Day: December 22, 2022

Libreville -Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, arrived Thursday in Libreville, Gabon, where for a few hours he will carry out a working and friendship visit at the invitation of the Gabonese counterpart, Ali Bongo Odimba.

During President João Lourenço’s stay in the Gabonese capital, two agreements are expected to be signed, the first on the exemption of visas on diplomatic and service passports, while the second focuses on political consultations.

The two countries have always expressed desire to increase cooperation in the various sectors of common interest, having established the legal framework regulating technical-scientific and cultural economic relations.

The basis for the two countries’ partnership is the General Cooperation Agreement. The two nations established the Bilateral Joint Commission in January 1982 in Libreville.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has in a statement condemned the alleged attempted military coup d’etat in the Gambia.

“The Commission of the Economic Community of West African States ECOWAS Commission) has received with utter dismay and shock the news of an attempted coup in the Gambia.

ECOWAS Commission strongly condemns the attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government of the Gambia and underscores ECOWAS’ total rejection of all unconstitutional change of government in any member state,” the statement reads.

The ECOWAS Commission also thanked the leadership and the Gambia security services for foiling the alleged plot;

“ECOWAS Commission salutes the leadership and personnel of the Gambia security services for their adherence to their constitutional role and for foiling this illegal plot.

ECOWAS Commission stands firmly by the democratically elected government of the Gambia and once again reiterates its total condemnation of the attempted coup plot,” the statement ends.

Gambia Government announced on Wednesday the arrest of Lance Corporal Sanna Fadera from the Gambia Navy as the alleged ring leader of the plot; Couple Mbarra Touray from 1st Infantry Battalion, Yundum Barracks; Couple Ebrahima Sanno from the Military Police who is currently on study leave and Sergeant Gibril Darboe from The Gambia Navy.

The Gambia Government says the apprehended soldiers are currently helping the Military Police with their investigations.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Home Office rules that could put millions of EU citizens at risk of job losses or deportation after Brexit have been found to be unlawful by the high court.

Under the current EU settlement scheme, EU citizens who had been in the country for less than five years before Brexit and who had “pre-settled status” are obliged to reapply to upgrade their status to “settled status” after being in the country for five years.

If they did not, they would automatically lose their rights to reside, work, rent property or access services including the NHS, under Home Office rules.

But in a ruling handed out on Wednesday in the high court, Justice Lane described the rule as “wrong in law and that the EU settlement scheme is accordingly unlawful” as it “purports to abrogate the right of permanent residence”.

Lane ruled that a right of residence could only be lost in very specific circumstances that were clearly defined in the withdrawal agreement.

The loss of rights because someone failed to apply to upgrade from pre-settled status to settled status was not one of those circumstances, Lane said.

Under the Brexit withdrawal agreement, the UK and the EU agreed that both EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU could lawfully remain in the countries they lived in if they had settled there before Brexit.

But only the UK and Slovenia required citizens to make a second application to remain if they had been in the country for less than five years, the court was told.

Under the Home Office rules, if any of those with “pre-settled status” did not apply to upgrade their status to “settled status” after being in the country for five years they would automatically lose their rights to reside, work, rent property or access services including the NHS. They were also liable to deportation.

Lane said he had “no reason to doubt” that the Home Office would support vulnerable people with pre-settled status but that the withdrawal agreement “precluded” the Home Office from imposing a requirement for further leave to be in the country as a “condition for retaining such rights”.

He said: “If the defendant is right, a very large number of people face the most serious uncertainty.”

The Home Office minister Lord Murray said the government took its “obligations to securing their [EU citizens’] rights in the UK very seriously. The EU settlement scheme goes above and beyond our obligations under the withdrawal agreement, protecting EU citizens’ rights and giving them a route to settlement in the UK.

“We are disappointed by this judgment, which we intend to appeal.”

The judicial review of the Home Office’s interpretation of agreement had been taken by the Independent Monitoring Authority, a statutory body set up to protect EU citizens’ rights in the UK.

The IMA chief executive, Kathryn Chamberlain, said she was “pleased that the judge has recognised the significant impact the issue could have had on the lives and livelihoods of citizens with pre-settled status in the UK”.

“When we brought this judicial review, our intention was to provide clarity for citizens with pre-settled status, of which there were over 2.4 million when we filed this case in December 2021. This judgment that the current system is unlawful provides that clarity,” she added.

The campaign group the3million said: “We strongly welcome this judgment, which stands to protect vulnerable citizens who are granted pre-settled status under the EU settlement scheme, and who could lose their right to work, rent, travel, benefits, healthcare and more – just for not making a further application in the years ahead.

“We are pleased that the judge agrees with the3million that the point of the EU settlement scheme is to create a clear distinction between those who are beneficiaries of the withdrawal agreement and those who are not. Once a beneficiary, people cannot lose their rights just by forgetting to make a second UK immigration application – the withdrawal agreement does not allow it.”

The group, which supported the case, said such a rule would impact some of the most vulnerable in society including children and elderly in care, victims of domestic abuse who did not have paperwork and those who for one reason or another led chaotic lives.

According to Home Office quarterly figures in September, 2.7 million of 6 million EU citizens granted status to remain in the UK post Brexit had “pre-settled status”.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – Angola’s former minister of petroleum Albina Assis was honored Thursday, having her name written in the auditorium of the new facilities of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (Mirempt).

Albina Assis unveiled the plaque in the aforementioned auditorium, in the presence of the Vice-President of the Republic, Esperança da Costa, the National Assembly Speaker, Carolina Cerqueira and the MPLA’s Vice President, Luísa Damião.

Assis, who is currently commissioner-general of Expo-2025, position that she holds for a long time, was minister of Petroleum from 1992 to 1999.

Albina Assis, a chemical engineer from Agostinho Neto university, is the first to hold the CEO position of the national oil company, Sonangol.

As Sonangol’s CEO, Albina Assis promoted the creation of Sonangol- PP (Research and Production), an initiative that turned the company into an oil producer, in addition to being a concessionaire at the time.

She also created Sonil, currently one of the best logistics bases on the African continent.

The ceremony was attended by the former oil ministers Desidério Veríssimo Costa (2002-2008) and José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos (1999-2002/2008-2017).

Also attended the event representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited to Angola.

Source: Angola Press News Agency