su24-cover 2:layout 1 26/11/09 17:59 page 1 universoweb2.pdf · snapshots of luanda, benguela,...

SON

AN

GO

L UN

IVER

SO

ISSUE 24 – D

ECEM

BER2009

Universo

INSIDE:oil and gas news

DECEMBER 2009Animal RescueSaving the palanca negra

The WireSubsea cablesfor Africa

VivaAngola!The country gears up for the Africa Cup ofNations, which kicks off in Luanda in January

Extra with this issue: Opec conference welcome supplement

SU24-cover 2:Layout 1 26/11/09 17:59

DECEMBER 2009 3

CONTENTS

Sonangol News

2 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

Universo is the international magazine of Sonangol

Board MembersManuel Vicente (President),

Anabela Fonseca, Mateus de Brito, Fernando Roberto, Francisco de Lemos

Sonangol Department for Communication & Image

DirectorJoão Rosa Santos

Corporate Communications Assistants

Nadiejda Santos, Lúcio Santos, Cristina Novaes, José Mota,

Beatriz Silva, Paula Almeida, Sandra Teixeira, Marta Sousa

Publisher Sheila O’Callaghan

EditorAlex Bellos

Art DirectorDavid Gould

Sub EditorRon Gribble

Advertising DesignBernd Wojtczack

Circulation ManagerMatthew Alexander

Project ConsultantsNathalie MacCarthyMauro Perillo

Group PresidentJohn Charles Gasser

Universo is produced by Impact Media Custom Publishing. The views expressed inthe publication are not necessarily those ofSonangol or the publishers. Reproduction inwhole or in part without prior permission isprohibited.

This magazine is distributed to a closed circulation. To receive a free copy: [email protected]

Circulation: 17,000

6 Snow Hill, London EC1A 2AYTel + 44 20 7002 7778Fax +44 20 7002 [email protected]

Cover: Nicolas Randall

4 Angola news briefingUS Secretary of State HillaryClinton visits Luanda; SouthAfrican President Jacob Zumacomes to Angola for his first statevisit since taking power; TheSimpsons cartoon charactershave an Angolan makeover to advertise a Portuguese satellitechannel; Angola’s first Interna-tional Jazz Festival draws bigcrowds; the first tourist guide toAngola is launched; a new suspension bridge over theCatumbela River opens; the IMFis in the final stages of approvinga package for Angola

5 Figured outA snapshot of Angola in numbers

6 AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS SPECIAL REPORTA 22-page guide to the CAN

8 50,000 fans will roarfrom the terraces Four new stadiums arise

14 Political footballerInterview with Akwá

16 Yes we CAN!Angola’s chance to win the Cup

20 Golden historyA brief history of the CAN

24 Host citiesSnapshots of Luanda, Benguela,Lubango and Cabinda

28 Underwater superhighwaysThe race to build three fibre-opticcables between Europe and WestAfrica

32 Back from the deadAn amazing project to save the raregiant sable from extinction

38 Sonangol news briefing

40 Natural gasSoyo’s LNG project is on schedule for 2012

44 Jungle manHe talks to the animals

46 Sugar powerSonangol is investing in sugarcane to make ethanol

50 The Big PictureA survey of Angola’s mountains

3220

24

28

Letter from the editor

Over the next two months, two im-portant events will be taking placein Angola. The first is the meeting

of the Organization of the Petroleum Ex-porting Countries (Opec), which is havingits end-of-year summit in Luanda. Angolahas held the presidency of Opec this yearfor the first time and the meeting marksthe end of its term in office.

The event will unite the oil ministersof the 12 member countries and take placeat the Talatona Convention Centre in Luanda Sul. It will be the most importantinternational assembly ever held in Angola, and is a sign of the country’s increasing presence on the world stage.

Less than three weeks later, Angolawill be hosting the Africa Cup of Nations, afootball tournament that unites the 16 topnational teams in the continent. Some ofthe best-known sportsmen in the world,such as Didier Drogba of Chelsea and theIvory Coast and Samuel Eto’o of Inter-nazionale and Cameroon, will be takingpart.

We are devoting almost half of thisissue of Universo to the tournament,known as the CAN, since the event is morethan just about sport and nationhood. Angola has constructed four new stadiumsfor the games, as well as building hotelsand improving infrastructure for the fansand the teams. The CAN provides an op-portunity for the country to demonstrateits increasing confidence and stature, bothwithin Africa and as a member of theglobal community.

Ric

har

d E

stas

46

Kam

ene

M T

raça

Get

ty Im

ages

CO

CA

N

16

Pete

r G

ud

ynas

/Zap

Art

200

8

Ped

ro V

az P

into

Fin

bar

r O

'Rei

lly /

Reu

ters

SU24.contents.pp2-3:SU23 17/11/09 12:21

Have a nice trip!The first tourist guide dedicated to

Angola has been launched. The

256-page Bradt Guide to Angola contains

information on hotels, restaurants,

transport options and places to see as

well as 27 maps to help visitors get

around. With over 1,000km of unspoilt

beaches, excellent fishing and surfing,

tropical forests and magnificent bird life,

there is no shortage of things to see and

do in Angola.

Ay, caramba!The Simpsons cartoon characters havehad an Angolan makeover: Homer, Marge,Lisa, Maggie and Bart are shown here asthey might look if they lived in Angola,complete with braided hair, African-patterned clothes and flip-flops. Unfortu-nately, there is not going to be a full Angolan version of the hit cartoon. Themakeover image was created by Luanda-based agency Executive Centre to advertise the arrival of The Simpsons onthe Portuguese package of satellite televi-sion provider DSTV.

IMF deal closeAngola and the International Monetary

Fund are in the final stages of calculat-

ing a financing programme to help Angola

weather the global economic crisis. A fall in

the price of oil has dented Angola’s interna-

tional reserves putting pressure on liquidity

and exchanges. Economy Minister Manuel

Nunes Junior said: “This is a very important

moment for the government of Angola. We

are on the way to securing one more impor-

tant victory for the country and for the

Angolan people.”

DECEMBER 2009 5

102.2m

number of new post offices to be builtaround Angola to help relaunch thecountry’s postal system

$2.5million

$2billionSouth African President Jacob Zuma came toAngola for his first state visit since takingpower – a move which underlines a newchapter in the relationship between the twocountries following some years of distance.During the two-day visit, a number of bilateralagreements were signed, covering trade andindustry, air services, sports, development ofhuman settlement and diplomatic consulta-tions, and more than 150 South African busi-nesses took part in a forum exploring tradeand investment opportunities. President DosSantos hailed the visit as a “new era in bilat-eral relations” between the two countries andPresident Zuma said the new trade partner-ships would “change the economic landscapeof Southern Africa”. As well as talks on trade,the two presidents also discussed the supplyand distribution of electricity from the Demo-cratic Republic of Congo’s Inga hydroelectricplant and a partnership between Angolanstate-oil company Sonangol and SouthAfrica’s PetroSA for refining oil.

forecast for growth of Angolan economy in 2009

4 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

A new suspension bridge over the Catumbela River has been opened at thecentre of the Benguela-Lobito express-way, reducing traffic congestion consider-ably. The modern white 438m (1437ft)structure was built by Mota-Engil and officially inaugurated by President José Eduardo dos Santos in September. Thereare two traffic lanes on each side withwide pedestrian paths set back from thevehicles by guardrails.

Angola news briefingUp and over

19

Jazz timeAngola hosted its first International

Jazz Festival, drawing crowds of

thousands to Cine Atlântico in Luanda. The

three-day event saw musicians from Angola

sharing the stage with singers and perform-

ers from South Africa, the United States,

Mozambique and Brazil.

percent

Figuredout

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stoppedoff in Angola on a seven-nation tour of Africa.During her 48-hour visit she met PresidentDos Santos, held talks with a number of topAngolan ministers, addressed the National Assembly and visited an Aids clinic to announce an increase in US funding. Speak-ing to MPs in the National Assembly, Mrs Clin-ton said the US wanted to be Angola’s“partner, friend and ally”.

Hillary in Luanda

Historic friends

height of 24-floor Escom Building in Luanda, now Angola’s tallest skyscraper

cost of fitting out the interior of thenew Talatona Convention CentreHotel in Luanda Sul

Kam

ene

M T

raça

ALA

DIN

O J

ASS

E/ep

a/C

orb

is

STR

/Reu

ters

/Co

rbis

6.2teams in the Africa Cupof Nations16

launch budget for the Soyo IndustrialPark in Zaire province

SU24.Angola News.pp4-5:SU23 17/11/09 12:14 Page 4

DECEMBER 2009 7

CUPFEVER6 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

In January the eyes of the world will be on Angola when it hosts the Africa Cup ofNations, the continent’s most important football tournament. In the followingpages we show how the country is getting ready for what will be the largest eventever held on Angolan soil. We interview Akwá, the most famous footballer in thecountry’s history, and assess the chances that the national team will triumph here.And finally, we give a history of the Cup, more commonly known as the CAN,since it was founded in 1957.➔

Wo

lfg

ang

Rat

tay

SU24.CAN open.pp6-13:SU24 17/11/09 12:18 Page 6

DECEMBER 2009 9

CUP OF NATIONS

8 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

50,000 fans willroar from the terraces

Radio announcers, giant clocks bythe side of the road and newspaperadverts – everyone and everything

is counting down to January 10, when theAfrica Cup of Nations, or CAN, kicks off.Teams from across the continent andthousands of fans from around the worldwill descend on the country to watch thegames being played in four newly-builtstadiums in the host cities of Luanda,Benguela, Lubango and Cabinda.

The image of Angola, on and off thepitch, will be broadcast all over the world.

Angolan President José Eduardo dosSantos said the fact that Angola was chosen to host the CAN was “proof of theconfidence placed in Angolans, its institu-tions, as well as the new age the country isliving”.

He added: “The Angolan nation willprove itself capable to face this challengeby carrying out an exemplary CAN in all itsaspects. This is another victory for the Angolans, a victory for our country.”

