Angolan President flies to Brazil

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has traveled to Brazil for a medical checkup a day after admitting there was dissent in the security forces and four days after returning from a two-week vacation in Dubai.

Photo: Angolan President flies to Brazil

A presidential communique late Thursday said the 63-year-old head of state was to undergo treatment on an old Achilles tendon injury. It did not provide further details.

Dos Santos, who has ruled Angola since 1979, said Wednesday that discipline problems had emerged in the country's security ministry, though he insisted the trouble was not widespread.

His comments fueled speculation of political instability. Newspaper reports last weekend claimed Dos Santos he had been targeted by coup plotters.

Rumors of unrest grew when units from the presidential guard left their compound and patrolled the capital in a rare public show of force.

Dos Santos has had Achilles tendon problems for several years and underwent surgery in Brazil, where he is believed to own real estate.

He spent a three-week vacation in Brazil last October, reports the AP.

I.L.