Mr. Fernando Dias Dos Santos was born in Luanda on 5 March 1952. He has a BA in Law.

in 1971 he deserted the Colonial Portuguese army and joined the MPLA’s guerrilla forces, in which he held the posts of political monitor, section head and squadron political commissar in the 2nd political and military region, Cabinda.

Two years later, in August 1976, he was transferred from the Political Commissariat of General Staff Headquarters of the People’s Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) to the People’s Police Corps of Angola (CPPA) and given the rank of Inspector.

On March of 1997 he was appointed Political Commissar at the Mártires do Kapolo National Police School. That same year, he was made a First Lieutenant in FAPLA and became a Captain in 1978.

On 18 June 1978, he was appointed Head of the 1st Command Division of the CPPA and, in June 1979, head of the Political Department and of the Personnel Section of the National Directorate of the People’s Police, holding the two posts.

In 1981, he was appointed Deputy Head of the National Political Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior and, in 1982, National Director of Personnel in the same ministry, holding the two posts.

He was promoted to Major in FAPLA on 7 July 1984 and, that same year, appointed National Director of the People’s Police, while retaining the post of Deputy National Political Director in the Ministry of the Interior.

At the MPLA-Workers’ party congress held in 1985, he was elected a member of the Central Committee. In 1986, he was promoted to the military rank of Colonel and, that same year, elected a deputy in the People’s Assembly.

By presidential decree in March 1984, he was made Deputy Minister of State Security and, in 1990, Deputy Minister of the Interior and Head of Information Services.

In 1991, he headed the government delegation to the third and forth rounds of talks of the Bicesse Accords and, that same year, was appointed Deputy Head of the government delegation in the Joint Politico-Military Commission (CCPM).

He was made a Major General in FAPLA on 29 April 1992. That same year, he was elected an MPLA deputy in the National Assembly. In 1995, he was appointed Commander-General of the National Police and promoted to General Commissioner of the National Police.

In 1995, by presidential decree, he was appointed Deputy Minister of the Interior responsible for Internal Order and, in 1996, he was re-appointed to that post and that of Commander General of the National Police. He retained these posts in the Government of Unity and National Reconciliation (GURN).

In 1998, at a congress he was elected a member of the Central Committee and Political Bureau of the MPLA, and, in 1999, by presidential decree, was appointed Minister of the Interior, combining this post with that of Commander General of the National Police.

By presidential despatch, in 2001 he was appointed Coordinator of the Executive Committee of the Inter-Ministerial Commission of the Peace Process and Coordinator of the Peace and National Reconciliation Fund.

In December that year he was given powers to represent the government at plenary meetings of the National Assembly, where he presented and discussed the general state budget and the government programme for the 2002 financial year.

In 2002, by presidential despatch, he was appointed Coordinator of the National Commission for the Social and Productive Reintegration of Demobilised Troops and Displaced Persons. That same year he was appointed head of the government delegation in the Joint Commission.

Also in 2002, he was appointed by presidential despatch Coordinator of the commission set up to exhume the bodies of the martyrs of Kuito (Bié) and build the new cemetery for them to be properly buried in.

London, 6 December 2002