{{The Angolan government has bought arms from Russia in a $1 billion deal, Portuguese news agency Lusa said Thursday.}}<\/p>\n
With the deal Angola becomes the principal purchaser of Russian arms on the continent, outstripping Uganda.<\/p>\n
“Angola has inked with the state-owned Rosoboronexport monopoly a $1billion agreement which includes military equipment support and the construction of an ammunition factory in Angola for assistance after sale,” the news agency said.<\/p>\n
The agreement was reportedly signed last week when Russian deputy prime minister Dmitri Rogozin visited Angola and includes the supply of eight Sukhoi 30 hunt planes, transport Mi-17 helicopters, ordinance, light weapons and ammunition.<\/p>\n
The Angolan foreign affairs ministry had said the visit was aimed at health, culture and fishing agreements.<\/p>\n
Luanda was yet to react to the report but senior members of the ruling MPLA and the opposition Unita and PRS said they were unaware of such an agreement.<\/p>\n
“I have no data about this matter, they are very sensitive news having to do with our national security,” Voice of America quoted Unita’s Andr\u00e9 Mendes de Carvalho as saying.<\/p>\n
“Let us wait if this will have an influence on our country\u2019s general budget so that we have an opinion on it.”<\/p>\n
Russia ties<\/p>\n
Angola, which is recovering from decades of civil war, maintains close ties with Cold War ally Russia. The southern African country also maintains a tight lid on information about its military capacity, which consumes a large chunk of its budget.<\/p>\n
Such arms deals are also shrouded in deep secrecy, with campaign groups alleging that they mainly benefit the elite few.<\/p>\n
In July UK-based Corruption Watch said some $750 million from an Angola Treasury arms deal with Russia was “missing”, while “another $400m could not be accounted for”.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Angolan soldiers have invaded the southwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo in pursuit of rebels and had allegedly “kidnapped soldiers”, AFP reported Thursday.<\/p>\n
Angolan troops were pursuing (rebels) of the Front for the Liberation of the Cabinda Enclave (FLEC) on to Congolese territory, which they use as a rear base, the news agency reported.<\/p>\n
FLEC has fought for independence for several decades of Angola’s oil-rich territory of Cabinda before opting for a ceasefire in 2006.<\/p>\n
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