NAN
Gen. Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda, the 66-year-old Chief of Army Staff of Angola has been sacked and replaced with Gen. António Egídio de Sousa Santos.
Nunda, who was appointed, in 2009 was sacked, on Monday, by Angolan President João Lourenço.
Lourenco is reported to have sacked his army forces’ chief of staff over corruption allegations in a deepening purge of senior figures linked with graft.
Last year, Gen Nunda said he was ready for retirement.
The Presidency statement further confirmed other 39 dismissals and appointments.
Lourenço, though was handpicked by his predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos, he has increasing ly asserted his authority.
He sacked his predecessor’s son, José Filomeno dos Santos, as the country’s head of the strategic $5 billion sovereign fund and replaced him with Mr. Carlos Alberto Lopes, a former Finance Minister.
The former Angolan president appointed his eldest son as president of Fundo Soberano de Angola in 2013, soon after its creation in October 2012.
President Lourenço also sacked Isabel dos Santos, the former president’s eldest daughter, as the chair of the board of the state-owned oil firm Sonangol. He replaced her with Mr. Carlos Saturnino, an oil industry veteran.
Several other dos Santos kin and allies have been replaced from key government institutions, in moves seen as wrestling control from the man who ruled Angola for 38 years.