Angola’s new president, João Lourenço, has made an encouraging start

FEW presidents have entered office amid such low public expectations as did João Lourenço, who in September became Angola’s first new president in 38 years. His assumption of power did not involve a change of ruling parties. Rather, he was the handpicked successor of José Eduardo dos Santos, who had run the country since 1979, and whose cronies controlled much of the economy. His daughter, Isabel, ran the national oil company, Sonangol, by far the country’s biggest source of hard currency. His son, José Filomeno, ran the $5bn sovereign wealth fund. Even in retirement, Mr dos Santos kept his role as leader of the ruling party. Everyone assumed that he would wield power behind the scenes.

Yet since being sworn in, the soft-spoken Mr Lourenço has unleashed change that seemed unthinkable a year ago. As well as trying to revive an economy battered by low oil prices (which have rebounded), he has mounted a spirited anti-corruption campaign. He is also steadily prising the fingers of the dos Santos clan from the levers of power.