"Normalcy before transparency"

The Angolan ambassador to South Africa says political conditions in his country "needed to be normalised first", before the government could address the issue of fiscal transparency. In response to comments by Doug Steinberg, the outgoing country director of the development agency, CARE, ambassador Isaac Maria dos Anjos told IRIN that making transparency a condition for holding a donor conference - to help fund Angola's reconstruction effort - was "uncalled for". In an interview with IRIN, Steinberg said western donors wanted the oil-rich Angolan government to do more in terms of spending on development and cracking down on graft. "I think it's reasonable at this point that a donor conference be linked to other conditions regarding fiscal management. If you did get it straightened out - with fiscal management, more transparency, better reporting and better budget processing - then the question is: is there going to be any need for massive donor assistance?" asked Steinberg. "Is any organisation raising the issue of transparency with Afghanistan or with Uganda?" asked dos Anjos. "We are not lying. We were at war for several years; we have no schools, no infrastructure; we need to reconstruct Angola, provide jobs for people - only then will we be able to tackle issues like transparency." Dos Anjos pointed out that Angola, struck by civil war from independence in 1975 until a final peace deal was agreed in 2002, "had not even known 20 years of stability". Looking ahead to elections in 2006, Steinberg said, "Every time you talk about problems in Angola, ultimately you get to the issue of governance ... and the fact that decision making in the government is not transparent ... I don't think elections will change that." Dos Anjos stressed that the elections, the first time since 1992 would mobilise civil society into encouraging debate at the "grassroots, which is where democracy matters, because ultimately we want to empower the local government. We do not just want [international] NGOs to question and debate - we want our civil society and people to be empowered." The full interview with Doug Steinberg