Airport upgradesMore than $1 billion is being spent to prepare the country for the tournament.New roads, hospitals and hotels are beingbuilt and many airports are receiving extensive makeovers. Catumbela Airportat Benguela is having its runway extendedto accommodate international flights and$70 million is being spent on a muchneeded upgrade for Luanda’s internationalairport.

Of the stadiums being built, Luanda’sis the largest with a capacity of 50,000.

Located in Camama, around 17km fromcentral Luanda and 10km from LuandaSul, the stadium is linked to the suburb ofBenfica by a new road. Its curves havebeen designed as a representation of thehorns of Angola’s unique giant sable ante-lope, the palanca negra, which is also thename of the country’s football team.

Located almost midway between thecities of Lobito and Benguela, Benguela’sstadium, which has a stunning sea viewfrom its west end, is the second biggestwith space for 35,000 fans. The stadiumsin Lubango and Cabinda will each accom-modate 20,000 fans.

The colourful Lubango stadium,sometimes referred to as Huíla Stadiumafter the name of the province, is in theTchioco neighbourhood, 5km from thecity centre and linked by a new �

With more than a billion dollars spent on stadiums and infrastructure, the kick-off willkick-start the tourism industry

Its curves havebeen designedas a representationof the horns of Angola’s uniquegiant sableantelope, thepalanca negra

“

”

Night game: Luanda’snew stadium

CO

CA

N


10 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

CUP OF NATIONS

expressway. In Cabinda, the stadium – expected to be the first to be finished despite earlier delays – is in the Chiazi district, 15km north of the city of Cabinda.

In each city three additional pitcheswith competition-standard grass are beingbuilt or refurbished to offer training spaceto teams, and in the longer term to boostcommunity football facilities in each region.

All the stadiums have been built byChinese construction companies to full international standards in terms of safety,and disabled access has been provided.

Giant screensEach facility will have standard, VIP andVVIP seats, but according to Angola’s organ-ising committee, COCAN, the majority ofthe tickets will cost between 200 and 500kwanzas (less than $6) to ensure that thegames are accessible to all.

For those unable to make the games,there are plans to set up ‘fan zones’ aroundthe country with big screens in parks andcity squares to show the matches live to asmany people as possible. For Benguela,Lubango and Cabinda, all substantiallysmaller than the capital Luanda, hosting

CAN, which is sponsored by Orange, is seenas an invaluable tool for reconstruction andgrowth.

“CAN is going to bring great social, economic and financial benefits to ourcountry, and in particular to Benguela,” saidPedro Garcia, Benguela COCAN’s executivedirector. “It is going to develop aspects ofsporting facilities in the province, and havesocial benefits such as new hospitals, extrapolicing and infrastructure.

“I can’t talk about exact figures, but the stadium alone is costing $117 million. Addto that all the other investments we aremaking in the province and you can see thatwe are spending a considerable amount ofmoney.”

Garcia, known as ‘o Capitão’ (the

captain) from his playing days at Angolanclubs including Nacional de Benguela andPrimeiro de Agosto, added: “After CAN wewill continue to use the stadium for sport. Ithas not just been built for football but hasan athletics track as well. It will have bars,shops, restaurants and businesses there andwill continue to serve Benguela in variousways.”

Pepe António, part of COCAN’s Huílateam, is also excited about the benefits CANwill bring to Angola. A former player, hesaid: “CAN in our country is going to relaunch infant and youth football; it’sgoing to be a motivator and an inspiration.It is also bringing a big investment in infra-structure.

“This means the players can train on �

After CAN we will continue to use the stadium for sport. It has not justbeen built for football but has an athletics track as well “

”

Pict

ure

s: K

amen

e M

Tra

ça

Benguela

BenguelaLubango

Bus in Lubango with COCAN logo

DECEMBER 2009 11


Racing fund

DECEMBER 2009 1312 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

CUP OF NATIONS

A survivor’s tale

Thousands of Angolans have volun-teered to help out during theAfrica Cup, but Solito Gamba has

an extra special reason for wanting totake part. He is volunteering in memoryof the 48 people who died in a planecrash on the way back from a footballgame in 1995.

Solito, 44, was one of only four whosurvived when the plane carrying playersand staff from Maboque FC came downjust short of Catumbela Airport inBenguela.

“It was just like any other Saturdayand we had gone to Cunene to play agame,” said Solito, who was Maboque’scoach at the time. “We played, we wonand we got back on the plane to comeback, but only a few minutes before weredue to land, the plane just fell.”

Pointing to a large zigzag scar on hishead, Solito said he suffered a number ofinjuries including a fracture to his collar-

bone and damage to his spine. But thephysical injuries were nothing, he said,compared to how he was affected psychologically.

“I was on the plane, and all aroundme were people who were dead ordying,” he whispered, choking backtears. “We had worked together as a teamfor two and a half years and that’s a longtime to be together. You get close – andfor all of these people to disappear in onego, it was extremely hard. Even today, I’venot been able to get over that part of mylife and what happened. It will neverleave me.”

It is in memory of the lost membersof Maboque FC that Solito proudly wearshis white CAN 2010 volunteer’s cap. “Ifthey knew that today Angola would behosting CAN, I think they would be extremely happy, and that’s why I’m volunteering, so I can be a part of it forthem.”

Hosting the 2010 Africa Cup of Nationsis certainly raising Angola’s profile inthe footballing world. But the organis-ers, COCAN, have also linked up withBritish Formula One team Williams topromote the country among motor-sports fans as well.

Williams is setting up its first charita-ble foundation in Angola to support

projects in education, energy efficiencyand road safety, and the COCAN logo isnow displayed on all Williams F1 cars.(Above, it can be seen on the tail fin).

The sponsorship deal was launchedat the European Grand Prix in Valencia,Spain, in August, with COCAN’s generaldirector Justinho Fernandes and exec-utive director António Mangueira

among the Angolan delegation whomet Frank Williams.

Williams boss Adam Parr said: “Angola has a strong programme of social and economic development.Road safety and education are impor-tant challenges for the people of Angola, and we are pleased to be ableto provide assistance in these areas.”

grass pitches whereas previously they havehad to play on artificial surfaces.”

CAN will be Angola’s first major post-war test in terms of visitors and there ishope that the tournament will kick-startwhat could become a very healthy tourism industry. Hotel staffs are being given extratraining and there are moves for a morestreamlined visa system to allow travellingfans to come into Angola.

Pioneers“Angola is still quite an immature market interms of tourism but it does have verybeautiful places to visit. It’s a destination forpioneers,” said Briton Paul Wesson, whoruns the Luanda-based Eco Tur travelagency with Angolan partner Mário Pinto.“CAN is going to be an exciting event forAngola and I think we will see lots of peoplecoming here. We’ve had inquiries from travellers in the UK, Holland, Germany andbeyond wanting to come.”

Rafael Loureiro, who runs a farmhouseB&B in Lubango, is also confident. “Thereis so much to see in Angola, particularly in

the south. I think CAN will bring lots of people here,” he said. “I really hope so because when you have tourism it brings inmoney, and that money helps develop thecountry.”

Labourers have been working under

floodlights to keep to schedule, particularlyat Luanda, the largest and most ambitiousproject. In September, a delegation fromthe Confederation of African Football(CAF), African football’s ruling body, completed a six-day visit to the stadiums

and support facilities and left nodding withapproval. CAF executive committee mem-ber Suketu Patel, speaking after a meetingwith Angolan Sports Minister Gonçalves Muandumba, said: “I think it’s going extremely well. There are a few things thatneed to be resolved and we brought thoseto the attention of the government. We arequite confident it will be a very good CAN inthe end.”

As well as the physical changes CAN isbringing to Angola, the tournament is alsoabout promoting social development andcohesion. One advertising slogan says simply “Estamos Juntos” – “We are together” – and as the kick-off approaches,

the excitement is growing among old,young, male, female, rich and poor.

For some, it is about famous interna-tional footballers such as the GhanaianMichael Essien and Didier Drogba of theIvory Coast coming to play in their hometown. For others, it is about showing thatAngola is known for more than just its oiland diamonds.

Progress“Our economic and political life is improv-ing because of seven years of peace,” saidMartinho Bangula, a 24-year-old teacherfrom Benguela. “We are building here notjust walls and roads but also new human

beings.” University lecturer Paulo Bernardo,aged 32, from Lubango, added: “I am very happy that our country is hosting the Africa Cup of Nations. Since peace arrived, this town is growing so fast; there is a lot of development going on here. With this CAN, we hope that more thingswill happen.”

Fernando Baptista Moutinho, president of the Huíla Football Association,said: “CAN is bringing a lot of developmentand gains to this country. Regardless ofwhat happens on the pitch, Angola has already won, just by hosting the tourna-ment.”

Let the games begin. �

LAT

Pho

tog

rap

hic

/Will

iam

s F1

CAN is bringing a lot of development and gains to thiscountry. Regardless of what happens on the pitch, Angolahas already won, just by hosting the tournament“ ”Fernando Baptista Moutinho, President of the Huila FA

Kam

ene

M T

raça

Kam

ene

M T

raça

CUP OF NATIONS



Political footballerThe scorer of the most important goal in Angolan football history now treadsthe corridors of power

Fabrice Maieco – better known as Akwá – is arguably Angola’s most famous football player. After scoring thegoal against Rwanda to qualify the Palancas Negras for

their first World Cup in 2006 in Germany, the ace strikerattained a place in every Angolan heart.

The 30-year-old has since retired from professional football and will not be playing in the upcoming Africa Cup,but he continues to play a public role as a newly-electedmember of parliament and an advocate for sports in Angola.

“Hosting the CAN championship will bring benefits tothe country, not just in terms of sport but also because it willadvertise the name of Angola to the world,” said the father offour. “It’s good for the country and it’s bringing more development. We’re getting four new stadiums, and otherpitches are being refurbished. This will enrich football in allthe provinces. Investing in football is a long-term investmentbecause it brings ongoing benefits to a country.”

Untapped talentAkwá started playing when he was seven and made his debutfor the youth team of Nacional de Benguela at the age of 13. In1994, he transferred to Benfica in Portugal, playing there forfive years. Next stop was the Middle East, starting at Al-Shabab de Riyadh in Saudia Arabia, and then with title andcup-winning stints at Al-Wakra Sport Club in Doha and QatarSports Club.

