Dos Santos makes historic visit to South Africa

Pretoria, 15 Dec – (ANA) - Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has made his first state visit to South Africa during more than 30 years in office.

His host, President Jacob Zuma, described the visit as “historic” as both leaders signed a series of agreements to step up co-operation, including one in the energy field.

Relations between the two countries have struggled to recover from strains dating back to the apartheid era.

South Africa's white minority government backed rebels who fought Mr dos Santos during Angola's civil war, and there was no immediate diplomatic thaw when apartheid rule came to an end in 1994.

Mr Zuma travelled to Angola last year, signalling that ties were at last improving - and speaking after his meeting with Mr dos Santos in Pretoria on Tuesday, he said this latest visit would "go down in the history books as the final cementing of relations between the two countries".

Angola is Africa's second biggest producer of oil, and correspondents say South Africa sees it as an important potential supplier. (ANA)

FA/ANA/15 December 2010-----