the first foreign minister of the country and was later named President after the death of Neto. Jose Eduardo dos Santos won a slim victory over UNITA party leader Jonas Savimbi in the first multi-party election in 1992. Savimbi refused to accept the results as legitimate and resumed guerrilla warfare. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1063073.stm

After dismissing several prime ministers, dos Santos assumed that position. Jose Eduardo dos Santos has announced that he will not be running for re-election, but based on the civil unrest in the country, he does not think that it is an appropriate time for an election. When he feels the country is ready to hold an election, he will call for one. He announced that peace is not an absolute criteria for holding an election, as he said he would not hesitate to deploy military forces to assure a proper voting atmosphere.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1506759.stm

Career History

• 1961: Founded MPLA youth organization
• 1962: Entered the MPLA guerrilla army
• 1970-1974: MPLA Representative in Yugoslavia and Congo
• 1974: Elected to MPLA Central Committeehttp://www.silobreaker.com/biography-for-jose-eduardo-dos-santos-5_2259026395902509056_4

When President dos Santos assumed office in 1979, his main concern was to put an end to the civil war in his country and to be able to contain the opposition forces of the UNITA. Angola had been accepting military assistance from both the Soviet Union and Cuba for years. By 1990, dos Santos had decided to leave Marxism and take a path towards democracy, abandoning the Soviet Union and Cuba’s military aid. He was determined to institute political pluralism to the country and to endeavor to establish a market economy. The first multi-party elections were held in 1992, thanks to dos Santos’ signing of the Bicasse Accords, which laid the foundation for the first democratic elections in Angola. Had civil war not broken out after the 1992 elections, a second round election would have been required due to the narrow margin of the election. Viewed as unconstitutional, dos Santos had dismissed several prime ministers and then assumed the position himself. His efforts to end the civil war continued and in 1994, the Lusaka Protocol was signed by both the MPLA party and the UNITA party, but it was unsuccessful and fighting continued until 2002. It was only the death of the opposition leader Jonas Savimbi in February of 2002 that peace was accomplished. http://www.eisa.org.za/WEP/angleaders1.htm

Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Developmental Bank (AfDB), announced that his institution has confirmed they will be working with dos Santos in the countries reconstruction process. He congratulated dos Santos for his efforts in rebuilding his nation after decades of civil war and said that those efforts were shown in the country’s economic growth. He went on to recognize dos Santos’ effort in the area of education and infrastructures. http://www.portalangop.co.ao/motix/en_us/noticias/politica/President-Dos-Santos-receives-assurances-from-AfDB,e2f50233-53d7-4fe8-a372-efeec5534f60.html