Chairs stay empty around the Cabindan negotiating table

Despite claims that the Angolan government has opened a dialogue to bring peaceful resolution to the conflict in Cabinda, their counterparts in the enclave have yet to be invited to the table. The Angolan armed forces chief of staff, general Agostinho Nelumba 'Sanjar', told Ecclesia, a local Catholic radio station, on Monday that "the government has opened a dialogue and, in the near future, the problem will be resolved". According to Raul Danda, a representative of the human rights NGO, Mpalabanda Cabinda Civil Association (MACC), and member of the Cabinda Forum for Dialogue (FCD), "In the interview Sanjar said there will be a peaceful solution for Cabinda very soon, but we are still waiting for negotiation to start." Danda told IRIN that the FCD had received an official document from the Angolan government on 2 February "about a special status for Cabinda", essentially stipulating the principles for discussion that would lead to greater autonomy. The FDC, which includes representatives from the Front for the Liberation of Cabinda (FLEC), MACC, the Cabindan Church and other human rights and civil society groups, has been recognised as the representative body for the enclave's secessionist movements. "We agree on three principles: the principle of direct negotiation with the Angolan government, the principle of a ceasefire, and the principle of granting Cabinda a special status," Danda noted. The FCD acknowledged receipt of the February document within a few days and has since been waiting for a time and a place for negotiations to be proposed. "Lets hope it comes soon, but for now we still need to wait and see," Danda commented. Cabinda, a sliver of land sandwiched between Congo Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo, is internationally recognised as part of Angola, but Luanda's control has been resisted by the FLEC and its various offshoots since independence in 1975. Cabinda produces 60 percent of Angola's oil. "There is no war in Cabinda - there are acts of banditry," Sanjar said in the interview, explaining that fighting was limited to rebel ambushes on the road between Cabinda and Bacu-Zau in the Northwest of the enclave. Danda said the fighting was more extensive, noting that "there is fighting going on in Cabinda right now - if they propose a ceasefire, that would mean there is a war going on".