Ex-Angola PM hits out at government

LUANDA (AFP) - A former Angolan prime minister on Tuesday launched a barbed attack against his former government colleagues, denouncing President Jose Eduardo dos Santos's government as authoritarian and corrupt.

At the first congress of a new political party Marcolino Moco accused the regime of dos Santos, who has ruled for 33 years, of carrying out an institutional "coup".

"It would be an exaggeration to say that the country is experiencing a coup d'etat but there is a political and institutional coup being carried out by the party in power."

"Since 2002, the president has done well to preserve the peace, but it doesn't give him the right to govern as he does, distributing goods to his children, ensuring his daughter is one of the richest women in Africa "

Angola's brutal 26-year civil war ended in 2002, with the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) beating the US-backed UNITA.

Moco was sacked by dos Santos in 1996 and has since become one of the rare members of the MPLA who is critical of the government.

While Angola has recently enjoyed vast oil wealth, many Angolans have yet to feel the benefits.

"If we don't sort out this very serious situation, violence will return to the country. People cannot tolerate these inequalities indefinitely."

Dos Santos was reelected for a further five years in 2012, with the MPLA gaining 71.84 percent of the vote.

Moco's Casa Party won six percent of the vote.