Angola's main opposition party Unita expressed concern Wednesday about what it called the deteriorating state of democracy in the oil-producing southern African country, after a rare meeting with its longtime president. The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) said it feared a reversal in progress made since a devastating civil war with its rival the ruling MPLA party ended more than a decade ago. "Since 2002 we have started a process of democratisation and national reconciliation, but for some time now we have been backsliding," said party leader Isaias Samakuva a day after meeting President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Encounters between the opposition leader and Dos Santos, who will soon celebrate 35 years in power, are very rare.

The ultra-deep Angolan offshore oil project called Kaombo generated the third huge contract in three days on Wednesday when French group Total picked two firms to carry out underwater engineering worth $3.5 billion. The latest groups to win a share of the mega investment are French engineering firm Technip in association with Dutch company Heerema Marine Contractors.

French oil group Total has found ways of reducing the cost of extracting ultra-deep Angolan offshore oil reserves by a fifth and has decided to go ahead with investment in the Kaombo project, the firm said on Monday. Total and its venture partners have found ways of reducing the overall capital cost by $4.0 billion (2.9 billion euros) to $16.0 billion, and production is set to begin in 2017, Total said in a statement.

The Ebola haemorrhagic fever plaguing Guinea is caused by one of the deadliest viruses known to mankind, killing up to 90 percent of people it infects. The tropical virus can fell its victims within days, causing severe fever and muscle pain, weakness, vomiting and diarrhoea. Of some 1,850 people diagnosed with Ebola haemorrhagic fever since the virus was first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire) 38 years ago, 1,200 have died, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Out of 86 known cases in Guinea, there have been more than 60 deaths in the southern forest region of the west African nation,which borders Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The Ebola virus plaguing Guinea is one of the deadliest known to man, claiming the lives of two-thirds of the people it has infected so far. The tropical virus can fell its victims within days, causing severe fever and muscle pain, weakness, vomiting and diarrhoea -- in some cases shutting down organs and causing unstoppable bleeding. Of around 1,850 people diagnosed with Ebola haemorrhagic fever since the virus was first identified 38 years ago in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire), 1,200 have died, the UN health agency says. Of 86 cases in Guinea there have been 59 deaths in the southern forest region of the west African nation bordering Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone.