Call for more sanctions

The United States, Russia and Portugal on Friday called for stepped-up efforts to end the civil war in Angola and discussed strengthening sanctions against UNITA rebels, news reports said. Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama was quoted as saying: “For the time being, we expect that the sanctions against UNITA combined with tougher regulations for denying the diamond traffic could produce some effects”. “Let’s hope on the UNITA side the option for a political move will be stronger than the remaining option for residual military activities,” he said. “It’s now on the UNITA side to make decisive options, abandoning the military choice, coming back to the ... Lusaka agreements, and rehabilitating itself from its past conduct.”