War veterans demand better pay

Angolan colonial war veterans sent President Jose Eduardo dos Santos a letter demanding better pay and living conditions and threatening a demonstration if he does not reply, news reports said on Friday. “We wrote this letter so that everyone knows what is going on and that we cannot stand by idly,” retired General Jorge Savondo, was quoted by the independent radio station ‘Radio Ecclesia’ as saying. Savondo told the radio station it was the 15th letter in three years they had sent to the president. He said dos Santos replied once and instructed the defence ministry and armed forces to improve the veterans’ conditions but the order was never carried out. According to reports, about 1,500 soldiers in the war for independence from Portugal were not incorporated in the post-war Angolan Armed Forces.