'Europe can count on Angola' for energy, President João Lourenço tells Euronews

The impact of the war in Ukraine is being felt far beyond the European continent. In a bid to cut its dependence on Russian gas, Europe is keen to shore up its energy supply and look for alternative sources.

As the war in Ukraine passed its one-year mark, and following the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron and Felipe VI, the King of Spain, Euronews spoke to Angola's President João Lourenço about the vision of Africa's second-largest oil producer, and a potential supplier of natural gas to Europe.

In two of the three resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, which were aimed at Russia, Angola abstained. 

"Abstention is not disapproval. Abstention means abstention. It should be interpreted as such," João Lourenço told Euronews. 

"In the second resolution Angola voted in favour because the resolution was very concrete, it aimed above all to condemn the annexation of the four regions from the Donbas." 

"In the most recent resolution, Angola abstained. However, beforehand it took the precaution of trying to negotiate - if we may use that term - either the withdrawal or the easing [...] of just one paragraph. I am referring specifically to the operative paragraph, as they call it, or P9, which referred to [...] taking the aggressor to an international criminal court. 

"It is not that this cannot be done, but we understand, and we know negotiation methods, that when you are negotiating you must always leave a door open."

"We believe that the priority at the moment is to bring Russia to the negotiating table. We must do everything in our power to bring both parties, but especially Russia, to the negotiating table to achieve a lasting ceasefire and to negotiate peace not only with Ukraine but also with NATO," Angola's