José Eduardo dos Santos, who plundered Angola, has died

endured more than its share of grotesque dictators. Mobutu Sese Seko guzzled pink champagne in a jungle Versailles built from his plundering of Congo. Sani Abacha, who looted Nigeria’s oil money, was allegedly poisoned while in the company of three prostitutes. Jean-Bédel Bokassa, the self-proclaimed Emperor of Central Africa, fed his opponents to animals. Robert Mugabe, reserved by comparison, dressed in Savile Row suits while decrying the perfidious British, and brought in North Koreans to train his soldiers to massacre his opponents.José Eduardo dos Santos, who was announced dead in a Barcelona hospital on July 8th, ruled for longer than any of these men. He was president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. His manner was restrained, he rarely gave interviews, and when he did he said little of interest. He was also ruthless, repressive and staggeringly corrupt. He was arguably the master of the neo-patrimonial, or clientelistic, style of African politics that emerged after decolonisation, using vast oil rents to run his own dictatorship. Angola continues to suffer from his legacy, which it is struggling to shake off.