Returning to Angola in 2005 at the time of “that” goalagainst Rwanda, Akwá signed for Petro de Luanda but hungup his boots a year later to concentrate on his football-devel-opment projects. “We have a lot of talent in this country butunfortunately not so many opportunities,” he told Universo.

“When I was growing up, I was lucky to have many placesto play football where I lived and I always played at school.Today, because of the construction work and the fact that Angola is changing, the spaces where perhaps people used to

play aren’t there any more. It’s really important to createspaces for our children to be able to play sport because if wedon’t give them this diversion, they will get involved in drinkand drugs and crime.

“My aim is to set up a football academy in Luanda to passon my experiences and give kids an opportunity.”

Akwá is keen to help Angolan footballers of the future,but what about the team due to take part in the upcoming2010 CAN?

Will to win“There’s still a lot of work to do before the competition,” hesaid, “but we have to have faith in our players, and our coachManuel José is working hard to make the team stronger. In recent games he has been trying out new things: bringing innew players or bringing back players who used to play in theteam, and things are starting to change for the better.

“There’s a lot less to criticise about the team than therewas. There are still failings of course; it’s not 100 per cent perfect, but there’s been a big improvement on the last sixmonths. What’s important is that they are showing that theywant a good CAN and they want to win, and now the peopleof Angola must get behind them and support them all theway.”

With the national basketball team having just scoopedvictory in the 2009 Afrobasket in Libya, there are high hopesthat the national football team will do as well.

But Akwá urged people not to put too much pressure on the players. “I was a player and I know how hard it is to wingames. It will not be easy – we’re talking about the best teams in Africa,” he said. “We have to be positive and give ourmoral, logistical and financial support to our players and helpthem feel good. Then they will win matches. But it’s importantthat people realise it is a tough competition and it won’t beeasy.” � K

amen

e M

Tra

ça

CUP OF NATIONS

Akwá: “We havea lot of talent inthis country”

SU24.CAN_Man.pp14-19:SU24 17/11/09 12:20 Page 14


CUP OF NATIONS

Getting shirty: Manucho celebrates agoal in the 2008 CAN

YES WECAN!

Ben Lyttleton reports on how striker Manucho hopes to take Angola all the way, andgives a rundown of the tournament’s main contenders

Two years ago, the Angolan strikerManucho was playing for Luanda’sPetro Atlético when he headed off

for a three-week trial at Manchester United,the biggest club in England’s PremierLeague. Within a month, United had signedhim and at only 24 he went on to star inAngola’s impressive performance at the2008 CAN in Ghana.

Manucho, full name Mateus AlbertoContreiras Gonçalves, was one of the findsof the tournament. He scored three goals inAngola’s first two games, and his 25-yard effort in a 2-1 defeat to eventual winnersEgypt was declared the goal of the compe-tition. It was enough to earn him a place inthe Team of the Tournament.

ConfidenceNow, Manucho is the leading light of theAngola team for the 2010 CAN, and withnew coach Manuel José at the helm, theteam’s confidence is at an all-time high.“We can’t wait for the games to begin andfor us to show what we can really do,” saidManucho.

The striker has had a busy few years:after struggling to win a place at Manches-ter United, he had successful loan spells atPanathinaikos in Greece, scoring four goalsin seven appearances, and Hull City, forwhom his late winner against Fulham was decisive in their fight against relegationfrom the Premier League. This summer,Manucho joined La Liga side Real Valladolid and promptly promised to score30 goals in his first season, confidence thatwas rewarded with a goal on his homedebut against Valencia.

Manucho’s speed, strength and eye fora goal have led to comparisons with ayoung Samuel Eto’o, another player forwhom self-belief has never been a problem. As Manuel José put it: “I alwayssay that good players have no age; it’s allabout their character.” The presence upfront of the experienced Flávio, who is Angola’s all-time leading scorer, helps keepthe ebullient Manucho in check.

If Manucho has the belief that Angolacan succeed, the strategy comes from José,who can claim to be the most successful

Portuguese coach in football (not bad in afield that includes a certain José Mourinho). Manuel José guided Egyptianside Al-Ahly to five league titles and fourAfrican Champions League titles beforetaking charge of Angola in June, and he hastargeted more success in his new role. “Thefederation has not set me specific targets,but I know the goal is to win the Africa Nations Cup,” he said.

Influence“In recent years, this team has qualified forthe CAN twice and also played in the lastWorld Cup, always with the same group of16-17 players,” José added.

José has not made sweeping changesto the squad, but his influence has beenquickly felt as he switched the formation toa 3-5-2 system with the full-backs MarcoAirosa and Gilberto given full licence to attack the flanks.

Gilberto played under José at Al-Ahlyas a left-winger, and has lost little of hisoffensive flair with the switch to wing-back.In midfield, Mateus and Chara flank � Fi

nb

arr

O'R

eilly

/ R

eute

rs


CUP OF NATIONS


David, a box-to-box midfielder who top-scored in Angola’s first division last season.

Angola’s biggest strength, though, liesin attack where Manucho partners Flávio, another star of the successful Al-Ahly sides,while on the sidelines is Pedro Mantorras,who burst onto the scene at Benfica in 2001and turned down lucrative offers fromBarcelona and Inter Milan before a terribleinjury kept him out for nearly three years.His appearances have been limited eversince – he was only fit enough to make twobrief substitute appearances at the 2006World Cup – but there is no doubting hisability.

“He could have been better than Didier Drogba,” said José. The coach pickedMantorras for the friendly drawn matchesagainst Senegal (1-1) and Cape Verde (1-1).He did not play, but do not rule out anothermagic Mantorras moment in January.

José will know all about the favouritesand reigning champions Egypt, who stillhave Hassan Shehata as coach and playmaker Mohamed Aboutrika as their

main man (and the continent’s best player),but the threat this year will mainly comefrom West Africa.

Cameroon look revitalised under newcoach Paul Le Guen, and Achille Emana isliving up to his promise as Samuel Eto’o’sideal strike partner. Ivory Coast, semi-final-ists for the last two editions, have an Anglo-Spanish spine which includes theTouré brothers, and Didier Zokora andDrogba; and Ghana, with midfield pairMichael Essien and Sulley Muntari, are asimperious as ever.

The 1990 champions Algeria are backin the competition for the first time since2004 while Tunisia, 2004 winners, lookedimpressive in topping Nigeria in their qualifying group. The other teams that havequalified when this magazine went to presswere Gabon, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Beninand Mali.

Manuel José has promised that Angolawill be tough to beat, and with him incharge, the hosts could yet cause a shock ontheir own turf. �

I know the goal is to win the AfricaNations Cup“ ”

Manuel José, Angola coach

Magic dozen: Didier Drogba ofIvory Coast scores the winningpenalty in a marathon 12-11victory against Cameroon inthe 2008 CAN

CAN timetableThe 16 teams are divided into four groups

Kick-off: January 10

Group stages: January 10-21

Quarter finals: January 24-25

Semifinals: January 28

Third place play-off: January 30

Final: January 31

Ch

rist

ian

Lie

wig

/Co

rbis

Nei

l Mar

chan

d/L

iew

ig M

edia

Sp

ort

s/C

orb

is

Ben

Rad

ford

/Co

rbis

Past winners

Michael Essien of Ghana jumpsabove Nigerian opposition

Cameroon strikerSamuel Eto’o

1990 Algeria

1992 Ivory Coast

1994 Nigeria

1996 South Africa

1998 Egypt

2000 Cameroon

2002 Cameroon

2004 Tunisia

2006 Egypt

2008 Egypt



CUP OF NATIONS

DECEMBER 2009 21

Get

ty Im

ages

If football is about heroes, surprises anddrama, creating myths and triumphovercoming adversity, then nothing en-

capsulates the sport better than the AfricaCup of Nations, or CAN. Since its inceptionin 1957, the world’s second-oldest conti-nental competition (which predates its Eu-ropean equivalent by three years) canrightly claim to have formed legends.

Because the competition takes placesix months before the World Cup, it is alsothe ideal time to check out Africa’s leadinglights before South Africa 2010: after all,previous World Cup stars such as AbédiPelé, the Ghanaian forward, Roger Milla,Cameroon’s dancing goal scorer, andRashid Yekini of Nigeria had already markedthe CAN before putting on a show for theworld. And don’t rule out seeing a WorldCup contender as Angola hosts the CAN forthe first time. The quality of the players iscertainly there now, even if that has not al-ways been the case.

Army colonelBack in 1957, Egypt only had to win twomatches – against fellow African Confeder-ation founding members Sudan andEthiopia – to lift the inaugural trophy. Twoyears later, they repeated the feat with thesame field, this time beating Sudan 2-1 inthe final. Their hero was Mahmoud El-Gohary, who top-scored with three goals

in their two matches. After becoming anarmy colonel when he stopped playing, he returned to management and took over asEgypt coach shortly before the the 1998CAN in Burkina Faso. To the delight of the Egyptian fans, the team won the tour-nament, beating South Africa 2-0 in thefinal. El-Gohary remains the only man tohave won the Nations Cup as both playerand coach.

That impressive achievement standscomparison with that of C.K. Gyamfi, whowas surprisingly selected by Ghana’s then-president Kwame Nkrumah as their national team coach. Nkrumah, a pan-Africanist leader whose country hadbecome the first African nation to achieveindependence from its colonialist ruler in1957, felt it was sending the wrong messageto have a foreign coach and so selected thecountry’s only overseas professional,Gyamfi, who played in Germany.

Under Gyamfi, Ghana won the titles in1963 and 1965, and the coach even returnedto the helm for a final spell in 1982. Ghanaduly won in Libya (where a certain AbédiPelé emerged as a major star of the future),and Gyamfi left his post with a CAN recordof having coached three and won three. Perhaps even more significantly, Ghana,who reached the 2006 World Cup secondround on their debut, have never won thetitle since. �

Since it began in 1957, the CAN has been full of dramaand surprises, says Ben Lyttleton

Trophy child: the Cupis carried on to the

pitch at the final of the2008 CAN in GhanaGOLDEN

HISTORY

SU24.CAN History.pp20-23:SU24 17/11/09 12:17 Page 20


Although these coaches have markedthe Cup of Nations, the tournament and itsongoing success is down to its players: the ones who have achieved great-ness on the back of their performances,and those for whom merely competing isan accomplishment in itself.

