Church ready to help mediate

The Catholic Church in Angola has said it would consult the United Nations to see how best the church can help mediate an end to the war which has devastated the country since independence from Portugal in 1975. According to Angolan sources close to the new Inter-Denominational Committee for Peace in Angola, the idea follows a peace congress in the capital, Luanda, earlier this month. They said the churches not only wanted to help mediate between the government of President Jose-Eduardo dos Santos and Jonas Savimbi, leader of the UNITA rebel movement, but also help arrange a meeting between them. They suggested that Archbishop Zacarias Camuenho, president of the committee and of the Angola and Sao Tome Bishops’ Conference, “could be the man to lead this process”. But the sources said whether the churches could succeed in arranging such a meeting, let alone whether the two sides would agree to the ceasefire demanded by the peace congress remained open questions. The sources said both sides were yet to agree to the points raised at the congress. And neither side has committed itself. UNITA, in a communique posted on its website last week, said it “salutes and encourages” the initiatives of the Inter-Denominational Committee for Peace in Angola. But it said any peace initiative would have to be contingent on “real national independence as opposed to neo-colonialism”; the issue of the oil-rich enclave of Cabinda where a separatist insurgency has raged since independence; “formal recognition of authentic political parties”; respect for the freedom of speech and the press; and the establishment of a state based on the rule of law and democracy. Albino Malungo, Angola’s minister for social assistance, told a UN Security Council meeting on Angola last week, said: “Hopefully, these grass-roots efforts by the church and Angolan citizens will have a positive impact on the country’s crisis.” The troika of observer states to the 1994 Lusaka peace accords - Russia, the United States and Portugal - welcomed the church initiative, as did France on behalf of the European Union. Speaking on behalf of the troika, James Cunningham of the United States, told the Security Council: “The participation of Mr Savimbi in such a dialogue can only be considered when he takes irreversible steps to fully implement the Lusaka Protocol. His obligations to the people of Angola and to the international community remain unchanged and non-negotiable.”