Foreign assets of Isabel dos Santos 'safe - for now'

Angolan courts have not taken any action to seize the foreign assets of the billionaire daughter of ex-President José Eduardo dos Santo but "will not hesitate to resort to such mechanisms if necessary", a prosecution spokesman has told Reuters news agency.

Last month, a court ordered the freezing of Isabel dos Santos' Angolan assets and bank accounts as part of an attempt by the government to recover about $1bn (£760m) it says it is owed by the ex-president's daughter and her associates.

It also demanded the seizure of her stake in local companies, including telecoms giant Unitel and bank Fomento de Angola (BFA), the state-owned news agency reported.

She said "a trial had been held in total secrecy" and the ruling was a "politically motivated attack" against her.

Often described as Africa's richest woman, Ms Dos Santos is estimated by Forbes magazine to have a fortune of $2.2bn.

The 46-year-old lives abroad, saying she moved from Angola because her life had been threatened.

She runs a huge business empire with stakes in companies in Angola and Portugal, where she has shares in cable television firm Nos SGPS.

Prosecution spokesman Alvaro Joao said the case was not being treated as a corruption case, but as a civil matter related to debts owed to the stare, Reuters reports.

"The parties can resolve the case in a number of ways: recognising the debt to the state, and paying it, or taking it to the end of the case to let the courts decide," he is quoted as saying.

Ms Dos Santos gained a high public profile in 2016, when her father controversially appointed her as the head of Angola's state-owned oil firm Sonangol.

She was sacked from the post in 2017 by President Joao Lourenço, her father's handpicked successor.