Eduardo dos Santos: Angola's 'eternal president' dies

Jose Eduardo dos Santos ruled Angola for 38 years - DW News

For nearly four decades, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos ruled over Angola with an iron fist. The autocrat died in a Barcelona clinic at the age of 79.

Jose Eduardo dos Santos was known as a quiet autocrat. He was one of Africa's longest-serving heads of state and fundamentally impacted Angola's history.

He passed away on Friday, July 8, 2022, at a clinic in Barcelona, Spain, where he was undergoing treatment after a long illness.

When dos Santos was born on August 28, 1942, Angola was still a Portuguese colony.

By the age of 16, he joined Angola's liberation movement MPLA. After the MPLA took up the armed fight against the colonizers in 1961, dos Santos went into exile.

Later, he studied in the former Soviet Union (USSR) and became an oil engineer. Finally, in 1970, dos Santos returned to his home country of Angola.

Once Angola became independent in 1975, dos Santos took up the position of Foreign Minister in the newly formed government.

The MPLA converted into a political party. Along with fellow politicians, dos Santos established a one-party government inspired by the Soviet system.

It didn't take long until a civil war broke out with the conflicting UNITA movement. Whereas the USSR backed the MPLA, South Africa and the United States supported UNITA.

This did not harm dos Santos' career, however. First, he became minister of planning, then acting head of state. - DW News