From Yahoo!

Angola’s recent election to the UN Security Council is part of a wider bid to polish its veteran president’s image and transform the fast emerging oil-rich country into a regional powerhouse.

Angola has worked hard to heal the scars of battle since the end of a bitter 27-year civil war in 2002.

By some measures the west African country has made remarkable progress.

Once a byword for brutal internecine conflict, Angola is now slated to overtake Nigeria as Africa’s largest oil producer and is ranked among the fastest growing economies on this rapidly expanding continent.

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has “invested a lot in sanitizing the government’s image,” said Paula Roque, a senior researcher with the International Crisis Group.

Written by Estelle Maussion/Read more at Yahoo!