A Call for Accountability and Integrity in the UN System in Angola

 

Most Wanted Fugitives

 

We have been observing the high number of UN agencies and international organisations operating in Angola. After years of observing their work and impact, we have started asking a simple question: what have these organisations actually achieved after so many years operating in the country?

Many of these organisations appear to be led by people who are more focused on self-promotion, personal interests, and access to money than on solving the serious problems affecting Angola and other African countries. This raises an important question: why have Angola and many other African countries seen so little major, visible, and lasting transformation despite decades of international organisations operating here?

One example that deeply concerns us is the UN Global Compact Network in Angola. Our experience with the network has been extremely disappointing. We dealt with a young woman who, in our experience, appeared to have very little understanding of the organisation, its mission, or the global challenges it is supposed to help address, while being highly focused on financial contributions and expanding the number of rich companies and banks joining the network.

 

Our organisation began the Global Compact entry process between April and June 2024. We signed an anti-corruption agreement because we take these principles seriously. However, we could not tolerate what we understood to be financial pressure and demands for money. After we refused, our organisation was removed from the Global Compact process in November 2024.

We also experienced what we considered to be the persecution of our CEO. At one point, she did not want to invite our CEO to the onboarding meeting. Thanks to Mr. Lucas Ribeiro from Brazil and his team, we were nevertheless able to attend the onboarding.

 

More recently, we came across information indicating that the same person who unfairly removed our organisation was being presented as a legitimate member of the UN Global Compact and competed for The 100 Most Influential Women in Angola. We strongly protest this situation and also question the role of individuals within UNDP whom we believe assisted or enabled what happened.

After filing a complaint, we were informed that the person who deleted our organisation from the system was allegedly a hacker from UNDP. If this is true, it raises extremely serious questions about security, accountability, and institutional responsibility.

 

 After so many years of international organisations operating in Angola, where are the transformative results that ordinary people can clearly see?

We want answers.

We want those responsible to be investigated and, if wrongdoing is established, held accountable.

It is deeply frustrating to see people publicly speaking about the SDGs, sustainability, anti-corruption, and development while, from our experience, their actions appear to be driven by money and personal advancement rather than by solving the problems affecting Angola.

Africa does not need more people using international organisations for self-promotion. Africa needs genuine people committed to creating real and measurable transformation.

 

During the period when our CEO was being persecuted, we also noticed what we considered to be suspicious movements involving the lady from the Global Compact, individuals within UNDP whom we associated with her, and Mr. Hervé Lado, alongside Banco Millennium Atlântico (ATLANTICO) in Angola.

 

We began receiving repeated and unusual invitations from ATLANTICO, despite the fact that our organisation has never been a customer of this bank, and our CEO has never had an account with ATLANTICO.

At the time, we questioned why a bank with which we had no relationship was suddenly showing such interest in our organisation.

Now, we have learned information that makes our previous suspicions even more concerning.

ATLANTICO officially joined the United Nations Global Compact and publicly identifies itself as committed to the UN Global Compact's principles, including anti-corruption. In 2026, ATLANTICO was also publicly identified as holding the chairmanship of the Board of the newly launched UN Global Compact Country Network Angola.

This makes us ask a very serious question:

Could the money that the lady from the Global Compact was asking our organisation to pay have been connected in any way to ATLANTICO, rather than being an official payment to the UN Global Compact itself?

We do not present this as an established fact. We are asking for a transparent investigation because the circumstances and the connections we have now discovered make this question impossible for us to ignore.

Why were we repeatedly invited by ATLANTICO when we were not and had never been its customers?

Who initiated those invitations?

What information about our organisation and our CEO had been shared with the bank?

Our suspicions at the time may not have been unfounded. We have only now discovered information that makes the sequence of events even more concerning.