OAU boycott crumbles

An intensive diplomatic campaign by the Angolan government to persuade African countries to boycott this month’s Organisation of African Unity’s (OAU) summit in Togo has had only limited results, analysts told IRIN.

Allegations in a UN report earlier this year that Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema allowed arms for the rebel movement UNITA to be imported into Togo in exchange for diamonds, initially led some countries to side with Angola’s protest. Several weeks ago, an official at Angola’s ministry of foreign affairs said at least five African states would not attend next week’s Lome summit. Now, only two look set to stayaway.

“If the Angolan government wanted to call to the attention of the world the dubious partnership between Togo and Savimbi, then the government has won,” commented Justino Pinto de Andrade, director of the faculty for economics at the Catholic University of Angola. “But if the idea was to have a boycott of countries, then it failed.”

Mozambique has changed its mind, allegedly despite strong lobbying on behalf of Angola by the Ambassador in Luanda, Goncalvez Singo. A similar U-turn was made by Tanzania. President Ben Mkapa is expected to attend if he can find space in his electioneering calendar. A question mark still hangs over the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In Angola, state television reported on Wednesday that the DRC had announced its plans to boycott the summit. However, sources in Lome say that has not been confirmed.

“Obviously, the reason why the Angolans campaigned is because they wanted to shift the meeting,” said South Africa’s Ambassador to Angola, Reddy Mampane. “If they didn’t manage to shift the meeting it means the other countries didn’t buy their lobby.”

The Ambassador for Cape Verde, Jose Armando Duarte, said attending the OAU summit should not be interpreted as a lack of support for Angola. Although his government is attending, Duarte said, “we understand the position of Angola and will show our solidarity at the summit.”

Only Namibia has clearly stated its intention to boycott, but said it was staying away for “sovereign” reasons. “We do not see it as morally nor politically acceptable for the OAU summit to be held in Togo when that country’s head of state was mentioned in the report,” commented Major-General Charles Namoloh, Namibian Ambassador to Angola. “But besides that, Namibia is a sovereign state and has its own legitimate case. Namibia is a victim of the attacks of the bandits in the Kavango since 1993.”

Namoloh said Togo remains guilty, in his eyes, until proven innocent. In contrast, the South African view is “someone is innocent until found guilty”, Mampane said. He added that high attendance at this year’s OAU summit could be due to extensive lobbying by Nigeria. Unity within Africa is the OAU’s priority this year, not Angola’s conflict, he suggested.