In a presidential decree, Eduardo dos Santos also removed Cadido Pereira dos Santos Van-Dunem from the post of defense minister and reappointed him as Minister of Ex-Combatants and Veterans of the Motherland, replacing Kundi Paihama, who was recently assigned to govern the central Huambo province.

　　Before becoming the defense chief, Joao Lourenco had been the first deputy speaker of the National Assembly (Parliament) since 2012.

　　The presidential decree did not specify the reason for such a reshuffle.