Military plans to draft 15,000 soldiers

The Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) would draft about 15,000 men born in the years of 1979 and 1980 in coming months to "replace military effectives", a Lusa report said on Wednesday. Quoting a ministry decision published in the government gazette on Tuesday, the report said the move became public on the same day the FAA - founded in 1992 after the country's only democratic election - celebrated in ninth anniversary. According to the report, previous government draft programmes often involved military police raids in urban neighbourhoods. In marking the FAA anniversary, Defence Minister Kundi Paihama called for "vigilance", saying "enemies of peace, democracy and progress" in Angola were determined to block "programmes of reconstruction and development and the creation of conditions" for holding "democratic elections". He praised the armed forces for what he said was their "neutralisation" of UNITA's conventional military capacity in major 1998-1999 offensives, the report said. Jonas Savimbi's rebels, he added, were today "reduced to practicing terrorism".