Caála — The humanistic value and political determination assumed in the proclamation of Angola's independence by António Agostinho Neto were praised Monday, in Caála, Central Huambo province, by the first secretary of the ruling MPLA party in Huambo, Lotti Nolika.

The party leader, who was speaking at a mass rally, said that the celebration of the centenary of the birth of the first President of Angola, on 17 September, is a special event of reflection for all Angolans.

She added that the MPLA attaches a unique value to the centenary of Agostinho Neto, as it indelibly marks the contemporary history of the country, at a time when it is mobilising to hold the fifth general elections, after those of 1992, 2008, 2012 and 2017.

According to Lotti Nolika, if President Agostinho Neto were alive, he would have turned 100 years old on 17 September, at a time when the country marks the 20th anniversary of effective peace, achieved by the determination built up by the Founder of the Nation, whose ideological foundations are still revitalized until the present day.

She underlined that Agostinho Neto stood out in the humanisation of communities through territorial unification, without racial differences, with a focus on political, social, economic, cultural and literary development.

"2022 is the year of the centenary of António Agostinho Neto, hence the reason for everyone wherever they are to elevate this figure as a National Hero, as a poet, politician, doctor, nationalist, man of culture and humanist who, from a very early age, gave himself to serve the Angolan people and chart the right path for socio-economic development", she said.

António Agostinho Neto was born on September 17, 1922, in Kaxicane, Icolo and Bengo, and died on September 10, 1979. As the first President of Angola, he proclaimed the country's independence from Portuguese colonial rule, on November 11, 1975.