Lusaka and Angola to discuss border allegations

Amid a new round of allegations of military incursions across their common border, officials in Zambia and Angola said on Monday they were willing to hold talks on the issue. A Zambian foreign ministry spokesman told IRIN Zambia was ready to discuss charges last week by Defence Minister Chitalu Sampa that Angola had launched cross-border air and ground attacks into Zambia’s Western and North Western Provinces in recent weeks. Sampa said the attacks had included the dropping of incendiary bombs on a Zambian village and the killing of a Zambian soldier by Angolan troops who had crossed into the country. “Zambia is ready to discuss this issue with Angola in order to reach a peaceful solution,” the spokesman said. “But we are as yet still to set a date for such talks.” The spokesman’s remarks followed a report in the ‘Sunday Times of Zambia’ which quoted Zambian officials as saying they wanted to handle the issue with caution. In Luanda, Foreign Minister Joao Miranda said the Angolan government was “flabbergasted” by Zambian allegations of border incursions by his country’s armed forces. In an interview with state radio at the weekend, Miranda said the issue had already been discussed with the Zambian ambassador at a meeting last week. “Fundamentally, the audience was designed to analyse Zambia’s protest to the Angolan government over what the Zambians claimed to be the violation of their territory by the Angolan Armed Forces [FAA],” he said. “We summoned the ambassador to brief him on what really happened on our eastern border with Zambia and to deny the allegations categorically.” Miranda counter-charged that it was Zambian armed forces who had briefly crossed into Angolan territory three weeks ago during the incident in which the Zambian solider was killed. He said he had suggested that the Joint Angola-Zambia Military Commission meet as soon as possible “to analyse the situation because falsehoods are poisoning our bilateral relations”.