Angola denies 'squandering'
2004-01-14 14:06
Luanda - Angola has denounced as a "campaign of defamation" a report by Human Rights Watch that the southwest African country had squandered more than $4m in state oil revenue between 1997 and 2002.
"The Angolan government publicly denounces the renewal of such campaigns and wishes to make it known that there has never been, at any time, an independent probe which could prove these accusations," said a government communiqué read on television late on Tuesday.
The rights watchdog said in a recent report that "more than $4m in state oil revenue disappeared from Angolan government coffers from 1997 to 2002," due to corruption and mismanagement.
Luanda however said gaps in the statistical system "which are currently being corrected or differences in the process of accounting for revenues in the oil sector cannot serve as a pretext for the launch of a defamation campaign."
"The government of the Republic of Angola cannot be held responsible for estimates of its revenues which are based on non-credible sources," the statement, which was also published in the media on Wednesday, said.
HRW said oil revenue made up about 85% of total government earnings between 1997 and 2002, but roughly 9% of that - equivalent to $4.22bn - had gone missing.
In the same period, total social spending in the country amounted to $4.27bn, it said.