Angola
Angolan rebels giving mixed signals on peace effort

afrol News, 17 March  - While it has been announced that peace talks have taken place between Angolan government forces and UNITA rebel leaders, as foreseen by the government's peace plan, one UNITA group says these were only a propaganda farce by government media. The government's truce was however welcomed.

According to the spokesman for the UNITA External Mission in Lisbon, Carlos Morgado, the peace talks held on Friday between government troops and rebel leaders were "a farce". The negotiating UNITA representatives had been captives and not attended voluntarily to the talks. "That entire scenario... was intended to be sold to the international community as if there was an agreement coming," said Morgado. 

UNITA's External Mission however only is one of various fractions within the rebels, which seem to be lacking unity after their leader, Jonas Savimbi, was killed by government troops on 22 February. UNITA leaders in Angola have given other signals, although Morgado claims they are in captivity.

Yesterday, the Angolan armed forces and local UNITA rebel issued a joint communiqué saying they had agreed to end the Angolan civil war and enter into peace negotiations. The UNITA delegation was led by the rebel's chief of staff, General Abreu Kamorteiro, who Morgado claims recently was arrested by government troops. Morgado's claims have not been verified by UNITA rebels in Angola.

Angolan Army deputy chief of staff, General Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda, had negotiated with Kamorteiro in the distant Eastern Moxico province, and made an emotional statement over the peace process. "Peace has arrived to the country," Nunda declared several times, and heard the UNITA chief of staff saying the same.

General Kamorteiro added to Nunda's statement that "many politicians have used the same expression, but I am not a politician, I am a soldier, so when I speak of peace I really mean it." The chief of staff also assured he was in regular contact with UNITA's Secretary General Paulo Lukamba, better known as "General Gato". UNITA sources in Moxico Province confirm the sincerity of the UNITA-government peace talks.

The contradicting information about the peace talks by different UNITA sources illustrates the division among the rebels, most outspoken by the split between the fractions in Angola and the fractions representing the rebels abroad. 

This split is also noted in the question of electing a new, unifying UNITA leader after the death of Savimbi, and the death of UNITA Vice-President António Dembo a few days after. While UNITA sources in Portugal indicate that Isaias Samakuva has been elected as the new interim leader of the rebels, UNITA rebels in Angola refer to "General Gato" when they talk about the movement's provisional leadership. 

At least all UNITA fractions seem to agree on one important issue; they all welcome the government's announcement of a cessation of "all offensive military movements" on 13 March. Also UNITA's mission in Lisbon welcomed the truce, saying it was "a positive step on the long road to peace." It would however not agree peace had "come to the country."

Meanwhile, the government's peace initiative has been hailed worldwide for making use of the momentum gained by Savimbi's death and the hopeless military and economic situation experienced by UNITA. The UN expressed satisfaction with the peace plan, considering it as "conciliating", according to a statement made by UN representative Mussagy Jeichande in Luanda. Also the country's Catholic Bishops made a statement, welcoming the government's "benevolent language and gesture," expressed towards the end of the armed conflict.

The government has invited UNITA to resolve its leadership problem, avoiding militants, so that UNITA could return to its role as a normal and legal political party. UNITA should be fully integrated "into the national polity," President dos Santos had declared. "The government will present a proposal to the National Assembly for the approval of an amnesty for all crimes committed in the ambit of the armed conflict, aiming to ensure the necessary juridical and political rights to the promotion of national reconciliation process," he promised.

MPLA, the governing party, has announced it will follow a two-track policy in seeking a peace deal with UNITA rebels, discussing military issues with commanders in the bush and political issues with the UNITA-Renovada faction of the rebel movement which is represented in parliament.

Sources: Based on Angolan govt., RDP, UNITA and afrol archives

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