Angola: President José Eduardo dos Santos says he will step down in 2018

Angola’s long serving president, José Eduardo dos Santos, said on Friday he intends to step down in 2018 but gave no reason for his decision.

Angola, a member of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and Africa’s second largest oil exporter after Nigeria, has been hit hard by the slump in global crude prices. Oil export revenues account for more than 90 percent of foreign exchange revenues.

“I took the decision to leave active political activity in 2018,” Dos Santos, 73, said in a speech to members of his ruling MPLA party’s key decision-making body. He did not elaborate.

Angola holds its next parliamentary election in 2017 and the leader of the winning party will then become president. MPLA leader Dos Santos was re-appointed to a new 5-year term as Angolan president in 2012 after his party won a landslide win.

Weak oil prices have hammered Angola – Africa’s third largest economy – and the government is in discussions with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) about possible financial assistance.

Dos Santos, a former petroleum engineer, has overseen an oil-backed economic boom and the reconstruction of infrastructure devastated by a 27-year-long civil war that ended in 2002.

Vice-President Manuel Vicente – former head of state oil firm SONANGOL – is seen as a likely successor to Dos Santos.

The president’s departure from power has been the talk of the town in the capital, Luanda for some time. He has always hinted that he wanted to leave but this is the most specific commitment he has ever made.