Angola’s deputy foreign minister commits suicide

LUANDA – Angola’s deputy foreign minister, a key figure in the country’s independence struggle, has committed suicide by leaping to his death from a high floor of Luanda’s poshest hotel, police said yesterday.

Foreign ministry sources said Francisco Romao, who was helping to coordinate Angola’s growing political and economic relations with Europe, may have been having family problems. “Our preliminary investigations show that Francisco Romao committed suicide on Sunday, by jumping off the eighth floor (of Luanda’s Hotel Presidente),” police spokesman Carmo Neto said.Romao, 62, was in charge of boosting political and economic cooperation between Angola, sub-Saharan Africa’s second largest crude oil producer, and Europe, a ministry official said.”This is a great loss for us,” the official said.Romao was a prominent figure in Angola’s fight for independence from Portugal, joining the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), now the ruling party.He spent several years as a political prisoner for his nationalist activities.A Foreign Ministry source, who asked not to be identified, said family troubles may have been behind his death.”We think this was a premeditated act.Everything he did leading up to his death indicates that he intended to commit suicide at the hotel,” the source said.”He was a very reserved, closed person.No one has been able to work out what brought him to this.He’d seemed unhappy in the last few days, some people say he’d been having family problems,” he added.MPLA spokesman Kwata Kanawa said the party mourned Romao’s death.”He played an important role in the MPLA as a a liberation movement and as today’s ruling party.We will wait for police to give us more information on the motives for his suicide,” Kanawa said.- Nampa-Reuters”Our preliminary investigations show that Francisco Romao committed suicide on Sunday, by jumping off the eighth floor (of Luanda’s Hotel Presidente),” police spokesman Carmo Neto said.Romao, 62, was in charge of boosting political and economic cooperation between Angola, sub-Saharan Africa’s second largest crude oil producer, and Europe, a ministry official said.”This is a great loss for us,” the official said.Romao was a prominent figure in Angola’s fight for independence from Portugal, joining the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), now the ruling party.He spent several years as a political prisoner for his nationalist activities.A Foreign Ministry source, who asked not to be identified, said family troubles may have been behind his death.”We think this was a premeditated act.Everything he did leading up to his death indicates that he intended to commit suicide at the hotel,” the source said.”He was a very reserved, closed person.No one has been able to work out what brought him to this.He’d seemed unhappy in the last few days, some people say he’d been having family problems,” he added.MPLA spokesman Kwata Kanawa said the party mourned Romao’s death.”He played an important role in the MPLA as a a liberation movement and as today’s ruling party.We will wait for police to give us more information on the motives for his suicide,” Kanawa said.- Nampa-Reuters