Plane crashFrom the latter camp comes the story ofZambia and their amazing efforts in the1994 CAN. Just one year earlier, in April1993, the entire squad, apart from teamcaptain Kalusha Bwalya, who was based inHolland and had made his own travelarrangements, died when their militaryplane crashed en route to Senegal.

It was truly remarkable, then, that anewly-assembled side, still led by the grieving Bwalya, reached the final of the1994 edition, remaining unbeaten all theway. Although they took an early lead in thefinal against Nigeria, they were defeated 2-1 – but could never be called losers afterthat.

Two years later came another notable success: South Africa, absent from interna-tional football for nearly three decades dueto FIFA’s apartheid suspension from 1964 to

1992, managed to win the first ever Cup ofNations they contested.

To add to the lustre, it was at home, in1996, and Nelson Mandela was present atthe 2-0 final win over Tunisia (of course, hewas wearing a Bafana Bafana jersey).

The beauty of the CAN is that just taking part is sometimes enough: witnessthe minor miracle achieved by Rwanda,who qualified for the 2004 tournament justten years after genocide had wiped out asizeable majority of their population. Andthe team, made up of a mixture of Hutusand Tutsis, performed admirably, winningone, drawing one and losing one in theirthree group matches in their only appear-ance in the competition.

One thing is for sure: in Angola nextmonth, a new player will come along andstun everyone, just as Angola’s Manucho didtwo years ago (just weeks after signing adeal with Manchester United).

The history of players that have starredin the Cup of Nations is long and rich, withAfrica’s finest all there: Laurent Pokou ofIvory Coast was the first to make himselfnoticed, scoring six goals in 1968 and eightin 1970, including five in a 6-1 win againstEthiopia. Despite the goals, his side only

finished fourth in the end, losing the semi-final to eventual winners Ghana. At thetime, Pokou was playing for Ivorian sideASEC Abidjan, but his scoring record helpedhim move to France, where he played forStade Français, Rennes (twice) and Nancy.

Zaire’s Mulumba Ndaye eclipsedPokou’s individual tournament total byscoring a record nine goals in the 1974 edition. However, that tally was helped byZaire reaching the final against Zambia.After drawing 2-2 and playing a replay forthe only time in CAN history, Zaire won that2-0 with Ndaye scoring all four goals. Hewent into the World Cup later that year asthe talisman of the first black African nationto compete, but left somewhat tarnishedafter he was sent off during a humiliating 9-0 loss to Yugoslavia.

In the 1980s, the Cup of Nations under-went a huge change, as up until 1982 onlyAfrica-based players could play in the competition. When the ban on all thoseplaying overseas was lifted, it effectivelymarked the real beginning of an exodus toEurope, which only reached serious levelsin the 1990s. There are still many Africanfootball connoisseurs who insist thatAfrica’s best football period was in the 1970s

and 1980s, when the leagues retained theirbest players and crowds flocked to stadiumsto watch them.

It is only more recently that Africanplayers have become vital to Europe’s topclubs, and even then the debt they owe theirpredecessors is clear. The biggest influenceon the career of Samuel Eto’o, who has wontwo Champions League finals withBarcelona, scoring in both of them, wasRoger Milla, top scorer in the 1986 and 1988Nations Cups.

Incredible body“Roger wasn’t a very fast player but thethings he could do with his body were incredible,” Eto’o marvels. “He had a wholerange of feints up his sleeve. From his upperbody he would sometimes just move hisbackside, or his legs would just go one way,but he could put defenders in a whirl without even touching the ball.”

In 2008, Eto’o surpassed Pokou’s goalsrecord and now has 16 after top-scoring inthe last two editions. He has also lifted thetrophy twice, in 2000 and 2002, although itcould have been three were it not for an astonishing quarter-final match againstIvory Coast in Egypt in 2006.

With the game goalless after 90 minutes, and 1-1 after extra time, a penaltyshoot-out ensued. For the first time in inter-national football history, every player fromboth sides netted their penalty in the shoot-out to leave the scores tied at 11-11after 22 kicks.

Then up stepped Eto’o, who had takenCameroon’s first penalty in the shoot-out,and he missed. Didier Drogba then scoredto hand the Ivorians an incredible 12-11 victory.

Eto’o’s motivation this time around isto join Egyptian duo Ahmed Hassan andHossam Hassan as the only players to havewon the title three times. Ahmed scored inthe 1998 final and was also part of the 2006and 2008 winning sides, while Hossam’sachievement was even more remarkable: hepicked up his first title in 1986, also playedin 1998 and, aged 40, played in 2006 as well.

With Egypt the reigning champions,

Cameroon looking revitalised under newcoach Paul Le Guen, and Ghana the firstAfrican side to qualify for the World Cup, thebig nations will approach Angola 2010 withconfidence. But upsets can happen, asSudan’s win in 1970 and Congo’s in 1972prove. With African players now at the fore-front of their club sides in Europe, the qual-ity of the Nations Cup is stronger than everbefore, and that’s great news before the con-tinent hosts its first World Cup later in theyear.

“African players are dominating Europe’s league competitions at the moment and that’s no accident becausethey are all key players in their teams,” saysEto’o. “We need to make sure that an Africannation wins the World Cup or at the veryleast makes it to the semi-final. This couldbe the year for Africa.”

All eyes will be on Angola when the bigkick-off finally gets under way. �

Top left to right: Ydnekatchew Tessema (left) in 1972 taking over as president of the African FootballConfederation, a post he held until 1987; Geremi of Cameroon in 2008; Ghana’s Abédi Pelé; the victori-ous 1974 Zaire team; Abédi Pelé again; Roger Milla of Cameroon

Bottom left to right: Morocco win in 1976; Cameroon triumphant in 1988 (top); Ethiopia victorious in1962; Obafemi Martins of Nigeria; Mahmoud El-Gohary, the only person to have won the CAN as coachand player; Ivory Coast 1984 (top); officials in Abidjan for the 1976 CAN; the Ethiopian team in 1963

EMPI

CS

Spo

rt

EMPI

CS

Spo

rt

EMPI

CS

Spo

rt

Nei

l Mar

chan

d/L

iew

ig M

edia

Sp

ort

s/C

orb

is

EMPI

CS

Spo

rt

Ben

Rad

ford

/Co

rbis

SU24.CAN History.pp20-23:SU24 17/11/09 12:17 Page 22

24 SONANGOL UNIVERSO DECEMBER 2009 25

CUP OF NATIONS

LUANDA

Luanda, Angola’s capital, began as asmall fishing community in the 16thcentury. Passing hands from the

Portuguese to the Dutch and back to thePortuguese, it grew to become one of Africa’smost important cities with its ocean-sidelocation making it an important port, ini-tially for slaves bound for Brazil but later forcoffee, cotton, palm oil and other products.

Today, the city is a vibrant mix of oldcolonial buildings, some lovingly restored,and modern steel and glass skyscrapers, ev-idence of Angola’s growing prosperity.Although extremely crowded, the city retainsa certain charm with its palm-lined baysideMarginal, soon to undergo a $127 millionmakeover, and its lively bar and restaurantscene on the Ilha do Cabo.

A drive south takes you to the KissamaNational Park and popular surfing beachesand fishing resorts.

Overcrowding is a problem in Luanda,but the government is investing in newhouses, power lines and water supplies. Asuburb of apartments is being built in

Luanda Sul, where some offices and busi-nesses are also relocating.

Although more hotels have been builtfor CAN, rooms are always at a premium andvisitors can expect to pay $250 or more pernight.

Restaurants can also be expensive, butthere is a wide choice, from the popularbeachside haunts on Ilha such as Caribe andMiami Beach, which often has live music, tothe Portuguese-style Veneza, the eclecticBahia with its open-top bar, and some goodLebanese and Chinese offerings.

The imposing Fortaleza de São Miguel,which houses the Armed Forces Museum, iscurrently under restoration, but other placesof interest include the Natural History Museum and the Slavery Museum. �

Population: 7 million

Benguela is Angola’s self-proclaimedsecond city. Founded by the Por-tuguese in 1617, it was once a major

slave port linking Africa to Brazil. In the20th century it became the terminus for theBenguela Railway, which in its heydaystretched 1,370 km (850 miles) from thenearby port town of Lobito to Luau on theborder with the Democratic Republic ofCongo.

Perched on the coast, about a five-hourdrive south of Luanda, Benguela is a popular weekend getaway from the capital.There are two airports with regular links toLuanda and other regional cities. Catumbela Airport is being upgraded andits runway enlarged to accommodate inter-national flights for the CAN.

The central Praia Morena is a busymeeting point, but for sun worshippers thefavourite destination is the stunning BaíaAzul beach, 20km south on the road to Baía

Farta. The city is relaxed and low-rise, withplenty of cafés and tree-lined streets.

There is a good selection of hotels inBenguela, from the comfortable but budgetNancy’s to the more expensive Hotel Luso.Car hire is straightforward and good value,but many people prefer to navigate thecompact city on foot, stopping to admirethe colourful 1960s Portuguese bungalows.

As well as the modern buildings, lookout for the simple yet attractive Igreja deNossa Senhora do Pópulo and its specialfishermen’s warning lamp, which glows redafter dark. The latest attraction to the areais the new white suspension bridge whichcrosses the Catumbela River. There areplenty of restaurants to choose from, allserving good seafood as well as traditionalAngolan fare. �

BENGUELAPopulation: 200,000

Benguela’s stadium is the second-largest with a capacity of 35,000and will host a semi-final. Situatedalongside the Benguela-Lobito Expressway halfway between thetwo cities, it is about a 15-minutedrive from central Benguela. Thesecond city is also home to Angola’s most famous player,Akwá, and has a number of footballclubs, including Nacional deBenguela and Primeiro de Maio.

