[url]http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/737822/posts[/url]

By Declan Walsh in Luanda
23 August 2002

As the threat of starvation sweeps across war-ravaged Angola, its secretive government is coming under pressure to explain how
billions of pounds in oil revenues have gone missing.

A fresh humanitarian crisis has hit Angola since fighting with Unita rebels ended in April. Three million people are on the edge of famine.

Angola's President, Eduardo dos Santos, has appealed for international help, pleading that his government is broke.

But a swelling chorus of diplomats, campaigners and angry Angolans is asking why he is unable to pay his way out of trouble when his
government earns billions of pounds from a burgeoning oil exploration business that will soon rival that of Nigeria as Africa's largest.

And while only a tiny amount is spent on helping suffering Angolans, every year a large chunk of the profits – between 20 and 35 per
cent – mysteriously disappears. Last year, for example, the International Monetary Fund estimated the oil revenues at £2bn, of which
£750m simply vanished.

Campaigners such as the UK advocacy group Global Witness call it "wholesale state robbery". They say that Angola's vast oil profits
are disappearing into the pockets of the Futungo – a secret, powerful élite linked to President dos Santos – on a scale similar to the
excesses of the notorious kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire.

Western oil companies such as BP, Shell and Chevron stand accused of refusing to reveal their annual payments to the Angolan
government.

Who would've imagined, oil companies involved in shady dealings?

I'm sure we'll help them out, again. No matter how many billions go "missing" in the third world we must be compassionate.