BIOGRAPHY OF HIS EXCELLENCY JOÃO MANUEL GONÇALVES LOURENÇO PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC

REPUBLIC OF ANGOLA
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Institutional Communication and Press Office

BIOGRAPHY OF HIS EXCELLENCY JOÃO MANUEL GONÇALVES LOURENÇO
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC

Mister João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, was born on March 5, 1954, in Lobito city, province of Benguela, son of the late Sequeira  João Lourenço, nurse of profession, and of the late Josefa Gonçalves Cipriano Lourenço, dressmaker. Married to Ana Afonso Dias Lourenço and father of six born sons.

He has attended primary and secondary school in the province of Bié and in the capital city, at the former Luanda Industrial School and at the Luanda Industrial Institute. From 1978 to 1982 received military training in former Soviet Union and specialized in heavy artillery. He also holds a Master degree in Historic Sciences, in that country. He speaks English, Russian and Spanish fluently.

From August 1974, he has participated in the National Liberation Struggle led by MPLA having concluded his first political-military training at the Centro de Instrução Revolucionária CIR ‘Kalunga’ (Revolutionary Instruction Centre) in the Congo Brazzaville. He has integrated the first MPLA combatants group that entered the national territory in 1974, through Miconge, to reach Cabinda city.

In the eve of Independence, he has participated in Ntó-Iema combats in Cabinda province and other localities, against the invasion of the army of the Republic of Zaire that intended to occupy the territory of that province of Angola. He has also served as a Political Commissioner of the former FAPLA (People´s Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola) in several ranks and as a Political Commissioner of the 2nd Political Military Region of Cabinda province.

During the 1980s of the 20th century, he has participated in several military operations in the centre of the country, namely the provinces of Cuanza Sul, Huambo and Bié. In 1983, he headed the Presidency of the Regional Military Council of the 3rd political Military Region. From 1989 to 1990, he has also served as Chief of the FAPLA’s Political Directorate. Presently, he is an (FAA) Angolan Armed Forces off-duty Three-Star-General.

Since 1985, he has integrated the MPLA Central Committee, became a member of its Political Bureau since 1990, and following the VII MPLA Ordinary Congress, held on 2016, he is elected Vice-President of the MPLA. He had previously performed as 1st Secretary of the Political Bureau and also as Secretary of the MPLA Political Bureau for Information and Economic and Social Sphere.

Concerning governmental functions, at the age of 29, he had been indicated in 1983 to serve as Provincial Commissioner of Moxico, equivalent to Provincial Governor, nowadays. Later on, from 1986 to 1989 as Provincial Commissioner of Benguela. In 2014 by Presidential Decree, he had been appointed as Minister of National Defence until the beginning of the 2017 electoral campaign.

At parliamentary level, Mister João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço was the Chairperson of the MPLA Parliamentary Group, from 1991 to 1998 and afterwards as Chairperson of the National Assembly Constitutional Committee, having performed the functions of First-Vice-President of the National Assembly, from 2003 to 2014.

Mister João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço in his free times enjoys reading, playing chess, horse riding and he is an Information Technologies lover.

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