Luanda’s stadium is the flagship facility of the four stadiums, with acapacity of 50,000. It has a curvedroof – representing the horns of Angola’s national symbol, thepalanca negra – and is situated inCamama, 17km from the city centreand 10km from Luanda Sul on a newdual carriageway. The opening andclosing ceremonies of the CAN willbe hosted here, as will the openinggame and the championship final.Angola’s most successful clubs –Primeiro de Agosto and PetroAtlético – play in the capital. K

amen

e M

Tra

ça

Photolibrary

CO

CA

N

CO

CA

N

The Marginal

Court and Administration of Benguela

SU24.CAN Venues.pp24-27:SU24 17/11/09 12:19 Page 24

LUBANGO

Lubango, and the surrounding Huílaprovince, is known for its strawberries,Tundavala Gorge, motor racing and its

locally-brewed N’Gola beer. The city wasoriginally established in 1885 as a settlementfor people from the Madeira Islands and wasknown pre-independence as Sá da Bandeira.Its position 1,761m above sea level gives it acooler and more pleasant climate, allowingpeople more time to enjoy the quirky Por-tuguese architecture and the stunning pur-ple flowers of the jacaranda trees which linethe wide streets.

SABMiller, which runs the Coca Colaand the N’Gola beer factories in Lubango, isa major employer and the province of Huílais a major agricultural producer.

The airport has international flights toWindhoek and daily services to Luanda. Agood road links Lubango to Namibeprovince in the south and onwards to theNamibian border, and it is easy to hire a carto make the trip to the coast or to driveinland.

Famous sights include the Cristo Reistatue (a copy of the Corcovado in Rio de

Janeiro); the Tundavala Gorge, a dramaticvolcanic fissure where you can climb to2,600km for stellar views and waterfalls; andthe Serra da Leba, a narrow road that zigzagsthrough the hills. There are countless othermonuments and natural beauty sportswithin a short drive of the city of Lubango.

The best place to eat, drink and watchthe world go by is the fashionable HuílaCafé, which serves enormous cake portionsand great pizzas.

The quaint hillside white-and-blueIgreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte is a copyof a church in Funchal, Madeira, and wasbuilt by the early Madeiran settlers. Once apopular tourist destination for the Por-tuguese, Lubango has the Nossa Senhora doMonte Tourist Complex (named after thechurch), which includes a manicured park,a boating lake, tennis and basketball courts,a casino and accommodation lodges.

Every year Lubango hosts a 72-lap carand bike race around a city centre circuitover a total of 200kms. �

Population: 100,000Cabinda is located to the north of

Angola, physically separated fromthe rest of the country by a strip of

the Democratic Republic of Congo. Theprovince measures 7,283 square metres andalso shares a border with the Republic ofCongo.

Known mostly for its offshore oil rigsand large base owned by the Cabinda GulfOil Company (CABGOC) – Chevron’s Angolasubsidiary – Cabinda is rich in culture andtraditions. The main ethnic group is theBakongo and many people speak Ibinda,also known as Fiote. French is also widelyspoken due to the proximity to Congo. Zinongos (riddles), fables and traditionaldances like Mayeye, Mutafala and Baina arean integral part of the culture, as are masksand wooden sculptures.

West Africa’s Maiombe Forest, wheresome of the trees are more than 50m high,stretches into Cabinda’s Buco Zau and Be-

lize municipalities and is home to manytrees of high commercial value for their tim-ber, including White Tola, Limba, Ma-fumeira, Tshikuali and Kambala.

Traditional Cabinda dishes are muam-bas or stews, made from a variety of ingredi-ents including peanuts, dried fish andmacoba beans.

The main hotels in Cabinda City arePôr do Sol, Maiombe and Simulambuco.Rooms are also available for the CAN in thesports village near the stadium. A floatinghotel with room for 120 people has beenput on standby in case more accommoda-tion is needed.

There are regular flights to Cabindafrom Luanda. �

CABINDAPopulation: 300,000


Fou

ad G

. Haj

j

Cabinda was chosen as a CAN host city to help stimulate develop-ment in the province. The Chiazi International Stadium will hold20,000 people and is 15km north of Cabinda city. COCAN executivedirector António Mangueira –known as Mangas – is Cabinda’smost famous footballing son, having played for FC Porto andother Portuguese club sides.

Lubango’s stadium is located in theTchioco neighbourhood about 5kmfrom the city centre. A new road isbeing built directly to the stadiumand the Benguela Railway runs pastthe site. The 20,000-capacity stadium is being built by Chineseconstruction firm Sino Hydro.Lubango’s airport is being reno-vated for CAN, and it is hoped thecity’s range of facilities and its proximity to South Africa will attract2010 World Cup teams looking for alternative training locations.

Kamene M Traça

CUP OF NATIONS

CO

CA

N

CO

CA

N

Cristo Rei

Cocongo beach

SU24.CAN Venues.pp24-27:SU24 17/11/09 12:20 Page 26

28 SONANGOL UNIVERSO DECEMBER 2009 2928 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

Underwatersuperhighways

Internet users in Angola are currently connected to Europe through just one subseacable. Nina Hobson reports on the construction of three new cables that will improve

the bandwidth available to the country by a factor of more than a hundred

Pete

r G

ud

ynas

/Zap

Art

200

8

➔

COMMUNICATIONS

SU24.Cables.pp28-31:SU24 17/11/09 12:16 Page 28


COMMUNICATIONS

As anyone who has visited sub-Saha-ran Africa knows, the continent suffers from a lack of internet

bandwidth, which means that connectionsto the rest of the world are often precariousor slow. This is set to change over the nexttwo years as three high-grade fibre-opticunderwater cables are laid from Europe toSouth Africa.

The improvements will be of greatbenefit to Angola, where there is increasingdemand for high-quality internet servicesas the economy grows and diversifies.

Today, when an Angolan logs on to theWorld Wide Web, the data will probablytravel along the only cable that currentlyconnects the country to the world computer network. This cable is called SAT-3 and is the upgraded version of SAT-1, acable that was originally laid in the 1960s.In the 1990s this became SAT-2, and finally,when a fibre-optic cable was installed in2001, it became SAT-3. It links Portugal andSpain to South Africa, and a line heads offthe main cable when it passes Angolan territory, meeting the mainland at Cacuaconear Luanda.

The current capacity of SAT-3 is 120 gigabytes per second (gb/s), although there

are plans to increase it to 340 gb/s. Eventhough this will be a welcome improve-ment, it is only a small increase relative tothe speeds promised by the three new cables, which will be measured in terabytesper second (tb/s) - a terabyte is a thousandgigabytes.

Bank backingThe first of the new cables, scheduled to arrive next year, is MainOne run by UScompany Main Street Technologies. Its preliminary section will stretch 6,900kmfrom Portugal to Ghana, while the secondphase is expected to run 6,000km past Angola to South Africa. In June this year, theAfrican Development Bank confirmed $66million of financing for the first phase of the

project. Tyco Telecommunications will supply the cable, which will offer a mini-mum capacity of 1.92 tb/s. The project isscheduled to be completed and operationalby June 2010, although some independent reports have suggested that further financ-ing will have to be secured before the second phase is initiated.

The cable with the largest capacity,3.84 tb/s, is the West Africa Cable System(Wacs) which goes from the UK to SouthAfrica. The companies involved in this project include Angola Telecom, Broad-band Infraco, Cable & Wireless, MTN, Telecom Namibia, Tata Communications(Neotel), Portugal Telecom, Sotelco, TogoTelecom, Telkom South Africa and the Vodacom group, and costs are expected to

be around $600 million. A consortium of Angolan companies

has raised $90 million. Angola Telecomholds a majority 51 per cent stake in theAngolan consortium, with the remaindershared between Mundo Startel, Unitel,Mercury and Movicel. António Nunes, the Angolan repre-sentative at the Wacs managementcommittee, said: “The majorchallenge was to form a consortium of so many com-panies working together.”

On targetThe Wacs project has beenrunning to schedule. PieterUys, Vodacom chief execu-tive and Wacs steering committee chairman,added: “Wacs will haveample capacity to serve theregion’s international con-nectivity needs for many yearsto come.”

The final cable, Africa Coastto Europe (ACE), was initially plannedto stretch from France to Gabon, but following the enormous growth in demandfor telecommunications in the region it willnow be extended to South Africa.

The lead sponsor is France Telecom,which is joined by 16 other telecommuni-cations companies from different landing-point countries including Spain, Portugal,Morocco, Mauritania, Cape Verde, Senegal,Gambia, Sierra Leone, Benin, São Tomé andPríncipe, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon andAngola. The ACE cable system, which willbe more than 14,000km long, will be switched on in 2011 and will have a minimum capacity of 1.92 tb/s.

Alongside Wacs, MainOne and ACE,Angola Telecom is also installing Angola’sfirst major domestic undersea cable alongthe coast between Cabinda and Namibe.The Adones project connects to the SAT-3intercontinental cable and will allow themajority of Angola’s population much-im-proved access to telecommunications.

It stretches 1,500km from Cabinda inthe north, past the provinces of Zaire, Luanda, Kwanza Sul and Benguela, toNamibe in the south. It will also extend

inland toreach importantcities such as Malanjeand Huambo. TheAdones is now in its con-clusive phase and isawaiting the signing ofagreements for commer-cial use.

Racing aheadActual improvements incapacity will only comeabout with more connec-tions to population centres.“We are building the highways.Then you have to build roads and secondary roads, and that usually takesmore time,” said Étienne Lafougère of Alcatel-Lucent, which is laying the cable forWacs.

Because of the Africa Cup of Nationsfootball tournament in January, the Angolan government is racing to ensure thecables are installed as fast as possible, withthe necessary support across the provinces.

A Public In-vestment Pro-

gramme has been setup for the development

of infrastructure to supportthe installation of the cables, and the law of universal access implemented by theMinistry of Communications seeks to pro-vide communication facilities for everyone.

