Angola adopts law limiting power of future presidents

Angola's parliament has passed a law that will curb the powers of future presidents to sack army and police bosses, reports AFP news agency.

In the new law - which will only apply to the successors of the current head of state - army, police and intelligence services bosses will be protected in their posts for eight years, says AFP.

Angolans will go to the polls on 23 August to choose their new leader as President Jose Eduardo dos Santos will stand down after over thirty years in power.

But critics argue that Mr Dos Santos is trying to retain control of the military after he leaves office.

"It means that the president will not be able to remove them [army bosses] from their posts," Andre Mendes de Carvalho, a lawmaker with the opposition CASA-CE party, told AFP.

"A law like this shouldn't be passed just weeks before the end of a [presidential] term" he argued.