Separatists and govt urged to resolve Cabinda conflict

Human rights activists in Angola on Thursday called for an end to hostilities between Cabindan separatists and the government. At the close of a two-day conference that focused on the political upheaval in the Cabinda enclave, rights groups said the United Nations should "support all efforts to normalise the political and social situation in Cabinda". Separatists do not recognise the Alvor Treaty that signed the enclave over to Angola after independence from Portugal in 1975, and have been calling for Cabindan independence ever since. The Angolan government recently stated its willingness to discuss autonomy as the preferred solution. Observers said the protracted struggle between the separatists and the government had been sharpened by the region's substantial oil deposits, which account for about 60 percent of Angola's oil revenues. Cabinda is the only Angolan region where armed conflict between government forces and various separatist groups persists. Delegates at the conference, Organised by the Open Society Foundation, urged the government to reduce its military contingent currently deployed in the region, saying the civilian population was bearing the brunt of the heavy military presence. "FLEC (the main pro-independence group) should, as a first step, guarantee basic rights for Cabindans," the Open Society Foundation Angolan representative, Rafael Marques, told IRIN. Separatists should be more "pro-active in their search of viable and peaceful solutions", he added. A thaw in relations between separatists and the government came in January, but neither side has acted on proposals put forward at the meeting in Paris, France.