It is hoped that improvements in capacity and the extension of internet networks inland through the Adones will make reliable telecommunicationsservices available to about 70 per cent ofAngolans. �

The real significance of all these undersea cables is that they will, inturn, lead to further infrastructureexpansion to bring this bandwidth to endusers, especially the business world

“”

Adones cable project

Online end of 2009

In service

Online February 2010

Huambo

Malanje

Luanda

Porto Amboim

Benguela

Dondo

LubangoNamibe

Lucira

N’zeto

Soyo

Cabinda

London, England

Sesimbra, Portugal

Chipiona, Spain

Casablanca, Morocco

Altavista, Canary Islands

Cacuaco, AngolaLuanda, Angola

Nouakchott, Maurita

nia

Dakar, Senegal

The Gambia

Guinea-Bissau

Conakry, Guinea

Freetown, Sierra

Leone

Monrovia, Liberia

Abidj

an, C

ote

D’Ivoi

re

Accra

, Gha

na

Lom

é, To

go

Lagos, Nigeria

Cotonou, Benin

Douala, Cameroon

Libreville, Gabon

Pointe-Noir, Congo

Walvis Bay, Namibia

online 2010, partners include African DevelopmentBank, 1.92 terabytes/sec

online now, partners include France Telecom,AT&T, 120 gigabytes/sec

NB Illustrations/David Atkinson

NB

Illu

stra

tio

ns/

Dav

id A

tkin

son

SAT-3

MainOne

online 2011, partners include France Telecom,Sonatel, 1.92 terabytes/sec

ACE

online 2011, partners include Cable & Wireless3.84 terabytes/sec

Wacs

SU24.Cables.pp28-31:SU24 17/11/09 12:17 Page 30

THE DEADBACK FROM


CONSERVATION


After a dramatic helicopter rescue mission, scientists succeeded in locating the incredibly rare giant sable antelope. Universo reports on exciting news in the battle tosave the national animal of Angola from extinction ➔

Ric

har

d E

stas

Up, up and away: a female palanca

negra is hoisted byhelicopter on its

journey to a parkbreeding centre

SU24.Palanca.pp32-37:SU24 17/11/09 12:23 Page 32

DECEMBER 2009 35

CONSERVATION


The hunt began at first light with thehelicopter flying just above the treetops of Cangandala National

Park, looking for signs of life. Angolan environmentalist Pedro Vaz

Pinto and South African veterinary expertPeter Morkel scanned the parkland below,searching for the elusive giant sable ante-lope or palanca negra gigante as they areknown in Portuguese.

With dung samples and six years ofphotographic evidence from stealth cameras, Vaz Pinto knew the palancas –which have majestic curved horns up to1.65m long – were there. It was just a caseof finding them in the flesh.

Unique to Angola, the palancas, already small in numbers, were hunted forfood during Angola’s civil war and are believed to have dwindled to around 100with their future under serious threat.

Before long the team spotted an antelope, and Botswanan pilot TerenceO’Hara took the chopper down into the

trees as close to the animal as he could.From there, Morkel was able to fire a sedation dart, bringing down the antelope.Within minutes it was under the full effectsof the drug and ready to be fitted with a global positioning system (GPS) trackercollar.

Exciting“It was a really exciting chase each time,”explained Vaz Pinto who works at theCatholic University of Angola. “We got really close to the ground in the helicopter,and we were just a few metres from the animals.”

The first animal the team darted was ahybrid, a cross between a palanca and aroan antelope. “We collared her and usedher as a ‘Judas’ with the tracking system tofind the others,” said Vaz Pinto. “She led usright to the other palancas.”

Within days, Vaz Pinto and his team,which included local shepherds and volun-teers, had rounded up nine pure female

palancas from Cangandala National Park.Sedated, blindfolded, their ears coveredand legs tied, the animals, which can weighup to 250kg, were airlifted across the parkby helicopters, including a RussianM18 lent to the team by the Angolan AirForce. They were taken to a special 2km-by-2km fenced-off breeding area on one sideof the park. All that was needed now was amale.

“We didn’t find any bulls in the park,”said Vaz Pinto. “And while the females wedid find were pretty fat and well fed, thismeant they had not been under any feedingstress because they had not bred for a number of years. In fact, we think they hadnot been breeding for around eight years,which means they have not reproducedsince the end of the war.”

From Cangandala, the next stop wasacross Malanje to Loando Reserve, the second known habitat of the palanca. VazPinto had no recent photographic evidence, just one positive DNA test on �

Pedro Vaz Pinto holdsthe horns of a pure

giant sable bull whichis still under sedation

A handler supports thehorns of a blindfoldedadult female giant sableas it is winched into theair by helicopter

Ped

ro V

az P

into

Ped

ro V

az P

into


DECEMBER 2009 37

CONSERVATION


CONSERVATION

He may be 82years old,but that did

not stop RichardEstes from flyingfrom his home inAmerica to traveldeep into the An-golan bush to takepart in this latestexpedition. And Estes, acknowledged as theworld’s leading authority on the palancanegra, was duly rewarded for his efforts.

“I did not think we would find a singlebull, so to find as many as we did was amaz-ing,” he said, speaking from his home in NewHampshire. “This is an absolutely seminalstep for the project.”

Estes, an associate of the Harvard Mu-seum of Comparative Zoology and former chairman of the World Conservation Union’sAntelope Specialists’ Group, began his research into the giant sable in the 1960s.

After studying wildebeests in theSerengeti as part of his doctorate research,Estes and his wife Runi travelled throughZambia, Rhodesia, South Africa, Botswanaand Victoria Falls and arrived in Angola inlate 1968, where they spent a year in a wattlehouse in the Loando Reserve observing therare antelope.

Estes returned to Angola in 1982, post-independence and as the civil war raged. Hespent a week in Cangandala National Parkand captured what were to be the last photo-graphs of any palancas for three decades,until Vaz Pinto caught images of them onsecret cameras planted in the bush.

In 2000, Estes went back to Angola.Then, two years later, he returned to takepart in the famous post-war Noah’s Ark mis-sion when large numbers of wild animalswere transported back to Angola in a bid torestock the parks.

Estes added: “Angola could become asafari tourism destination one day, but itdepends on the environment of the country.The government has an ethical and moralresponsibility – as do all Angolans – to pro-tect and preserve their national ecosystems.”

dung the team had collected on anearlier trip.

But the team was right to followits hunch and within days foundenough animals to suggest the presence of at least one healthyherd of giant sable. From these theychose one to take to the breedingarea in Cangandala.

Prime bull“In Luando we found 15 bulls anddarted eight,” said Vaz Pinto. “Wecaptured one to take to join the females – if we had put two inthere, they would have killed eachother. The bull we chose was 11years old and we picked him because we hoped he would be experienced but still in his breedingprime. We will have to see what happens.”

This expedition comes a centuryafter the first discovery of the animalsby Belgian railroad engineer FrankVarian, who was working in Angola in 1909.

Still high on the results, Vaz Pintotold Universo: “It was an outstandingsuccess. It exceeded all our expecta-tions and we think the chances of theanimals breeding are very good. Thetiming could not have been better because now is the tradi-tional mating season for the giantsable. We hope that by May or Junenext year we will have at leastseven calves.

“Getting close to that first bull was incredible. But forme, the most emotional part waswhen we put the bull into thebreeding area with the females, and stood back towatch how they interacted.The females seemed quite receptive to the male; they immediately surrounded himand followed him everywhere. Ithink he will find it hard to have his own space over the nextfew weeks. It couldn’t be morepromising.

“They matched all my

expectations. They really are outstandinglybeautiful animals and their horns are magnificent,” he said.

It has been a long journey for Vaz Pintowho has dedicated six years of his life totracking the palanca. How does he feel nowfollowing this successful expedition and didhe ever think of throwing in the towel?

“I feel fantastic,” he said, “I don’t see itas an ending point; I see it as another step,an increase of our responsibilities. Let’scontinue, let’s go to the next level. I neverreached the point where I could not carryon. But it has been frustrating at times, especially for the past two or three yearswhen every time we defined what the picture was it turned out to be worse thanwe expected.

Miracle“But we have definitely been rewarded forour perseverance. In Cangandala, thepalanca was not critically endangered – itwas virtually extinct. We were reduced to ahandful of females that were not breedingbecause there were no males.

“It’s almost a miracle achievement inCangandala because it is as if we havebrought them back from the dead.”

Vaz Pinto’s work began in 2003, oneyear after peace came to Angola, and themain sponsor has been Block 15 which includes Esso, Sonangol and other partners. The Angolan Ministry of Environ-ment has also been a partner on the projectand Vaz Pinto hopes these latest successeswill bring more support.

“We think now the responsibility fromgovernment is higher because there is onlyso much we can do as a university,” he said.“There are problems with poachers and thegovernment must step in to make sure thelaw is deployed in terms of securing theareas where the palancas are.”

This expedition not only coincideswith the 100th anniversary of the first discovery of the palancas, it has also comea few months ahead of the 2010 Africa Cupof Nations, which this year is hosted in Angola where the national football team isknown as the Palancas Negras. “It is quite acoincidence,” said Vaz Pinto. “Let’s hope it’sa good luck charm and that the soccer teamdoes as well.” �

Expert: ‘Amazing’An adult hybrid female sable afterbeing fitted with a GPS collar

Richard Estas

Richard Estas

Richard Estas

Pedro Vaz Pinto

Ped

ro V

az P

into


DECEMBER 2009 39

Open doorPrivate oil companies are to be

allowed to enter Angola’s lucrative

refining business, following a govern-

ment decision in late September. It is

hoped the liberalisation of Angola’s oil

refining, storage, transportation and

distribution businesses, all currently

operated by Sonangol, will speed up

the supply of products to the market.

With only one refinery, the oil-producing

nation’s 39,000-bpd facility near Luanda

supplies just 10 per cent of petroleum

needs. The rest is imported and delays

due to congestion at the port often lead

to shortages at petrol stations. Sonan-

gol is building an $8 billion

refinery in the southern port of Lobito

which is due to open in 2011.

Good deedBP has reiterated its commitment to

Angolan youth at the inauguration of

a newly-refurbished Scout hut in Luanda.

