De Beers Angola Prospecting (“Debap”) named general Antonio Dos Santos Franca “Ndalu”, will join the board of the company as non-executive chairman.

Ndalu played a key role in the liberation process in Angola, following which he was ap-pointed a member of the Central Committee of the MPLA. He served in a number of key mili-tary positions in the Angolan Military post independence, notably Commander of the Air Force, Deputy Minister of Defence and Chief of Staff of the Angolan Armed forces from 1982 until 1990.

He played an instrumental role in the diplomatic peace process for Angola and Namibia and in 1995 was appointed as Angolan Ambassador to the United States where he served until 2001. He currently holds a number of non-executive directorships.

Debap and Endiama previously announced that the two companies had concluded an agree-ment for the establishment of a joint venture for the exploration and evaluation of kimberlites in Lunda Norte Province of Angola which was approved by the Council of Ministers of the Government of Angola. Debap has already begun mobilisation to commence work on the joint venture project.

JCK