Angola needs roughly four billion dollars to rebuild its war-torn infrastructure, the southwest African nation's public works minister said yesterday while on an official visit to former colonial power Portugal.

"Our priority right now is to repair rural roads and bridges," Higino Carneiro told reporters during a joint news conference with his Portuguese counterpart Antonio Carmona Rodrigues.

He said the oil-rich country was looking to secure foreign financing for major rebuilding projects in the country.

A 27-year civil war, which ended in 2002, has left Angola with a legacy of bullet-scarred buildings, wrecked roads and downed bridges.

Most people do not have a telephone or electricity and subsistence agriculture provides the main livelihood for roughly 85% of the nation's population of just under 11-million. – Sapa-AFP.