Sanctions working

Sanctions against the Angolan rebel group UNITA are working, the chairman of the UN sanctions monitoring group said on Wednesday in Luanda. “The sanctions regime has operated extremely effectively in the last year and will continue to work even more effectively,” Richard Ryan, Ireland’s ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters. “UNITA’s programme to advance its political agenda through violence is being reduced,” he said.

During his four day visit to Angola which began on Monday, Ryan met government officials and diplomats to discuss the sanctions regime. In talks with Petroleum Minister Jose Maria Bothelho de Vasconcelos on Tuesday, he discussed with new measures to obstruct the supply of fuel to UNITA. In a news interview on state television, Ryan said: “The sanctions are in place, but what is necessary is their implementation in Angola to avoid the diversion of the fuel supplies, which of course should reach the population throughout the country, but the government has to ensure that there is no diversion of petroleum products into UNITA hands.”