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Angola announced on Wednesday that it would not attend the annual summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Togo because the country had been named in a UN report for breaching sanctions against the UNITA rebel movement.
The announcement was made in a state radio interview with Joao Lourenco, Secretary-General of the governing MPLA party. At the summit scheduled 10-12 July, Togolese President Gnassingbé Eyadema is to be elected to the OAU’s rotating chairmanship.
Lourenco, the right-hand man of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, said: “We think that as of now, the OAU’s credibility would be seriously compromised. By allowing someone, who has been accused in a UN report of being one of Africa’s leading supporters of a terrorist, to become its chairman, the OAU has given the green light to Eyadema to continue supporting a terrorist who has been destabilizing a member state.”
Earlier in the week, Angola said it would seek to get the venue of the summit changed. In the event such a move would not be possible, he was asked what else Luanda intended to do.
“Of course, we will not attend the summit. We will not prevent others from taking part in the summit, but we will not be there,” he said.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
