Ex-Angolan spy chief accused of plotting against president

LUANDA – Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos yesterday accused his former intelligence chief of plotting against him by spying on his aides and seeking to organise protests.

Releasing the results of an investigation, Dos Santos said in a statement that Army General Fernando Garcia Miala was planning to take unspecified “active measures” against him. Miala, who had been Dos Santos’ spy chief since he came to power in 1979, was dismissed from his post of director general of the External Intelligence Service (EIS) on February 24.Private media in Angola had reported following his sacking that Miala had plotted to stage a coup against Dos Santos.”The EIS held meetings and personal contacts with the aim of organising protest rallies against the president of the republic and had even considered taking active measures against the president,” said the statement from the presidency.”Under General Fernando Garcia Miala, the EIS created and maintained operational structures within many state institutions (…) and carried out secret investigations of certain members of the government and aides of the president,” it added.Miala was sent into retirement and demoted from his rank of general to lieutenant-general.Three other army officers close to Miala were also sacked while the statement warned that “other legal measures will be taken” against the alleged plotters.Dos Santos named Andre de Oliveira Joao Sango as the new director of the intelligence services.Sub-Saharan Africa’s second largest oil producer after Nigeria, Angola has been ruled by Dos Santos for most of its 27-year brutal war that ended in 2002, leaving the country in ruins.The shakeup in the intelligence services came ahead of preparations for the first elections since the end of the war that are expected to be held next year.- Nampa-AFPMiala, who had been Dos Santos’ spy chief since he came to power in 1979, was dismissed from his post of director general of the External Intelligence Service (EIS) on February 24.Private media in Angola had reported following his sacking that Miala had plotted to stage a coup against Dos Santos.”The EIS held meetings and personal contacts with the aim of organising protest rallies against the president of the republic and had even considered taking active measures against the president,” said the statement from the presidency.”Under General Fernando Garcia Miala, the EIS created and maintained operational structures within many state institutions (…) and carried out secret investigations of certain members of the government and aides of the president,” it added.Miala was sent into retirement and demoted from his rank of general to lieutenant-general.Three other army officers close to Miala were also sacked while the statement warned that “other legal measures will be taken” against the alleged plotters.Dos Santos named Andre de Oliveira Joao Sango as the new director of the intelligence services.Sub-Saharan Africa’s second largest oil producer after Nigeria, Angola has been ruled by Dos Santos for most of its 27-year brutal war that ended in 2002, leaving the country in ruins.The shakeup in the intelligence services came ahead of preparations for the first elections since the end of the war that are expected to be held next year.- Nampa-AFP