António Fwaminy da Costa Fernandes
Ambassador of Angola to Egypt[1]
In office
1 June 2011 – 2019
Ambassador of Angola to India
In office
2005–2011
Ambassador of Angola to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
In office
1994–2005
Personal details
Born (1942-04-26) 26 April 1942
Cabinda, Angola
Political partyUNITA (until 1992)
EducationUniversity of Fribourg
AwardsOrder of the Hero of the National Independence

António Fwaminy da Costa Fernandes aka Tony da Costa Fernandes (Cabinda, 26 April 1942) is an Angolan politician. He served as UNITA's representative to the United Kingdom.[2] Along with Jonas Savimbi, he was co-founder of UNITA. He has been Angola's ambassador to Egypt, the United Kingdom, and India, and non-resident ambassador to Thailand.[3]

UNITA

Costa Fernandes studied with Savimbi, the future leader of UNITA, in Switzerland. In November 1963 they went to Portugal, planning an uprising against Portuguese colonial authorities in Angola.

Later, when UNITA allied with the People's Republic of China, Costa Fernandes recruited the first refugees in Zambia to go to China for military training. He went along with fourteen other men.[2]

He served as the Foreign Minister of UNITA.

In the 1990s Fernandes and UNITA Interior Minister General Miguel N'Zau Puna allegedly uncovered the fact that UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi ordered the assassinations of both Wilson dos Santos, UNITA's representative to Portugal, and Tito Chingunji, one of Costa Fernandes' predecessors. Dos Santos and Chingunji's deaths and the defections of Fernandes and Puna weakened the U.S.-UNITA relationship and seriously harmed Savimbi's international reputation.[4] Costa Fernandes left UNITA in 1992.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "President sacks and appoints ambassadors". FAAPA. 2023-07-16. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
  2. 1 2 Brittain, Victoria (1998). Death of Dignity: Angola's Civil War. p. 10.
  3. ↑ "Ambassador". Embassy of the Republic of Angola. September 2012. Archived from the original on 2019-02-01.
  4. ↑ Meredith, Martin (2005). The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair: A History of 50 Years of Independence. p. 604.
  5. ↑ British-Angola Forum Conference Report (PDF) (Report). Chatham House. November 2002. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
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