João Bernardo de Miranda
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João Bernardo de Miranda (born July 18, 1952) has served as the Minister of External Relations of Angola since January 1999.
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[edit] Early life
De Miranda was born in Bengo, Angola. De Miranda has academic degrees in journalism, law, and international relations.
[edit] Early career
He began his political career at a very young age by joining Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) Angola's ruling party since its independence in 1975. He has held various positions within the party mostly related to journalism, radio, and propaganda.
In 1990 he was appointed to the post of Vice-minister for Information, and was chosen to be part of the task force in the Bicesse Accords the following year. He was moved to the Ministry of External Relations soon after. In 1993 he led a high level governmental task force to the exploratory conversations with the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) that took place in Zambia. The outcome of those talks gave way to the signature of the Lusaka Protocol in 1994.
[edit] Foreign minister
He was appointed Minister of External Relations in 1999 during a very critical time, in which the National Assembly of Angola gave President dos Santos a substantial amount of power in order to bring about an end to the civil war the nation was facing. In the process, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos made a series of critical changes within the government that brought a core of loyal and pragmatic individuals such as Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, its current prime minister, Kundi Paihama, and de Miranda. Being fully oriented by President dos Santos, the newly appointed minister began an intensive and tireless diplomatic campaign in order to isolate UNITA, and gain international sympathy to the Angolan government's cause.
De Miranda is greatly praised by top western diplomats and officials and gathers an array of diplomatic influence around many African nations.[citation needed] In 2003, de Miranda was featured in the book cover of Leaders of the World - 2003 by the late American author Marilyn Perry. In his book "15 Meses no Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros" former Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Diogo Freitas do Amaral described de Miranda as a solid politician with whom he was very pleased to work.
In 2006 de Miranda oversaw under the watch of President dos Santos, the successful elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as part of the stabilizing process in the Great Lakes region.
De Miranda is also the author of two literary works.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Peter James Spielmann, Angola accuses world of ignoring its civil war, Associated Press, October 1, 1999
- United Nations Security Council Report On the Situation of Angola
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