Angola tries to shield leader from arms case

There was a time when it was next to impossible for Western companies to trade in the East and in Africa without "greasing the palms" of the decision makers among their customers. If one supplier wouldn't do it, another would.

Business ethics thus became redundant in those markets. The task of trying to bring the guilty to book is immense given the vested interest in silence of governments and suppliers.

Irksome to say the least it may be, but perhaps the time has come to recognize the futility of recourse to burdensome legal process, and declare a worldwide amnesty to those that confess? Severe punishment for subsequent offenders could then be a corollary.

Everyone should be investigated, including the people who were supporting Unita. The Cold War played itself in Angola, but it seems as if Dos Santos name is the only one be dragged into the mud, as a corrupt person who was receiving bribes. The French, American, British, South African Officials who were supplying weapons to The Angolan Government and Unita should all be taken to the Hague,as they were breaking the international law and causing human abuses throughout Angola. Yet we are not hearing anything else, except that Dos Santos was getting kickbacks. Lets investigate all the crimes that have occured throughout Africa and all the people who benefitted from these activities.

Sounds like a minor corruption issue. Hmmmmm, oil wealth that might not be trickling down? 81% win in democratic elections. Biggest supplier of oil to China. Government control of the oil industry. Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International rated Angola one of the 10 most corrupt countries in the world in 2005. Why on earth would President José Eduardo dos Santos take a few million here or there when sitting on a Nigerian style 'gold mine', and if so, so what. Does China care if it is supporting a suspiciously corrupt and one party state, and otherwise one of the poorest populations in the world. Why should the French care. And, who cares if this guy is stealing while importing AK's and such. How can one point fingers when virtually everyone was supplying all parties with landmines and arms at one time or another. It is no wonder that there was no 'African Solution for African Problems' in Zimbabwe recently. Or, was there. It seems that transparency in government has taken a back seat to bigger problems in the region. One wonders why Kenya needs 33 old Soviet T-72's right now, and by the way what happened to that (Chinese) ammunition and weapons shipment that was denied port-of-call recently at more than one railhead (wasn't Angola one of them) on the way to Zimbabwe? Corruption is endemic, give the poor guy a break.