Since the demise 6 weeeks ago of Jonas Savimbi, the founder and leader of
the UNITA rebel movement who was regarded as the only obstacle to peace in
Angola, Angolans on both sides of the fraticidal and senseless civil war
have been implementing measures towards burying the hatchet between them.
please read on from Africa News Update.
This is good news for the long-suffering peoples of mineral-rich Angola and
all Pan-Africanists.
The yoke of oppression must be shatered!
BMK
>>>From: "Africa News Update (NCA)" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>>Subject: AFRICA NEWS UPDATE 05/04/02
>>>Date: Fri, 05 Apr 2002 10:57:45 +0200
>>>
>>>********************AFRICA NEWS UPDATE**********************
>>>
>>>FREE of charge news and background service from the Norwegian
>>>Council for Africa. The Norwegian Council for Africa (Fellesrådet
>>>for Afrika) is a non-profit making NGO.
>>>
>>>Africa News Update publishes articles from African sources only.
>>>The news items and background stories are for reading and
>>>information only, and strictly not for publication, broadcast or
>>>other forms of redistribution. Some of the articles included in
>>>AFRICA NEWS UPDATE are shortened.
>>>
>>>***********************************************************
>>>
>>>CONTENT:
>>>
>>>1. Angola: Peace Accord signed to end 26 years of civil war
>>>
>>>2. Angola: Former Angolan rebel Unita troops start encampment
>>>***********************NEWSandBACKGROUND*************************
>>>
>>>1. Angola: Peace Accord signed to end 26 years of civil war
>>>
>>>Inter-Press Service (IPS), 4. April 2002
>>>
>>>By Chris Simpson
>>>
>>>Luanda - Six weeks after the death of its leader, Jonas Savimbi, the
>>>National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) has signed a
>>>peace agreement with the government, aimed at ending 26 years of civil
>>>war
>>>that has devastated the vast oil-and-diamond-rich country.
>>>
>>>The new agreement was signed by Angolan government Chief of Staff,
>>>General
>>>Armando da Cruz Neto and his UNITA counterpart General Abreu Muengo
>>>Ukwachitembo 'Kamorteiro' at Angola's national assembly building on
>>>Thursday.
>>>
>>>Up to 4,000 dignitaries, including Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos
>>>Santos
>>>and UNITA's 'interim' leader, Paulo Lukamba 'Gato were in attendance.
>>>
>>>Heads of state and representatives from neighbouring countries and the
>>>United Nations as well as nominees from the United States, Russia and
>>>Portugal were also in attendance.
>>>
>>>The latter three countries formed the ''troika'' originally formed to
>>>observe the 1994 Lusaka peace accords, which fell apart in 1998.
>>>
>>>The ceremony in Luanda, the capital of Angola, comes five days after a
>>>preliminary cease-fire signed by General Kamorteiro and deputy government
>>>commander General Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda in Luena, 800 kilometres east
>>>of
>>>Luanda.
>>>
>>>Earlier this week, the national assembly pushed through an amnesty
>>>covering
>>>''all civilians and soldiers, Angolan or foreign, who committed crimes
>>>against the security of the Angolan state'' as well as ''any person
>>>imprisoned during the war''.
>>>
>>>The Luanda agreement is the first to have been signed by the two parties
>>>on
>>>Angolan territory. In May 1991 President Dos Santos signed an accord with
>>>the then UNITA leader Savimbi in Bicesse, Portugal, ending more than 16
>>>years of civil war.
>>>
>>>After the collapse of Bicesse and a return to conflict, the United
>>>Nations
>>>finally brokered a new peace deal in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, in
>>>November 1994. After numerous delays in the implementation of Lusaka,
>>>fighting resumed in Angola in 1998.
>>>
>>>General Gato has emphasised that UNITA is not surrendering, telling
>>>reporters in Luanda: ''we did not come to the agreement as our only
>>>choice,
>>>we did not with a knife to our backs''.
>>>
>>>But the past few weeks appear to have taken a heavy toll on UNITA. The
>>>first
>>>news of Savimbi's death was greeted with shock, anger and the promise to
>>>fight on. Since then, there has been increasing evidence of a lack of
>>>co-ordination in the higher echelons of the movement.
>>>
>>>UNITA's 'external wing', made up of representatives like Carlos Morgado
>>>(Lisbon), Isaias Samakuva (Paris) and Jardo Muekalia (the United States),
>>>has issued several communiqués. But its relations with commanders still
>>>in
>>>the field, including Kamoteiro and Gato, have not been clear, with
>>>communications increasingly difficult.
