Angola could be "a real power for success in the southern African region", said Mr Peter Hain, Britain's Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on his arrival in Luanda on Tuesday.
A two-day trip gave Mr Hain just enough time to meet President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who left the British minister "in no doubt" about the authenticity of the head of state's offer of amnesty to the UNITA rebel leader, Mr Jonas Savimbi.
"UNITA," Mr Hain said, "must be forced to accept that they cannot win the war." Contrary to the opinion of many Angolans, including senior members of the Catholic Church and civil society groups who believe peaceful dialogue should begin immediately, Mr Hain said: "It's obvious government military action will have to continue."
Such comments have provoked a mixed reaction in Luanda, and in Africa generally, where most states are now hostile to Mr dos Santos's policy of continuing Angola's civil war.
Mr Justino Pinto de Andrade, director of the faculty of economics at the Catholic University and member of the governing MPLA party, comments: "To continue with the military option will only deepen the hatred and levels of destruction in our country. How can a person like him fail to understand that the violence in Angola has a history, like the violence he has seen in Northern Ireland?"
Others welcomed Mr Hain's enthusiastic approach to bring peace to Angola, which has a history of war spanning almost 40 years. "He's quite right," a Catholic priest said. "First we tackle Savimbi, then we tackle government corruption."
Mr Hain admitted that high-level corruption needed to be tackled, particularly regarding the oil industry. Prior to his visit, he met several multinational oil companies operating in Angola, to discuss the capacity of big business to help in pushing the government towards transparency. Doing business, not politics, is the often-stated excuse given by multinationals.
