Improve effectiveness of sanctions against UNITA - UN

The UN Security Council said in a statement on Thursday 15 November that the effectiveness of sanctions against UNITA rebels in Angola needed to be improved, and called on member countries to cooperate fully with its sanctions monitoring mechanism. "The Security Council this evening (Thursday 15 November) reaffirmed its intention to keep under close and ongoing monitoring the sanctions against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), with a view to improve their effectiveness until the conditions in the relevant Security Council resolutions were met. It called on member states to cooperate fully with the Security Council committee and the monitoring mechanism on sanctions against UNITA," the statement said. The Council also expressed its support for the Angolan government's efforts to implement the Lusaka Peace Protocol through its Fund for Peace and National Reconciliation, and for the government's intention to hold "free and fair" elections, when "appropriate" conditions were in place. The Council stated that Jonas Savimbi and the armed faction of UNITA were "primarily responsible" for the failure to implement the Lusaka Peace Protocol and reaffirmed that the protocol was the only viable basis for a political settlement of the conflict. The statement came after an open debate in which Under-Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari told the Council that in some cases, fighting had intensified in Angola, with UNITA guerrilla activities spreading to several parts of the country. Gambari said that the continued fighting had a "devastating effect on the country's social fabric and had further impoverished its people". "In general the humanitarian salutation had deteriorated," he told Council members. Gambari warned that "careful attention" needed to be paid to the situation along the Angola-Zambia border as it was neither secure nor stable. "Refugees continued to arrive in the Western province of Zambia from Angola, reportedly in deplorable conditions," he told the Council. For the Security Council statement please go to http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/sc7215.doc.htm