chinese (and other) interests in angola , page-5

Cozza,
your points are valid but I think they are unfair. Angola is still trying to recover from an incredibly brutal civil, part of the process includes initiating economic development and restoring law and order. On both counts they are doing a credible job. A case in point is that 'western contractors' are no longer allowed to bear arms etc (compare to say Iraq and Afghanistan where this issue created real issues). From my understanding corruption has been falling for a long time and the country has been reasonably successful in de-militarising its institutions and generally reducing the power of the military in the economy.

The company has faced HUGE challenges in bringing foreign companies to invest in Angola (in terms of providing the necessary capital and expertise). There was an article in the The Economist highlighting the role of one of the proposed Chinese partners for Lom, it was less than flattering to say the least!!! yes the Agolans have been utterly desperate for ANY investment!!!

Regarding corruption, look at the issues in the UK, NSW and Qld (amongst others) and you can see that its a major problem all over the world at the moment and the Angolans have done a credible job dealing with it.

Arguably the best example of the progrss that Angolan is making real progress in the issues that your raise is the prescence of Lom in Angola. To be frank, Lom cant afford to pay bribes, it will only succeed becuause of the sheer ability of the staff involve i.e. Biff and Co.

Regarding politicians, I feel that Angola's president Dos Santos is doing more for his people and is more competent than any other politician in say Europe, America or Australia (I totally accept this is sweeping statement but in fact it is hard to challenge).