Angola Forum Symposium Angola: Celebrating 10 years of peace Tuesday, 17th April 2012 Speakers’ Biographies HE Ambassador Miguel Gaspar Fernandes Neto Ambassador Neto is the representative of the Republic of Angola to the Court of St. James, a post which he took up in 2012. Previously he served as Angolan Ambassador to South Africa, Ethiopia and at the African Union, and as Ambassador to Nigeria. In the past he also held the post of Director for Africa in the Angolan Ministry for External Relations. In 1989 he was designated as Roving Ambassador of the Republic of Angola by presidential decree. Alex Vines Alex Vines is Research Director of Regional Studies and International Law and Head of the Africa Programme at Chatham House. He is also a part‐time Lecturer in the Department of International Studies and Social Science at Coventry University and an Associate in the University’s African Studies Centre. He was an election officer in Malanje province for UNAVEM II in Angola for the national elections in 1992 and has been a regular visitor since. From 1993 to 1999 he was the Angola analyst at Human Rights Watch and published two books on the Angolan conflict and its violations of laws of war. He was also Africa editor of the ‘Landmine Monitor’. Recent publications include ‘Angola: Assessing Risks to Stability,’ (CSIS Africa Report Report, with Markus Weimer, June 2011); ‘Angola: Clearing the Killing Fields,’ (May 2011), 'Beyond Bullets and Ballots: The Reintegration of UNITA in Angola', (with others, 2009) and ‘Au‐DeLà Du Pétro‐militarisme: La Strategie Exterieure Angolaise D'Après‐Guerre', (with others, June 2008). Dr Christopher Alden Christopher Alden is Reader at the Department of International Relations of the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research focuses on post‐conflict peace building; war and political violence; state formation & nation‐building; foreign & defence policy; foreign policy of states in transition; political economy of transition; south ‐south relations; and the political economy of development. Dr Alden’s geographic focus is on Southern Africa. In 2007 he co‐authored the study ‘From soldiers to citizens: the social, economic and political reintegration of UNITA ex‐combatants’ for the Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, South Africa. Angola Forum Angola Forum Event Sponsor Founding Sponsor Sponsors Dr Justin Pearce Justin Pearce is ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at London University and a contributor at Oxford Analytica. He received his PhD from the University of Oxford. His doctoral thesis deals with the local politics of the Angolan civil war (1965‐2002), concentrating on the relationship between political movements (both state and non‐state) and society. The thesis, which he submitted in March 2011, is based upon field research conducted in Angola over two years. Previously, Dr Pearce was Southern Africa correspondent for the BBC news website, BBC World Service correspondent in Luanda, and journalist lfor the Mai & Guardian. As the BBC's sole permanent presence in Angola, Dr Pearce covered a wide range of news for various BBC Radio news programmes and the web and travelled to most of the provinces of Angola. Lauren Cobham Lauren Cobham has been working with MAG for over five years, in roles based both overseas in MAG programmes and at MAG HQ in the UK. In total, she has over six years experience in the humanitarian mine action and development sectors, including four years of overseas postings in both South East Asia and Africa. She currently works as Desk Officer for Angola. In her role Cobham has coordinates with national government and local authorities, and fosters partnerships with national and international humanitarian and mine action organisations on integrated national mine action and humanitarian intervention, linking mine action to the boarder development agenda, ensuring socio‐economic impact, and ensuring programmatic interventions deliver to donor requirements. Ralph Publicover Ralph Publicover is a former British Ambassador to Angola (2005‐2007). In his career at the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office Publicover served in various departments and posts including as First Secretary in the Economic Department in Ottawa, Canada, the European Community Department, and the Cabinet Office. Between 1999 and 2003, Ralph Publicover was Deputy Head of Mission in Lisbon, Portugal. From 2003 to 2004 he was Head