José Patrício, head of BP Angola, told

state media that education was high on

his company’s priority list and he was

happy that it could help support the

Scouting movement in the country.

NEWSSonangol news briefingOil prices have continued

to rise and so has Angola’s production,

which hit 1.79 million barrels perday (bpd) in October, overtakingNigeria and establishing thecountry once again as Africa’sbiggest oil producer.

Angola was due to export an average of 1.81 million bpd ofcrude oil in November, downfrom October but still above itsoutput target set by the Organiza-tion of the Petroleum ExportingCountries (Opec) which is citedofficially as 1.52 million bpd.

Angolan Oil Minister JoséMaria Botelho de Vasconceloshas admitted the country is ex-ceeding its Opec targets and has suggested that Angola should get special measures like Iraq tocompensate for its troubled pastand construction needs, which itis funding through oil revenues.

The next Opec meeting willtake place in Angola on Decem-ber 21. The two-day meeting willbe held at the Talatona Conven-tion Centre in the capital Luanda.It is traditional for the home coun-try of the organisation’s president,in this case José Botelho de Vas-concelos, to host the final meet-ing of each year.

On January 1, 2010, German-ico Pinto, Ecuador’s Minister ofMines and Oil, will officially takeover the presidency. ➔38 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

Power dealSonangol has signed a five-year partnershipdeal with Portugal’s main utility company,Energias de Portugal (EDP), to study andimplement electricity-generation projects in Angola. Banco Privado Atlântico (BPA)and Portugal’s Finicapital are also part of the deal to create a holding company tohandle possible projects in the field of conventional and renewable-power generation.

The implementation of the projects, tobe chosen by the partners, depends on technical and economic-feasibility studies.EDP, Sonangol and BPA will each have a 30per cent stake in the holding company,while Finicapital will hold 10 per cent.

EDP

- En

erg

ias

de

Port

ug

al

Total changePhillipe Chalon has taken over fromOlivier de Langavant as Total EP directorgeneral. Chalon comes to Angola fromthe Total headquarters in Paris where hewas director of finance, economics andinformation technology.

Chalon, who began his career as ageophysicist, told Universo: “I am verymuch looking forward to working in Angola. It is a very interesting countryand there are many challenges, particu-larly in terms of technology and humanresources. We want as much as possibleto have Angolans working at all levels in

the company.”Total has been present in Angola

since 1953 and has operating stakes inoil blocks 0, 14, 17 and 32, as well as ashare in the Angola LNG project in Soyo,which is due to start producing inJanuary 2012.

Its operational investments inAngola in 2009 were $4 billion. As well asoil exploration and production, Totalalso funds a number of socioeconomicprogrammes in health, education andeconomic development and has openeda specialist petroleum school in Luanda.

An oil-production facility offshore Angola, featuring one of the tallest man-made structures in the world, hasstarted producing oil. Located 80kmfrom the Angolan coast in Block 14, inapproximately 366m of water, Chevron’sTombua-Landana project comprises a1,554ft (474m) compliant piled tower.

The $3.8 billion development, whichis designed to allow zero discharge ofproduced water and zero routine gasflaring, is expected to achieve peak production of 100,000 bpd of crude oil in 2011.

Ali Moshiri, president of ChevronAfrica and Latin America Explorationand Production, said: “Tombua-Landana highlights our strong commit-ment to Angola where we are progress-ing more than a dozen large capital projects.”

Chevron, through CABGOC, has a 31 per cent interest and is the operatorof the Block 14 contractor group which includes Sonangol P&P (20%), Eni Angola Exploration B.V. (20%), Total E&P Angola (20%) and Galp Energia(9%).

Tall tower

Pho

tolib

rary

iSto

ckp

ho

to.c

om

New gardenSonangol and Total subsidiary

Tepa announced in October the

first oil discovery in Block 17/06. The

deep offshore Gardenia-1 well was

drilled up to a depth of 977 metres.

“This first discovery of Gardenia-1 con-

firms the potential of the north-western

part of Block 17/06,” a Total spokesman

said. “A campaign of further drilling on

the block will start on the fourth quarter

2009.”

SU24.Sonangol News.pp38-39:SU24 17/11/09 12:24 Page 38

NEWS


NATURAL

Angola’s massive liquefied natural gas plant is on schedule to open forbusiness in 2012

Pict

ure

s: A

ng

ola

LN

G

GAS➔

SU24.LNG.pp40-45:SU24 17/11/09 12:22 Page 40


NEWS

DECEMBER 2009 43

NEWS

Construction is advancing fast at the Angola Liquefied Natural Gas(LNG) site near Soyo and the plant

is on track to start shipping gas in the firstquarter 2012, says Oil Minister José Botelhode Vasconcelos.

The facility, currently Angola’s largestconstruction project, will produce around5.2 billion tonnes (6.8 billion cubic metres)a year of LNG and related products for export to the United States.

Construction of the plant in Zaireprovince in northern Angola started in2008, and earlier this year work began tobuild the pipelines from Blocks 0/14, 15, 17and 18 to the onshore facility.

Antonio Órfão, Chairman of Sonan-gol’s gas subsidiary Sonagás and AngolaLNG, told Universo: “Our project, thelargest project of any kind ever constructedonshore in Angola, is going well and we arestill on course to have the first LNG produc-tion in the first quarter of 2012.

“Angola is already known for its oil, butthis LNG project really puts the country onthe map in terms of natural gas. This is thecountry’s first large natural gas project andwe hope to have many others.”

Daniel Rocha, Angola LNG OperatingCompany manager, said: “Things are goingvery well. Engineering is 95 per cent com-plete. In fact, the project is slightly ahead ofschedule, which is quite unusual thesedays, so we are very excited.

“There has been a tremendous collab-oration from our shareholders, from thegovernment of Angola, from Sonangol andfrom the local government in Zaireprovince.”

VisionRocha said there were close to 4,500 peopleworking on site, with nearly 2,000 Angolansfrom the local Soyo area, which was makingan important contribution to the localeconomy.

“Private companies are beginning toopen up in Zaire province now,” he said.“Our vision is that the LNG plant will serveas a catalyst so that more services will beavailable to the population and this is al-ready happening. We are seeing not just di-rect jobs but also indirect jobs from supportfunctions.”

Órfão added: “The vision from thepartners is that people who will work on theplant will be living in Soyo with their fami-lies. We already have many workers living inSoyo – so this process is also starting.”

As well as creating jobs, housing andassociated investment in Zaire province,Angola LNG has a budget of $65 million tospend on social projects, in areas such ashealth, education, electricity and others.

At the start of the dredging in 2006, theteam made a record of all the fishermenand fish traders in the area who might beaffected. This information was used to help

the fishing community get governmentidentification cards so that they could openbank accounts and receive compensationfrom the LNG project.

The process was lengthy in a commu-nity where few can read and write and photographs are still a novelty, but theteam’s perseverance paid off.

The LNG plant will increase commercial marine traffic, so the fisher-men, who use tiny wooden boats, are starting to work further out to sea. To helpthem to do this safely and efficiently, theyhave been supplied with nets, lines, floats,life jackets, navigation lights and radar reflectors.

Rocha added: “Health is another keyarea but we’re not doing this alone. All thisis being done in partnership locally – we arejust the enablers. Key themes are raisingHIV awareness and we have established ablood bank which is very important in pre-venting people being infected by contami-nated blood.”

WildlifeAs well as protecting the local people, Angola LNG is doing its best to protect thelocal environment. “One of the beaches is ahatching area for turtles,” explained Rocha.“We secured the beach so there is no intrusion and we brought in some marinebiologists to help relocate those turtles intosafe grounds.

“We have two dedicated staff biologistsbecause Soyo is a very rich area as far aswildlife goes. Whenever we come acrosssnakes, reptiles or other creatures, we takegood care to capture them and releasethem into adjoining areas.

“Our project went through an environmental and social-impact assess-ment. It was a very transparent and public process; there was a public hearing with government agencies andlocal NGOs.

“We are operating in the public eye under tremendous scrutiny; the onething we take very seriously is the environ-ment and the communities where we areoperating.”

Angola LNG is made up of Sonagás(22.8%), Chevron (36.4%), and Total, ENIand BP (all 13.6%). �

What is LNG?When hydrocarbons are under pressure, as they are when inside anoil reservoir, they are in liquid form.

When this liquid is brought to the surface, there is a change in pressure which sees the lighterhydrocarbons like methane, ethane,propane and butane return to theirnatural gas state.

On an oil rig this gas is eitherburnt off or “flared”, used to powergas turbines or re-injected into thereservoir to maintain pressure in the

oil extraction process.The idea behind Angola’s

liquefied natural gas (LNG) project is to pipe this gas from oilrigs to an onshore plant which will cool the gas to liquefy it andmake it an exportable energy product.

Cooling natural gas to about -160°C at normal pressure results in the condensation of the gas intoliquid form, known as LNG.

Liquefaction removes oxygen,

carbon dioxide, sulphur and waterfrom the natural gas, resulting inLNG that is almost pure methane so that it can be transported easilyand economically by ship and bytruck.

LNG takes up about 1/600 thevolume of gaseous natural gas.While in the past it was relatively expensive to produce, advances intechnology are reducing the costsassociated with the liquefaction and re-gasification of LNG.

Map showing theproposed pipelinesfrom Blocks 0/14,15, 17 and 18 tothe onshore refinery

Pressing ahead:the LNG plant

takes shape

SU24.LNG.pp40-45:SU24 17/11/09 12:22 Page 42

DECEMBER 2009 45

NEWS


NEWS

Warren Klein is Angola LNG’s very own‘snake advisor’. As the external wildlifespecialist for the project’s biodiversityprogramme, Klein headed into theplant’s 100-hectare site on KwandaIsland at the mouth of the Congo Riverlooking for snakes, lizards and othersmall mammals.

Once collected and identified, thecreatures were relocated to similarhabitats close by. Beehives were alsoincluded in the programme and recordswere made of all the finds, which included the African python (Pythonsebae) which is protected by the Con-vention on International Trade inEndangered Species. The majority ofthe animals relocated were reptiles,such as the West African mud turtle,the forest cobra, the red-lipped heraldsnake and the African beauty snake.The mammals included Vervet mon-keys, cane rats, genets and a variety ofsmaller rodents.

