UNITA rejects unilateral ceasefire

Angola’s main rebel group on Wednesday rejected the government’s demand that it declare a unilateral ceasefire as a pre-condition for peace talks, AFP reported. “As long as the forces of (Angolan President) Jose Eduardo dos Santos’ regime do not end their offensive against UNITA-controlled areas, the Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FALA) will not lay down its arms,” the rebels said in a statement dated 12 June.

UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi had indicated that he was open to renewed dialogue with the government, in a letter last month asking the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops to mediate in the crisis. Last week, Savimbi admitted that the government had routed his movement in conventional warfare, forcing UNITA into a guerrilla war. A major army offensive launched in 1998 succeeded in capturing most of UNITA’s former strongholds.

Luanda has imposed four conditions on renewing peace negotiations with UNITA, including a unilateral ceasefire, disarmament, a handover of weapons to the UN, and the transformation of UNITA into a political movement. UNITA is already under UN sanctions, which include a diamond, fuel and arms embargo and travel restrictions on its leaders. Angola’s civil war, which broke out in 1975 following 14 years of fighting against the country’s Portuguese colonial rulers, resumed in earnest in 1998 after the collapse of a 1994 peace accord.