of the Consular Crisis Group of the Consular Directorate at the FCO in London, and was appointed British Ambassador to Angola in April 2005. Angola Forum Angola Forum Event Sponsor Founding Sponsor Sponsors John Liebenberg John Liebenberg is an award‐winning photographer from Southern Africa. In the past, he has worked as a press photographer for The Namibian and Reuters in Namibia and Angola. Between 1990 and 1996, working for Reuters Television, he covered the Angolan civil war. His open disregard for the censorship regulations undere th South African Apartheid regime revealed the brutal realities of the wars South Africa was waging in Namibia and Angola. The photos he took appeared on the front pages of major western newspapers. Liebenberg is the keeper of a large photographic archive with documental and aesthetic value. John Liebenberg was awarded with the prize ‘Achievement for Namibia’, and the EU Delegation in Namibia has invited him to exhibit his work in September 2012 at the ‘Visa pour l’image’, a renowned photojournalism festival in Perpignan, France. David Sogge David Sogge is a Board member at the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Sogge works as an independent advisor for grant‐making agencies, specialising in civil society. Sogge’s research and other professional activities in Africa provided a basis for books and articles on Angola and Mozambique and many unpublished reports on South Africa. More recently, evaluative research assignments have taken him to Eastern Europe and countries of the former Soviet Union. Trained at Harvard, David Sogge earned his graduate degrees from Princeton and the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. Recent publications on Angola include ‘Angola: Reinventing Pasts and Futures’ (June 2010), and ‘Angola, ‘Failed’ yet ‘Successful’’ (May 2009). Nicholas Shaxson Nicholas Shaxson is an author, journalist, and an Associate Fellow of Chatham House. He is a full‐ time writer and researcher for the Tax Justice Network. He was Reuters correspondent in Angola from 1993 to 1995. Since 1993 he has written on global business and politics for the Financial Times, Reuters, the Economist, the Economist Intelligence Unit, International Affairs, Foreign Affairs, American Interest, the BBC, Africa Confidential, African Energy, and others. Shaxson is co‐author of the Chatham House report ‘Angola ‐ Drivers of Change: An Overview’ (May 2005), a report which charted the determinants of change in Angola during the post‐Savimbi peace consolidation process within their longer‐term context. Other publications by Shaxson include the investigative books Poisoned Wells (2007) and Treasure Islands (2011). Angola Forum Angola Forum Event Sponsor Founding Sponsor Sponsors Markus Weimer Markus Weimer is Research Fellow in the Africa Programme and Coordinator of the Angola Forum at Chatham House. Previously, he was Project Coordinator at the Chr. Michelson Institute (CMI) in Norway, where he was a member of the management team for the cooperation program between CMI and the Angolan research institute CEIC. He was also involved in two research projects on ‘Political Parties in Angola', and ‘Health, Poverty and Public Expenditure'. Recent publications include, ‘The Peace Dividend: Analysis of a Decade of Angolan Indicators, 2002–12’ (March 2012) ‘Angola: Assessing Risks to Stability (CSIS Africa Report Report, with Alex Vines, June 2011); ‘Education in Angola: Partnership Opportunities for the UK’ (with Emanuel Gomes, May 2011); and, ‘Mozambique: Balancing Development, Politics and Security (with Jeremy Astill‐Brown, September 2010). Professor David Simon David Simon is Professor in Development Geography at the Department of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. He headed the Department of Geography from 2008 to 2011. Professor Simon is Deputy Chair of the Editorial Board of the ‘Journal of Southern African Studies’, Editorial Working Group member of the journalw ‘Revie of African Political Economy’, and Editorial Board member of the journals ‘International Development Planning Review’, ‘Third World Quarterly’ & ‘Progress in Development Studies’. Since 2005 Professor Simon is also a Scientific Steering Committee member at the IHDP programme on Urbanization and Global Environmental Change. He is the author of ‘The bitter Harvest of War: Continuing Social and Humanitarian Dislocation in Angola’ (2001). Angola Forum Angola Forum Event Sponsor Founding Sponsor Sponsors .