Angola’s presence defended

Meanwhile, Angola’s Interior Minister Fernando da Piedade has said the country’s army intervened in the DRC and also in the Republic of Congo (ROC) because of these countries rights to “legitimate defence against aggressor forces, national judicial fundamentals and respect for international law”. Angolan radio quoted Piedade as telling parliament on Wednesday that “aggressor” countries had aimed to overthrow the presidents of the two countries, joined rebel Angolan UNITA forces “and behaved as countries that are Angola’s enemies”. “This was more than evident by the occupation Maquela do Zombo in Uige province and Noqui in Zaire province by the Rwandan and Ugandan forces, and only with the intervention of our troops was it possible to repel them and capture large quantities of war material,” he explained.

He said that according to international law, Angola had the right to carry out legitimate acts of defence against the-then Zaire under Mobutu Sese Seko and the ROC under Pascal Lissouba due to “their activities”. He said that the current Congo governments had “established and continue to maintain techno-military cooperation agreements with the Angolan government and this is in accordance with international law”. “The international community through the [UN] Security Council didn’t condemn the Angolan government, but rather the governments of Mobutu and Lissouba for the practice of supporting [Jonas] Savimbi’s UNITA,” he said, adding that the Council has acknowledged that the DRC was a victim of foreign aggression carried out by Uganda and Rwanda.