Some 42 politicians, businessmen and members of the Parisian elite are to be sentenced Tuesday for trafficking arms worth 790 million dollars to Angola in the 1990s.
After meeting South African President Jacob Zuma on Friday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be seeking to improve ties with oil-rich Angola on Sunday and obtain greater business opportunities for American firms.
Radio Ecclesia in Luanda is Angola’s only religious radio station, with three million listeners. The government prevents it from broadcasting it outside the capital, but the station hopes the pope’s visit will change that.
After rallying millions in Cameroon and Angola, Pope Benedict XVI was on his way back to the Vatican on Monday. But the controversy triggered by his remarks that condoms aggravate the AIDS crisis is still going strong.
Two people were killed and at least eight injured in a stampede at a football stadium in Angola, where Pope Benedict called on Catholics to shun witchcraft during a massive youth rally in the capital of Luanda.
Pope Benedict has urged Catholics in Angola to shun witchcraft and to reach out to people who believe in spirits and sorcerers. Human rights groups say many abandoned children in the country have been accused of being witches.
Pope Benedict XVI said in a speech at Angola's presidential palace that the church had not changed its position on abortion, saying the practise should not be promoted as a type of "maternal healthcare."
A verdict date for several near-celebrity French men accused of trafficking weapons to Angola in the 1990s was set for October 27 by a French court on Wednesday.
French prosecutors called for jail sentences of up to six years for the suspected masterminds of illegal weapons shipments to Angola in the 1990s. One of the sons of late French President François Mitterrand is among the defendants.
Shareholders of the third largest producer of flour in France, the Grand Mills of Strasbourg, are concerned over a new partner with alleged links to arms trafficking in Angola.
