Manuel Vicente

Manuel Domingos Vicente (born 15 May 1956) is an Angolan politician who served as the second vice president of Angola between September 2012 and September 2017. He was chief executive officer of Sonangol, Angola's state oil company, from 1999 to 2012, and he briefly served in the government as the minister of State for Economic Coordination in 2012.

Early life and education Born at Sambizanga neighborhood in Luanda, his father was a shoemaker while his mother was a laundress. He received primary and secondary education at the São Domingos Mission School. However, his studies was interrupted by financial problems and he worked as a locksmith and linotypist to help support the family. He earned an electronic engineering degree at the University of Angola (Agostinho Neto University) in 1983.

Career Vicente worked as a chief engineer during the 1980s, and from 1987 to 1991 he headed the technical department of the Ministry of Oil. In 1991, he was appointed Deputy Director-General of Sonangol, the state oil company. In 2010, a US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs presented this as a case history.

In December 2009, Vicente was appointed a member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the ruling party.

A September 2011 report in Novo Jornal claimed that dos Santos intended for Vicente to be his successor and was followed by a flurry of speculation. Vicente was, however, reappointed for another term at the head of Sonangol in December 2011, briefly tempering the speculation. Francisco de Lemos José Maria succeeded Vicente at Sonangol. As anticipated, the MPLA Central Committee designated President dos Santos as head of the MPLA party list and Vicente as the second candidate on the list on 13 June 2012. The MPLA won the election, and Vicente took office as Vice President on 26 September 2012.

In August 2014, Vicente participated in the United States–Africa Leaders Summit, an initiative of the American president, Barack Obama, held in Washington DC under the theme "Investing in the future of Africa."

In September 2014 Vicente attended the 69th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City. He defended a reform in the UN Security Council, which should “be more in line with the international context and reflect an equal geographical representation through the increase in the number of permanent members”, namely by including an African country. He approached issues such as the resurgence of armed conflicts, the religious fundamentalism in some African countries, the importance of disarmament and the combating of drug and human trafficking and transnational organized crime.

In December 2016, the MPLA chose João Lourenço, the Minister of Defense and Vice-President of the MPLA, as the party's top candidate and therefore its presidential candidate for the 2017 election. Lourenço, and not Vicente, was thus expected to succeed dos Santos as President.

In 2020, Vicente was described as mastermind of a triumvirate alongside Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento and Manuel Hélder Vieira Dias Junior, who built a secret banking network to transfer millions of dollars out of Angola.