António dos Santos França

António dos Santos França (born April 9, 1938 in Mupa , Cunene ) is an Angolan general of the Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (Forças Armadas de Libertação de Angola) , diplomat and politician of the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA).

Life

António dos Santos França completed a degree in agricultural science in Portugal and during this time also had a short footballing career as a midfielder at Sporting Lisbon and Académica de Coimbra . Returning to Angola, he took part in the civil war under the code name "Ndalu" as a member of the armed forces for the liberation of Angola FAPLA (Forças Armadas de Libertação de Angola) and in 1977 became a member of the Politburo and the Central Committee of the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) to which he still belongs today. Furthermore, he became Central Committee Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Culture and Sport in 1977 and, in 1978, commander of the presidential guard regiment of President of Angola Agostinho Neto and, after his death on September 10, 1979, from his successor, José, from September 21, 1979 Eduardo dos Santos . In 1980 he became Commander of the Air Force (Força Aérea Popular de Angola) .

In 1982 França took over after his promotion to general (General das Forças Armadas Populares de Libertação de Angola) the post of Chief of the General Staff and was also appointed Deputy Minister of Defense. In 1988 he became President of the Southern Front (Frente Sul) during the civil war and in 1990 head of the Commission of the Politico-Military Junta. In 1995 he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States . In the election of December 31, 2012 , he was elected to the national list of the Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) for the first time as a member of the National Assembly (Assembleia Nacional) . After his re-election in the election of August 23, 2017 , he became a member of the 2nd parliamentary commission (2.ª Comissão: Defesa, Segurança, Ordem Interna, Antigos Combatentes e Veteranos da Pátria) responsible for defense, security, internal order, former fighters and veterans of the fatherland is responsible.

literature

• Martin W. James: Historical Dictionary of Angola. Scarecrow Press, 2004, ISBN 0810865602 , p. 59 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

Web links

• Entry on the homepage of the National Assembly (Assembleia Nacional) (accessed on January 24, 2019)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ António França at leballonrond.fr, accessed on September 5, 2019
2. ↑ LISTA NOMINAL DOS MEMBROS DO COMITÉ CENTRAL (MANDATO 2016/2021) ( Memento of the original dated October 2, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the MPLA homepage