Also discovered during the siteclearance were a number of Olive Rid-ley sea turtles which came ashore tolay eggs above the high-tide line on theCongo River. LNG has teamed up withturtle experts from the Wildlife Conser-vation Society to study the turtle popu-lation in the area and work out how toprotect them.

Maps of nesting habits have beendrawn up and all sea turtles found inthe area are noted and tagged to helpthe researchers study their migratorypaths. The sea turtle researchers andtheir assistants are called tar-tarugueiros and they patrol thebeaches at night during the Septemberto March breeding season.

During this time, the females cometo the beach every 15 days to each layabout 130 eggs. These take 60 days tohatch. Turtles need at least 20 years toreach maturity, but only one out ofevery 1,000 survives to adulthood soprotecting their breeding habitats is essential to the species’ survival.

Education programmes have alsobeen set up to deter local people fromtaking the eggs. Readers can monitorthe progress of the sea turtles in Soyoat www.seaturtle.org �

Animal welfare a priority for Angola LNGWarren Klein:

jungle man

SU24.LNG.pp40-45:SU24 17/11/09 12:22 Page 44


Pho

tolib

rary

NEWS

SUGARPOWERBiocom, a company partly owned by Sonangol, has already planted its first fields ofsugar cane to make ethanol. We speak to Biocom president Rui Gourgel about theimportance of green fuels ➔

SU24.biocom.pp46-49:SU24 17/11/09 12:14 Page 46

What is Biocom?Biocom is a partnership between Sonangol(20%), Damer (40%) and Odebrecht (40%).Our operations are based in Cacuso inMalanje province, about 70km fromMalanje city. There we will be planting20,000 hectares of sugar cane and buildinga factory to process sugar, ethanol and electricity. The value of the business is $220million.

How much sugar, ethanol andelectricity will you make?We hope to make around 280,000 tonnes ofsugar a year. This will be the first sugar tobe produced inside Angola since before thewar. Currently, 100 per cent of all sugar isimported so this will be an important step.We are looking first to supply the Angolanmarket but after that we may consider exporting.

We will also use the cane to produce30,000 cubic metres of ethanol a year whichwill be aimed at the industrial marketwithin Angola. Studies are under way tofind out more about potential buyers andthe characteristics of the ethanol peoplewant. We are also identifying some poten-tial external clients to whom we could ex-port in the future.

The leftover cane which does not makesugar or ethanol will be used to produceelectricity – around 217,000 megawatts a year. This is a considerable amount ofelectricity, about the same as one turbine atCapanda Dam produces, and it will helpsupply energy to the area around our plant.

Have you started operations?We have already planted 150 hectares ofsugar cane at a nursery site at Kalakala inCatete and we are now transferring that tothe main site at Cacuso. The aim is to havethe first sugar cane harvest in June 2010and to start producing ethanol soon afterthat. The equipment for the processing factory is currently being made and willsoon be on its way to Angola.

How many jobs will Biocom gener-ate?At the moment, we have a staff of 35, ofwhom 30 are Angolans and five are expatri-ate workers. A further 42 farm workers are

DECEMBER 2009 49

NEWS


Sugar cane can be made into at leastthree products: when raw sugarcane juice is evaporated, this makesthe sugar we use in cooking. Theresidue produces ethanol, which canbe used in the fabrication of medi-cines, cosmetics, explosives, deter-gents, inks, solvents and foodproducts. The leftover cane iscrushed to make bagasse, which isused as fuel in the generation ofelectricity.

Citizen cane: Biocom presidentRui Gourgel

on contract. The aim is to create 500 jobs,of which 350 will be filled by Angolans and150 by expatriates. By the third year of theproject, we hope to have replaced the majority of the expatriates with Angolans.

What will the project bring, apartfrom sugar, ethanol and electricalpower?This is a very important project for ourcountry because we are relaunching agricultural production, and developingfrom pure agriculture to agro industry. Weare also decentralising industry away fromthe capital Luanda into the interior whichis creating new areas of knowledge, jobsand wealth. Since we are investing in non-oil and non-diamond sectors, we are takinga very important step in the diversificationof our economy. Our project will bring di-rect benefits to Cacuso in terms of develop-ment.

You are planning to produce sugar,ethanol and electricity – whatabout biofuels? Is this somethingfor the future?I believe so, yes. At the moment Angoladoes not have legislation to produce biofuels, but if this legislation were passedthen we are prepared to make tests for this.We have the basic equipment, so we wouldonly need to make some changes if thecountry opened up to biofuel production.In the immediate future there is no perspective to stop producing oil, but thecountry also needs to prepare itself to usetechnologies and sooner or later oil will bereplaced by clean fuels. By being part ofBiocom, Sonangol is starting to prepare forthe future.

Is Biocom the beginning of a newwave of projects in Angola?Angola has enormous potential for agro in-dustry, and we hope we can expand ourmodel into other provinces. We hope this isonly the beginning. We have heard peopletalking about similar initiatives in otherareas of the country. I believe that after thisproject, these initiatives will advance forthe good of Angola. We need to stop havingto import products which we can produceperfectly well ourselves.

There is sometimes environmentalopposition to projects like yours –what is your view on that?One of the big problems with using sugarcane is the large amounts of land needed.The government told us exactly where wecould site this plantation. Like all compa-nies taking on this type of business, wehave to take into account and respect allthe rules and systems established for thepreservation of the environment and biodiversity. Without this respect, projectsdo not happen. There were very few peopleliving in the area of the plantation, butthere were a lot of trees which we had totake down. After an environmental-impactstudy, we have taken certain measures in abid to mitigate the effects that clearing thisland could have on the environment.

We will be replanting trees in the areasaround the project and making sure thatthe area’s biodiversity is maintained. Wewill also be taking care with the types ofproducts we use. There will be a series ofmeasures taken which will guarantee thatthe effect on the environment will be theminimum possible. �

Sweet process

Kam

ene

M T

raça

iSto

ckp

ho

to.c

om

SU24.biocom.pp46-49:SU24 17/11/09 12:14 Page 48

DECEMBER 2009 51

Cabinda

Uíge

Bengo

LuandaKwanza Norte Malanje

Kwanza Sul

Lunda Norte

Lunda Sul

Kuando Kubango

Huíla

CuneneNamibe

Benguela

Huambo

Zaire

Bié


ZAMBIA

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICOF CONGO

NAMIBIA

CONGO

Moxico

Angola is not usually thought of asa mountainous land, yet morethan half the country is on a vast

plateau between 1,000 and 2,000 metresin altitude.

South of the Kwanza River the hillsrise sharply from the coastal lowlandsand form a high escarpment facing thewest, extending from a point east of Luanda and running south through toNamibia. This wide steep slope reaches2,400m at its highest point, southeast ofthe town of Sumbe, and is steepest in thefar south in the Serra da Chela moun-tain range.

The most mountainous parts of An-gola are mainly situated in the zone 100km to 200km from the Atlantic coast.Many of the country’s biggest cities arewell over a thousand metres above sealevel: Huambo (1,710m), Kuito (1,687m),Lubango (1,736m), Luena (1,329) andMalanje (1,178m). The highest point inAngola is the Morro do Moco whichreaches a height of 2,620m and is locatedto the northwest of Huambo.

Any tourists hoping to see the beautyof Angola’s highland areas should headto Lubango, which is surrounded bymountains up to 2,200m high, one ofwhich is topped by a statue of Christ with

a marvellous view of the city below. Two of the most famous natural land-

marks in Angola are close to Lubango. AtTundavala (2,252m) on the main escarpment there is a massive gorge witha breathtaking view down to the desertand coastal plain well over 1,000mbelow. The other marvel of the area isman-made, the amazing road built overthe high face of the Serra da Bandeira atLeba.

During colonial rule in the 1960s, var-ious routes were planned to link Namibeand Lubango. The engineer in charge,Rego Cabral, chose the shortest route,some 175km, as opposed to a much gen-tler but longer 264km option whichwould have approached Huambo fromthe south.

Constructing the road involved a mas-sive climb up the escarpment of the Serrada Bandeira. The work involved buildingsections which included numerous hairpin bends using methods which hadbeen employed in the Swiss Alps.

Now that peace has come to Angola,birdwatchers are able to tour the high-land areas for interesting sightings. Or-nithologist Nik Borrow has noted that “awealth of mouth-watering specialities isnow within reach”.

One of these is the mountain-dwellingAngola Cave-Chat, a rare species onlyfound in Angola. The bird has an extremely localised distribution along theescarpment of western Angola, where itis confined to four areas includingNhenjo Mountain (2,135m) in KwanzaSul.

To see the bird here it is necessary towalk up through the dry habitat of theKumbira Forest, climbing the mixedsandy and rocky face of the escarpmentto an altitude of 1,250m above sea level.

TheKwanza

BOTSWANA

Sumbe

NB

Illu

stra

tio

ns/

Dav

id A

tkin

son

Words by Igor Cusack

THE BIG PICTURE:

MOUNTAINS

Morro do Moco

Serra doChilengue

Serra da Chela

Tundavala

Leba

Nhenjo Mountain

2000

1500

1000

500

0

m

Huambo

Kuito

Lubango

Luena

Malanje

Kam

ene

M T

raça

Leba

Tundavala gorge

SU24.map.pp50-51:SU24 17/11/09 12:23 Page 50

SON

AN

GO

L UN

IVER

SO

ISSUE 24 – D

ECEM

BER2009

Universo

INSIDE:oil and gas news

DECEMBER 2009

VivaAngola!Football star Manucho aims for victory atthe Africa Cup of Nations, which kicks offin Luanda in January

Animal RescueSaving the

palanca negra

The WireSubsea cables

for Africa

SU24-cover:Layout 1 17/11/09 10:37 Page 1

su24-cover 2:layout 1 26/11/09 17:59 page 1 universoweb2.pdf · snapshots of luanda, benguela,...

Documents