More aid needed to make peace process work

A senior UN official on Tuesday urged donors to give generously to a US $142 million "bridging" appeal for Angola over the next six months. Commenting after his recent visit to Angola, Ross Mountain, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator, said: "Of particular concern were the 800,000 people only recently within reach of humanitarian aid, following the 4 April signing of a ceasefire between government forces and UNITA rebels." Another UN agency, UNICEF, said on Tuesday that Angola had one of the highest under-five child mortality rates in the world, estimating that one Angolan child dies every three minutes. Given that Angola was "a potentially very rich country", Mountain called on the Angolan government to make resources available for both humanitarian and reconstruction efforts. Mountain, accompanied by UN Special Advisor on Africa, Ibrahim Gambari, visited the war-torn country as part of a larger mission to assess what more the UN could do to assist, and "clarify the role that the Angolan authorities wish the UN to play in the country". Gambari told reporters before leaving Luanda on Tuesday that the objectives of his mission were met. He added that he would soon brief UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, "as how best the UN can organize itself in Angola and obtain the necessary mandate from the Security Council to assist Angola in consolidating peace and promoting national reconciliation and national reconstruction in the country". Annan is expected to submit his final report on Angola to the Security Council - with recommendations regarding the future mandate of the UN Office in Angola - in the first week of July. In addition to the unfolding humanitarian crisis, demobilising the former UNITA rebels and finding a new role for them in society remained a key hurdle to the peace process. UNITA originally estimated that 55,000 former fighters would encamp, but it now appears that the figure will rise above 80,000, with thousands still expected to move into quartering areas in the eastern and southeastern provinces of Moxico and Kwando-Kubango. The movement of the soldiers into quartering areas was expected to end by 7 June, but the deadline has been extended to 24 June at the request of UNITA who said they needed more time. "It is unlikely that the demobilisation will be complete by the 24 June, if one takes into account reports that more rebels are streaming into the quartering areas everyday. To assess the success of this complex political process, the authorities must allow for flexibility in their time frames," Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Joao Porto, told IRIN. Porto said the demobilisation and reintegration of former rebels was crucial to finding a lasting political solution. He said that the government should take its lead from the lessons learned from the failed demobilisation under the Lusaka Protocol in 1994. The Lusaka Protocol provided for a ceasefire, the integration of UNITA troops into the government's armed forces (which were to become non-partisan and civilian controlled) and demobilisation (later amended to demilitarisation) under UN supervision. The quartering of UNITA troops, planned for two to three months in early 1995, commenced only at the end of 1995 and was not completed until December 1996. The completion of the quartering process was tarnished by the absence or desertion of some 25,000 individuals from the UNITA quartering areas. "Post-conflict demobilisations are particularly vulnerable to delays and other programme changes. Although early planning is desirable, it is important to understand that the parameters of demobilisation and reintegration are very likely to change," Porto added. After the quartering and conclusion of UNITA's demilitarisation, the next step is the integration of military generals, senior officers and captains into the Angolan Armed Forces, a task which Angolan NGOs on Tuesday said may be premature until the government disarmed the civilian population. A recent report released by the ISS earlier this month assessing the demilitarisation process said that although a return to war was unlikely, the widespread existence of small weapons was cause for concern, particularly in view of possible increase in banditry and looting around quartering areas. The Lusaka protocol also called for civilians to be disarmed, but it was never implemented. After an unstable peace, full-scale war in Angola resumed in 1998 and lasted until the death of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi in combat in February this year. Following the successful vocational reintegration of demobilised personnel, which is the final step in the quartering, disarmament and demobilisation process, the parties are expected to turn their attention to some of the outstanding issues under the Lusaka Protocol. Despite criticism that the Lusaka process came at a time when the belligerent parties were in no mood for reconciliation, the protocol remains the accepted and legitimate framework for peace in the country. A short-term priority for UNITA now is to unify under a single leadership. In 1998 a group of UNITA MPs led by Eugenio Manuvakola made a formal break with Savimbi and founded the UNITA Renovada faction, thus creating a further division. Porto said: "Before any lasting ceasefire can take shape, it's imperative that UNITA first puts its house in order. The rebels will have to decide who's in charge and clarify its position on the peace talks. Simply because the government will need to know who it's talking to." Coordinator of UNITA's Management Commission and the movement's interim leader, Paulo Lukamba "Gato", on Tuesday said the party's congress would be held in the beginning of 2003. He added that UNITA will be unified before the congress takes place.