Former Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos dies at 79

By BARRY HATTON
Associated Press

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos has died in a clinic in Barcelona, Spain, the Angolan government said. He was 79 years old and died following a long illness, the government said Friday in an announcement on its Facebook page. The announcement said dos Santos, who ruled Angola for almost 40 years from 1979, was “a statesman of great historical scale who governed … the Angolan nation through very difficult times.” Dos Santos came to power four years after Angola gained independence from Portugal and became enmeshed in the Cold War as a proxy battlefield. He voluntarily stepped down in 2017 when his health began failing.