Angola denies that long serving President dos Santos is in ill health

Long serving Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. PHOTO/AFP

Angola on Friday denied a report by external news reports that long serving President Jose Eduardo dos Santos was undergoing cancer treatment, saying the 71-year-old was in good health.

The report on Thursday said Dos Santos had checked in to the oncology unit of a clinic outside Angola. The report further revealed that he was about to undergo surgery. Neither report cited any sources.

According to a statement from Angolan officials, the president is not “interned in any hospital” and that ,”he is in good health.”

Dos Santos is Africa’s second longest-serving leader. He was elected for a new 5-year term in August 2012.

More recently speculation has focused on the state of his health.

Dos Santos led his MPLA party to victory in a long civil war against rebel group UNITA in 2002 and has since trounced his former war enemy in two elections.

Since the war ended, Angola has enjoyed rapid economic growth with a boom in infrastructure and real estate development. Angola is currently Africa’s second largest producer of oil and gas after Nigeria.