João Bernardo de Miranda

João Bernardo de Miranda(born July 18, 1952) is anAngolanpolitician who is currently theAmbassadorofAngolainFrance. He wasMinister of External Relationsof Angola from January 1999 to October 2008 and the Governor ofBengo Provincefrom 2009 to 2018.
De Miranda was born inCaxito-Dande,Bengo, Angola. He has academic degrees in journalism, law, andinternational relations.
He began his political career at a very young age by joining thePopular Movement for the Liberation of Angola(MPLA), Angola's ruling party since its independence in 1975. He has held various positions within the party, mostly related to journalism,radio, andpropaganda.
In 1990, he was appointed to the post of Vice-Minister for Information, and was chosen to be part of thetask forcein theBicesse Accordsthe following year. He was moved to theMinistryof External Relations soon after. In 1993, he led a high level governmentaltask forceto the exploratory conversations with theNational Union for the Total Independence of Angola(UNITA) that took place inZambia. The outcome of those talks gave way to the signature of theLusakaProtocolin 1994.
He was appointed Minister of External Relations in 1999 during a very critical time, in which theNational Assembly of Angolagave PresidentJose Eduardo dos Santosa substantial amount of power in order to bring about an end to thecivil warthe nation was facing. In the process, President dos Santos made a series of critical changes within the government that brought a core of loyal and pragmatic individuals such asFernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos,Kundi Paihama, and de Miranda. Being fully oriented by President dos Santos, the newly appointedministerbegan an intensive and tireless diplomatic campaign in order to isolate UNITA politically, and weaken its military capabilities through sanctions on its arms suppliers. In the process, he was able to gain international sympathy for the Angolan government's cause.
In 2002, de Miranda secured more than enough votes for Angola in theUN Security Council, as a non-permanent member for the 2002 - 2003 period.
In 2003, de Miranda was featured in the book cover ofLeaders of the World - 2003by the late American author Marilyn Perry. In his book "15 Meses no Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros" former PortugueseMinister of Foreign AffairsDiogo Freitas do Amaraldescribed de Miranda as a solid politician with whom he was very pleased to work.
In 2006 de Miranda oversaw, under the watch of President dos Santos, the successful elections in theDemocratic Republic of Congo, as part of the stabilizing process in the Great Lakes region.
Miranda was the 32nd candidate on the MPLA's national list in theSeptember 2008 parliamentary election.He won a seat in this election, in which the MPLA won an overwhelming majority in theNational Assembly.Following the election, President dos Santos appointedAssunção dos Anjosto replace Miranda asForeign Ministeron October 1, 2008.
Miranda was subsequently theAfrican Union's envoy toGuinea-Bissauat the time of that country'sJune 2009 presidential election. Following the assassination of presidential candidateBaciro Dabo, he said on state radio that the African Union wanted the election to go ahead as scheduled.
De Miranda is also the author of two literary works.