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Date: | Mon, 6 Oct 2003 22:14:13 +0200 |
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Is it not time The Gambian people follow Angolans to demonstrate for a better life.
Down to Yahya jammeh and his criminals.
Fye Niamorkono.
Angola marchers press for poll
By Zoe Eisenstein
BBC correspondent in Luanda
More than 1,000 Angolans have taken to the streets of the capital, Luanda,
in the country's first authorised anti-government demonstration since the
civil war ended 18 months ago.
The Unita movement has now laid down its arms
The protest was called by a coalition of 87 small opposition parties who are
demanding a date for elections. They want a vote in 2004.
Men, women and youths danced and sang down the streets of Luanda in the
country's biggest show of discontent since the peace accord ending a 27-year
civil war was signed in April last year.
They chanted slogans like "down with dictatorship," and "out with the ruling
MPLA".
But the core reason for their protest came down to the demand for the
government to set a date for all-party elections, the first in more than a
decade.
President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has said it would take two years to
prepare the country for a ballot, but still has not set a date.
Symbolic
The former rebel movement and now largest opposition party, Unita, says it
wants the elections to be held in 2005 but today's demonstrators said they
want the ballot to be held sooner.
Angola is sub-Saharan Africa's second largest oil producer, after Nigeria,
but critics say little of the oil wealth trickles down to its 13 million
people.
The International Monetary Fund says corruption and bad management are a
serious drag to the country's economy, which is almost entirely dependent on
oil.
The protestors said they felt the march was symbolically important because
it was the first time they had been authorised to express their anger.
But most of them said they did not believe the government would listen to,
or act on, their message.
Bro. Germaine G. Verdier
Chairman
http://www.vhi-sweden.org
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