UNITA raises security, election concerns

Angola's former rebel group UNITA has highlighted the holding of elections and the security of its members and offices as major issues to be raised with the government. This follows a weekend meeting of UNITA's permanent committee. A communiqué issued by the party said it was deeply concerned by recent acts of "vandalism carried out against party members and infrastructure in several parts of the country". "These acts must be dealt with by the judicial authorities in addition to ... political consultation [with the ruling MPLA] to put a stop to all factors likely to undermine peace and national reconciliation," the communiqué stated. This follows recent attacks on two of the party's regional offices in the central Huambo province. UNITA's permanent committee said it "deplored all irresponsible public statements made, which are likely to stimulate further such acts". The party said the committee had "defined a period within which" general elections should be held. However, it did not disclose the details, saying that it would do so "in due course" following discussions with the "competent authorities". "The committee finds it imperative to create, without delay, an independent National Elections Commission, which should start developing plans and carrying out concrete actions in the context of preparing [for] the upcoming elections," UNITA added. It welcomed the resumption of bilateral talks with the MPLA over outstanding issues relating to the power-sharing Lusaka Protocol, and the Luena agreement which ended the decades-long civil war. The party also said it had resolved to "monitor closely the situation of the demobilised soldiers and their families in order to ensure a dignified social reintegration process". There were reports earlier this month that former UNITA combatants in Huambo had not received their salaries for the past two months. A recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on Angola's reintegration and resettlement programme noted that ex-soldiers and their families who lacked documents had not benefited from the demobilisation process. Some 80,000 UNITA former combatants, along with 300,000 family members, were disarmed, demobilised and quartered in 41 reception areas in the country. HRW remarked that in instances where former combatants had chosen to stay in the provinces where they had been quartered, the demobilisation process was more efficient. However, where transportation to other provinces had been necessary, the process was less successful and "the distribution of demobilisation benefits less organised and less thorough".