UNITA seeks US role in peace process

The UNITA rebel movement urged the United States and Russia on Monday to take a more active role in diplomatic efforts to end Angola’s 26-year civil war, Reuters has reported. In a statement sent to Reuters in Johannesburg, UNITA said its leader, Jonas Savimbi, recognised dialogue as the only lasting solution to end a war that has killed more than 1 million people and displaced almost of third of Angola’s 12 million people.

UNITA called for the revival and modification of the United Nations-brokered 1994 Lusaka Peace Accord, which collapsed amid heavy fighting in 1998, the report said. “We feel that the new Bush administration in the United States can help to set up the mechanisms of contact, given its political and moral weight on the international scene,” the statement said. “The Russian Federation, in spite of still selling weapons to the government, can also give its contribution,” it added. However, according to the report, UNITA ruled out participation by Portugal, the former colonial power, saying the Lisbon government was part of the African conflict. However, prominent independent Portuguese personalities could help in the quest for peace, the statement said.

UNITA’s call for the renegotiation of the Lusaka Protocol is likely to be rejected by the Angolan government, which insists on the accord’s full implementation. “Bearing in mind the new circumstances of the political and social order in Angola, there is a need to reformulate the Lusaka Protocol to respond to the new situation in the country,” the UNITA statement said.

Fighting has continued in Angola despite a severely weakened UNITA presence, with an escalation of UNITA attacks in recent months.