UNITA calls for international community to assist ex-soldiers

Angola's former rebel movement, UNITA, on Thursday called on the international community to step up pressure on the government to do more to assist thousands of demobilised soldiers. UNITA's secretary for public administration, Alcides Sakala, told IRIN that government attempts at reintegrating demobilised soldiers into civil society fell far short of current needs. He noted that 1,000 demobilised soldiers from the northern Lunda Norte province, who had been selected for jobs in the public service sector after undergoing training, had not been paid in more than eight months. "There really is no point in employing people and then not paying them," Sakala said. "The excuse that administrative problems are to blame isn't good enough anymore. We can understand if payment is delayed by a week or two, but eight months is too much. These soldiers have families to feed." There were also concerns over the lack of seeds, fertilisers, and farming tools for ex-combatants who chose to return to farming. Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed in April 2002 between UNITA and the government, ex-UNITA soldiers were to receive benefits, five months of salary and access to vocational training, among other benefits. Although the slow pace of the reintegration programme has received sustained criticism, the authorities have cited a lack of funds as the reason behind the delay. "We believe that those countries who were directly involved in the peace process have the necessary weight to pressure [President Eduardo] Dos Santos to speed up the assistance to these combatants," Sakala added. Russia, Portugal and the United States served as official observers during the signing of the Lusaka Protocol in 1994, on which the current peace process is based. Some 80,000 former UNITA combatants, along with 300,000 family members, have been disarmed and demobilised, and have been quartered in 41 reception areas in the country since the MOU was signed.