UN Security Council condemns UNITA, calls for peace

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday placed the blame for Angola’s ongoing civil war squarely on the shoulders of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi and requested UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to provide “appropriate support” to the Angolan government in preparation for elections. In a statement read out by its president, Jean-David Levitte, the Council also condemned ongoing UNITA attacks on civilian targets. While Angolan villagers regularly suffer fatal UNITA attacks across the country, the murder of more than 250 people during an attack on a passenger train recently drew strong international criticism. UNITA claimed responsibility for the attack and several others which have made news headlines in recent months. The Security Council’s call came as a UN delegation consulted government and civic leaders in Angola this week over, among other things, the country’s preparations for elections. Earlier this year an American team of experts said after widespread consultation in the country that the conditions for free and fair elections did not exist because of a severe lack of security. While it supported the government’s intention to hold elections as part of its democratisation process, the Council stressed the need to create the necessary conditions for elections to be free and fair. The delegation in Angola, headed by UNDP Regional Director for East and Central Africa Petra Lantz, will be expected to assess Angola’s preparedness for elections and make recommendations. President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has indicated several times that he would like the next general election - the first in 10 years - to take place in 2002. “The Security Council remains concerned at the continuing conflict in Angola. It reiterates its position that the primary responsibility for the continued fighting lies with the leadership of the armed faction of UNITA, headed by Jonas Savimbi, which is refusing to fulfil its obligations under the Lusaka Protocol and relevant resolutions of the Security Council, which remain the only viable basis for political settlement of the conflict in Angola,” the statement said. The Council called on the Angolan government to continue promoting the peace process. It further called on Angolan authorities to ... “continue efforts aimed at national reconciliation and stabilisation of the situation in the country in consultation with all segments of the Angolan society, including the civil society and the churches”. “These should focus on re-establishment of the State administration, improvement of the social and economic situation of the population, promotion of the rule of law, protection of human rights, the activity of the Interagency Committee and of the Peace and Reconciliation Fund,” the Council said. The Council’s statement also welcomed a recent Southern African Development Community undertaking to prepare a report on how member states were implementing UN measures against UNITA. Angola’s civil war, the longest in Africa, has raged since independence from Portugal in 1975 - with just a few short breaks.