New Leader Signals Opportunity for U.S. in Angola

Posted: August 25th, 2017

By Miguel Ferreira da Silva

Dr. Miguel Ferreira da Silva is an academic researcher and expert in Security, Intelligence and International Affairs, particularly in matters related to Africa. Currently the Director of the Commission for Study and Strategy of the Governance of the Sea, Energy and Environment, at Lusófona University. Previously he was the Senior Portuguese Representative at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (Washington, D.C.), from 2012 to 2015, and political attaché at the Embassy of Portugal to the U.S.A. He graduated in Law, and completed post graduate studies in Political Science and International Relations at the Portuguese Catholic University. He also holds a PhD from the University of Nottingham (U.K.) and specializations in Counterterrorism as well as in Security and Intelligence. Dr. Ferreira da Silva started his career as a Legal Advisor to the Public Sector, taught at the University of Nottingham, served as a Portuguese foreign intelligence officer and is a Senior Legal Advisor at the Portuguese Media Regulating Authority.

U.S. – Angola relations have never been easy. Even after the end of the Cold War mindset, the Angolan regime’s memory of U.S. support to the armed opposition, and some lack of interest from Washington, ended up frustrating more recent attempts to establish a “strategic partnership dialogue” under then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Despite this heavy past, the last couple of years were able to show, through much work by the U.S. Ambassador Helen La Lime, a softening of speech from Luanda, and more concrete, although discreet, accomplishments.

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