Dos Santos says withdrawal decision is ‘normal’

Jose Eduardo dos Santos, president of Angola since 1979, said on Tuesday that his decision to not stand for re-election was ‘normal’ and that his lengthy stay in office had been precipitated by the country’s civil war - Africa’s longest-running conflict.

“It wasn’t possible to fully apply the constitution because of the war situation. But if we were in a normal situation, there already would have been at least two elections and I would have finished two mandates. And under the terms of the constitution I wouldn’t have been able to be a candidate for a presidential election”, Lusa news agency quoted Dos Santos as saying at the close of a Luanda event marking his 59th birthday.

Dos Santos announced last week that he did not plan to be a candidate in the long-postponed elections now set for late 2002 or 2003. The country’s only previous presidential ballot was in 1992, when Dos Santos’s ruling MPLA party won. However, runner-up Jonas Savimbi refused to recognise the result and the civil war has continued with little break since then. Dos Santos was quoted as saying that the military situation in the country “continues to improve” and reaffirmed his invitation to Savimbi to end the war.

“We would like very much for Savimbi to stop the war, to accept the invitation I have so often extended for reconciliation, to accept the democratic game”, he added. In a separate ceremony earlier on Tuesday, the president urged citizens not to lose faith in the process of peace and national reconciliation.