angola: Beg, borrow and steal

Angola, a hoped-for oil ally of the United States and with a seat on the United Nations Security Council this year, should be doing well. Its civil war ended last April after the death of Jonas Savimbi. The price of its growing oil exports has been boosted by the Iraq crisis. Yet the nation's foreign reserves have sunk to less than US$200 million, raising again major questions about government accountability. The government is not saying where up to $900m of export earnings have been spent since last July.