Search Results

“... African oil is sweeter and lighter than Middle Eastern crudes and in recent years it has begun to look increasingly desirable. For political reasons, it became especially attractive after 9/11, and today the US imports more oil from Africa than from the entire Persian Gulf. But there is competition: China now imports more than a quarter of its oil from African countries and Angola has overtaken Saudi Arabia to become its chief supplier ...”

“... of the MPLA’s Marxism-Leninism, with a failed coup by a dissident faction. It was followed, as Lara Pawson explains in her book of reportage In the Name of the People, by a long, under-reported bout of repression, during which the MPLA killed untold numbers of people. We can’t tell how many, and neither can ...”

“... and Arcadi Gaydamak, who were involved in illegal arms sales to Angola in the mid-1990s (as Lara Pawson reported in the LRB, 7 February 2008). Last October, the French courts sentenced both men (Gaydamak in absentia) to six years for their role in ‘Angolagate’. Bourgi says Sarkozy, then minister of the interior, welcomed him with open ...”