Observers unable to fulfill mandate

As negotiations continued this week on the future role of a UN presence in Angola, the UN special representative in Angola, Issa Diallo, said the UN Security Council had blamed mainly the UNITA rebel movement for the failure of the UN Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) to fulfill its mandate.

In a statement at a ceremony in the Angolan capital, Luanda, on Monday to mark the withdrawal of MONUA observers ending a decade of UN peacekeeping in Angola, Diallo paid tribute to the cooperation and hospitality accorded the observers and the UN community by the Angolan government.

But in the statement, also broadcast by Radio Angola, he added: “we are forced to acknowledge that MONUA was unable to fulfill its mandate. The UN Security Council primarily blames UNITA for the current impasse. Under the leadership of Dr Jonas Savimbi, UNITA failed to comply with its obligations in terms of the Bicesse peace accord, the Lusaka Protocol and relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”

Earlier in New York, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement he “very much regrets” the impasse in the Angolan peace process and the resumption of the conflict which as raged sporadically since Angola’s independence from Portugal in 1975. MONUA ceased operations in Angola on 26 February.

Annan said that since the conclusion of the 1994 Lusaka accords, UN peacekeeping operations had nevertheless contributed to four years of “relative peace”. Saying the conditions for an effective UN peacekeeping role had ceased to exist, Annan said: “The United nations will not, however, abandon the people of Angola. “

It was prepared to increase humanitarian, development and human rights assistance and was ready to offer support again whenever the parties might decide to seek a peaceful settlement.