>>>
>>>UNITA, which has a standing army of 50,000, warned last month that a
>>>peace
>>>deal signed by captive commanders would not be recognised by the
>>>leadership.
>>>
>>>Savimbi's official replacement, UNITA vice-president, Antonio Dembo,
>>>reportedly died within days of Savimbi, succumbing to diabetes, although
>>>the
>>>exact circumstances of his death remain unclear.
>>>
>>>Predictably, the Angolan government was quick to take diplomatic
>>>advantage
>>>of Savimbi's death, issuing an appeal to UNITA combatants to lay down
>>>their
>>>guns. Dos Santos used already scheduled visits to Lisbon and Washington
>>>to
>>>highlight the government's readiness to talk.
>>>
>>>On Mar 13, the government announced the suspension of all offensive
>>>movements, so that contacts between government and UNITA military
>>>commanders
>>>could carry on.
>>>
>>>The Mar 13 communique, also outlined what the government saw as the
>>>essential elements for a lasting settlement: the demobilisation of UNITA
>>>forces and the reintegration of UNITA soldiers into the national army;
>>>the
>>>extension of state administration across national territory; the
>>>completion
>>>of the electoral process interrupted in 1992.
>>>
>>>The government also stressed the need for UNITA to resolve its leadership
>>>problems and find some kind of internal unity.
>>>
>>>That process has supposedly begun. UNITA-Renovada, the wing that broke
>>>with
>>>Savimbi over his refusal to implement Lusaka, has stressed the need for
>>>the
>>>movement to heal past rifts.
>>>
>>>Renovada leader, Eugenio Manuvakola, says talks between UNITA cadres in
>>>Luanda should help ''build a new leadership for the party''. Senior
>>>Renovada
>>>figures openly welcomed Savimbi's death, something which may still
>>>antagonise Savimbi loyalists.
>>>
>>>Both the government and UNITA seem likely to use the Lusaka agreement as
>>>their main point of reference in a resumed dialogue. That will be
>>>welcomed
>>>by the United Nations, which will take on a high profile role in the
>>>months
>>>ahead.
>>>
>>>UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Adviser on Africa, Ibrahim
>>>Gambari, is currently in Luanda, bearing a message from Annan to Dos
>>>Santos
>>>and encouraging dialogue.
>>>
>>>Angola's civil war has raged since the country won independence from
>>>Portugal in 1975.
>>>
>>>*****************
>>>
>>>2. Angola: Former Angolan rebel Unita troops start encampment
>>>
>>>Panafrican News Agency (PANA), 5. April 2002
>>>
>>>Luanda - Unita's northern military commander, Gen. Apolo assured in
>>>Luanda
>>>Thursday that troops under his command have already started the
>>>encampment
>>>process in the areas stipulated under the Lwena memorandum of
>>>understanding.
>>>
>>>Speaking short before the official signing of cease-fire in Luanda, Gen.
>>>Apolo promised that the process would be completed within the one month
>>>deadline as stipulated.
>>>
>>>Angola News Agency reported that the encampment of Unita soldiers
>>>officially
>>>begins Friday.
>>>
>>>The Unita general welcomed the latest developments noting that everyone
>>>is
>>>departing firm towards the construction of an effective and definitive
>>>peace
>>>in Angola.
>>>
>>>Another veteran Unita general, Samuel Chiwale, also transmitted a message
>>>of
>>>peace to Angolans in his capacity as a member of the former rebel group's
>>>military high command. He directed his
>>>troops to start heading for the quartering areas.
>>>
>>>Chiwale said he was preparing to leave the military career so as to take
>>>up
>>>his seat in the parliament.
>>>
>>>Official estimates indicated that at least 50,000 UNITA soldiers will
>>>assemble in 26 areas jointly defined by the Angolan Armed Forces and
>>>Unita
>>>leaders.
>>>
>>>****************
>
>>>*********************************END*****************************
>>>
>>>Sent by:
>>>
>>>Nina Monsen
>>>The Norwegian Council for Africa
>>>(Fellesradet for Afrika)
>>>(Conselho Norueges para a Africa)
>>>
>>>Postal address:
>>>Osterhaus gate 27
>>>N-0183 Oslo, Norway
>>>Tel: + 47 22 98 93 11
>>>Fax: + 47 22 98 93 01
>>>
>>>Email: [log in to unmask]
>>>Private email: [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>>Internet: http://www.afrika.no
>>>
>>>The Norwegian Council for Africa is a non-profit making NGO.
>>>
>>>For more news on Africa, please go to:Africa News Service
>>>http://www.allafrica.com
>>>
>>>To (un)subscribe, please go to afrika.no at:
>>>http://www.afrika.no/info/
>>>mangabai
>
>
>
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