JOHANNESBURG, Feb 20 (Reuters) - A British human rights worker jailed in Angola on a charge of espionage has met with a British official and could be granted bail on Wednesday, the London-based group Global Witness said. Sarah Wykes, an anti-corruption campaigner with the organisation, was arrested at her hotel in Angola's oil-rich Cabinda enclave on Sunday morning and has been held in a local prison while authorities considered her request for bail. Wykes, who arrived in the southern African nation last week to discuss oil-related transparency issues with civic groups in Cabinda, was supposed to be released on bail of about $2,000 on Monday after appearing in court, Global Witness said. But a local prosecutor did not sign her papers and she is scheduled to make another court appearance on Wednesday, according to the group, which has described the case against her as baseless. Angola's state-run news agency ANGOP said Wykes was accused of violating Angola's national security, which could cover anything from meeting banned groups to taking pictures of sensitive installations, such as oil refineries. If granted bail, she will be prevented from leaving Angola without the government's permission, ANGOP said. The British government has said it was discussing her case with Angolan officials. Wykes has met with the British consul in Cabinda, Global Witness said. One of her lawyers described the conditions in her prison cell as unhygenic, with poor ventilation and no access to water. She is being provided basic supplies by representatives of local civic groups. Angola's government tends to take a dim view of foreign activists, especially when they are perceived to be meddling in Cabinda, a former Portuguese protectorate that is seen as critical to Angola's economic development. Separated from the rest of Angola by a small strip of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cabinda accounts for between 50 percent and 65 percent of the estimated 1.4 million barrels of oil produced each day in the southwestern African nation. Angola, sub-Saharan Africa's second-largest petroleum producer after Nigeria, is frequently accused of having one of the world's most corrupt oil sectors, with large portions of revenue unaccounted for each year. Luanda, however, has refused to bow to Western demands that it make its economy more transparent, turning instead to China for the credit and loans to reconstruct after a devastating 27-year civil war that ended in 2002.
