Angola Holds First Vote in 16 Years as Oil Boom Bypasses Poor

By Mike Cohen and Karl Maier

Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Workers in Luanda are putting the finishing touches on a 22-story, glass-and-steel office tower for Angola's state oil company, complete with a helicopter pad. Two miles east, thousands of residents live on another of the capital's landmarks: a mountain of trash known as Boa Vista.

The disparity between Angola's oil-powered rich and its desperately impoverished lies at the heart of the country's first parliamentary election campaign in 16 years. The ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, or MPLA, is being challenged by UNITA, whose 27-year rebellion ended in 2002 when government troops killed its leader, Jonas Savimbi.

UNITA, led by former diplomat Isaias Samakuva, and other opposition parties are looking to capitalize on growing discontent among the urban poor, who lack running water, proper sanitation and other services. At the same time, the oil company, Sonangol SA, posted sales of $17 billion last year.

``The peace dividends have not benefited the great majority of the population,'' said Paula Roque, an analyst at the Pretoria, South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies, who is observing the poll. ``The wealth of the elite is constantly flaunted before them.''

The economy of Angola, Africa's largest oil producer, grew 21 percent last year and probably will expand 16 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. Annual growth averaged 15 percent between 2004 and 2007.

$2 a Day

Even so, about 70 percent of Angola's 12.5 million people live on less than a $2 a day, while the World Bank estimates one-quarter of Angolan children died before their fifth birthday in 2006. Both figures are the same as six years ago. The United Nations Development Program ranks Angola 162nd out of 177 countries in human development.

Campaign promises center around spending some of the oil revenue. State television shows frequent clips of President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, 66, and his ministers opening new roads, clinics and schools. The MPLA pledges to provide electricity and running water to all urban areas and give free education to all children.

UNITA has in turn promised to end the status quo. It says 90 percent of the nation's wealth is controlled by less than 1 percent of the people.

``We need to ensure the taxes we have are properly spent,'' Jardo Muekalia, UNITA's campaign manager, said in a Sept. 1 interview.

Though the election is being contested by 10 political parties and four coalitions, the MPLA's billboards, flags, posters and T-shirts dominate in Luanda. Last weekend, ruling party candidates staged roadside barbeques, handing out free wine and food before the Sept. 5 election.

`Good Job'

``In any country, there are poor people,'' said hairdresser Vanda Melo, 43, who attended one such gathering. ``Health and housing are improving. The MPLA is doing a good job.''

The residents of trash mountain Boa Vista, which means Good View in Portuguese, live in tin shacks, buried under garbage slides during the rainy season, 3 kilometers from downtown.

``Life here is more than difficult,'' said Antonio Manuel, 39, who has lived with his family in Boa Vista for the past 14 years and earns $120 a month as a security guard. ``I want the government to give us proper houses as soon as possible.''

Meanwhile, Suzuki Motor Corp. and Toyota Motor Co. sports- utility vehicles lumber down the streets of Luanda. Restaurants selling $20 burgers and pizzas on the Ilha, a sandy strip jutting into Luanda bay and is the epicenter of the city's nightlife, are packed full.

Scarce Housing

A virtual absence of locally made goods and housing shortages have made Luanda the world's most expensive place for foreigners to live, according to ECA International, an international human resources association.

A report released by Berlin-based Transparency International in April this year ranked Sonangol as among the least publicly accountable of 42 oil companies.

The last time elections were held, in 1992, the MPLA won 129 seats and UNITA 70 in the 220-seat single house. Savimbi's party accused the MPLA of rigging the vote and resumed a civil war that ultimately claimed more than a million lives.

The credibility of this election is also under threat, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch, which says it has documented MPLA members beating up opposition supporters. It also says the government has undue influence over the commission organizing the vote.

``It's clear Angolans aren't able to campaign free from intimidation or pressure,'' Georgette Gagnon, Human Rights Watch's Africa director, said in an e-mailed statement.

Violence

UNITA says five of its members have been killed and at least 19 injured by the ruling party during the campaign. Rui Pinto de Andrade, the MPLA's director of information, denied his party was responsible.

Even if the poll is disputed, a return to the armed conflict that erupted after Angola won independence from Portugal in 1975 is unlikely: None of the opposition parties has shown the means or inclination toward violence.

``Unless there is direct and obvious fraud, or the perception thereof, and the outcomes are close, violence is likely to be restricted to some hotspots,'' London-based research Chatham House said in a report published Sept. 1.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mike Cohen in Luanda at mcohen21@bloomberg.net; Karl Maier in Rome at kmaier2@bloomberg.net.