Angola Red Cross workers want Isabel dos Santos sacked

Angolan Red Cross executive board director Isabel dos Santos arriving at the opening of an art exhibition in Porto, northern Portugal on March 5, 2015. Angolan Red Cross workers want her sacked for failure to pay their salaries for six months. PHOTO | FERNANDO VELUDO | AFP

By  Arnaldo Vieira

What you need to know:

  • Desperate workers say Ms dos Santos is out of touch with countrywide Red Cross operations.
  • Ms dos Santos, the daughter of Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, was appointed the Red Cross director last October.
  • The Angola Red Cross, VOA disclosed, no longer attracted the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
  • They are also demanding the sacking of Mr Walter Quifica, as the organisation’s secretary for alleged mismanagement.

LUANDA

The Angola Red Cross workers want the organisation’s executive board director Isabel dos Santos sacked over failure to pay their salaries for six months.

VOA Radio quoted the desperate workers protesting that Ms dos Santos was out of touch with the countrywide Red Cross operations.

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Ms dos Santos, the daughter of Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, was appointed the Red Cross director last October.

VOA further reported that the workers were also demanding the sacking of Mr Walter Quifica, as the organisation’s secretary, for alleged mismanagement.

The Angola Red Cross, VOA disclosed, no longer attracted the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

HELPING PEOPLE

Established in 1863, ICRC operates worldwide, helping people affected by conflict and armed violence and promoting the laws that protect victims of war.

The independent and neutral organisation’s mandate stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

It is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and employ some 14,500 people in more than 80 countries.

Ms dos Santos, 43, was in June appointed by her father as a non-executive director of the state-owned oil firm Sonangol. Twelve lawyers have challenged the appointment.

Ms dos Santos is Angola’s first billionaire and the richest woman in Africa with a net worth Forbes estimates at $3 billion.

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