Analyst says there are no political ambitions in the return of José Eduardo dos Santos

"I honestly don't think I have much interest in assuming a predominant role in political life in light of next year's elections," he said, pointing out as the most likely reasons for the return "missing, the need for cost containment or the desire to end his days in his homeland".

Former President José Eduardo dos Santos returned to Luanda on Tuesday from Barcelona, ​​where he had been for the past three years with little or no public participation due to health problems.

"José Eduardo dos Santos has always guided by government intelligence, he is already quite advanced in age and I do not think that although relations with the current President, João Lourenço, have been deteriorated to the point of almost severing relations, he wants to return to political activity", said the investigator.

For Eugénio Costa Almeida, an eventual participation in Angolan politics would lead to division within the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, as the former head of state still has many allies in the party.

"A political intervention would only benefit the opposition, as it would cause a split in the party, as there are already many people who support Lourenço, but there will also be many who have felt wronged in their status within the party and want to get it back" , pointed the academic.

Asked about the reception at the airport, by the protocol of the State without the recognized presence of any government official, including the President of the Republic, absent on a visit to the province of Cuanza Norte, Eugénio Costa Almeida considered that the apparatus was exaggerated and said that it would be positive that the former President was received by the current one.

"The caravan of cars that took the former President from the airport was accompanied by two ambulances, which for me means that it is more of a return in the sense of coming to rest the last days of life in his homeland than actually thinking of having one political protagonism, even though its simple presence can be used by third parties in this sense", he stated, noting that "there were many people who accompanied the delegation".

Regarding the absence of state television, Eugénio Costa Almeida opined that this means that there was a devaluation of his arrival, also evident in the absence of the head of state.

"The absence of public television shows that for power, José Eduardo dos Santos is just another citizen, and nothing more; in a country where there is a cult of personality, someone who was considered the architect of peace does not even have a television on arrival it is, to say the least, strange, so it is clear that the power did not want to give prominence to the arrival of the former President", he stressed.

The MPLA has not yet commented on the coming of its former leader, the same happening with his successor, João Lourenço, who is currently on a working visit to the province of Cuanza Norte, and it is not known if any meeting between the two is planned. .