Angola's President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has announced he will step down in 2018, having ruled since 1979, The BBC reported on Friday

"I took the decision to leave and end my political life in 2018," he told a congress of the ruling MPLA party.

In 2001, Mr Dos Santos said he would not seek office in the next presidential elections, which were then abolished under the new constitution.

He is Africa's second longest-serving leader, after Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

General elections are due in Angola, Africa's second largest oil producer, in August 

Source: MENA