by Richard Chidowore
Demobilization of Unita forces, already delayed by several months according to the time table the Lusaka Protocol agreed on in November last year, is now the cornerstone in the Angolan peace process.
Despite the recent political inroads, the military situation continues to be unstable and observers say the country faces a return to civil war if delays persist in the implementation of the peace agreement between the Angolan government and the opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita).
The UN is considerably behind schedule in placing Unita soldiers in cantonments prior to integrating them into the unified Angolan army. In addition, UN observers cannot get access to Unita-controlled areas, which make up about 40 percent of the country — to identify troops and monitor the ceasefire.
However, unlike in 1992 when the UN allowed the elections to go ahead before the opposing armies had been demobilised, and watched helplessly from the sidelines when Unita restarted the war, the UN is anxious to get things right this time.
Most of the 7,000 blue helmets, headed by Zimbabwean General Phillip Sibanda, are already in place. The UN has made plans for a phased demobilization, with Unita’s 60 000 troops being cut to 15 000 and then merged into the national army. Later it hopes to reintegrate thousands of soldiers from both sides into civil society. This demilitarization should go with a broad political accommodation and reconciliation.
On a recent tour of Zimbabwe to discuss the Angolan peace process with the chairman of the Organization of African Unity {OAU) ad hoc committee on Angola, President Robert Mugabe, Unita leader Jonas Savirnbi said he was optimistic that the process would not be derailed and that he would stick to his promise not to go back to the bush.
Savimbi is expected to assume the vice presidency offered by the Angolan government after the completion of demobilization and re-integration of the two armies.
But, while the UN bas been slow in arranging the tents and other equipment, Unita should take the blame for stalling in assigning personnel to set up the assembly points, which is their responsibility.
If there were doubts as to the parties’ commitment to peace, the recent donors’ conference in Brussels -called to rebuild the country’s economy and attended by both the Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos
Santos and Savimbi — should serve as testimony that the two sides are willing to end the fighting and engage in the reconstruction effort. More than US$990 million was pledged at the Brussels conference.
The Belgian Prime Minister, Jean-Luc Dehaene, said of the two leaders: “Their presence in Brussels is irrefutable proof that the war in Angola is no more than a memory, and that all the Angola people are now set on a future of peace and development.”
Savimbi admitted that his organization had made mistakes and pledged to support the peace process. He added that his meeting with President dos Santos in Brussels — their third in five months — had restored confidence in the search for peace in Angola. The talks centred on power-sharing in the government of national unity.
“We recognise our errors,” Savimbi said. “Although Unita was a part of the problem, we want to be part of the solution. If we build bridges, we won’t want to destroy them again,” he continued.
In President dos Santos’ view, Angola did not need just an aid programme, but rehabilitation, to make the
Lusaka Protocol more secure. He called for the money to be channelled into reconstruction projects, rather than handed over as cash.
Among the projects proposed in Brussels were training for adults to help children suffering from stress caused by the war, improved drainage, water and sanitation facilities and agricultural development programmes. It is also a prerequisite for peace that communication lines are opened. Aid agencies say that after three decades of war, relief operations in Angola are among the most expensive and complicated in the world. Most roads are known or suspected of being mined and supplies must be flown in — to airports which are also mined. The UN estimates that about three quarters of Angola’s more than 10 million people live in mine-infested areas.
Meanwhile, the last struggle in Angola is centred around the rush for diamonds in the provinces of Lunda
North and Lunda South. As the rest of the country move’s slowly toward peace, the two provinces are the last contested areas.
The government and Unita separately control chunks of diamond territory, while heavily armed private companies and individuals also mine. The government say about US$400 million in revenue is lost every year through illegal diamond production and sales.
It is in the two Lunda provinces where breaches of the ceasefire have intensified as Unita once again strive to gain control of Angola’s diamond industry. Unita says it intends to hold on to the diamond mining areas it controls. These guarantee it with its last remaining source of funding, and the government move to retake the areas from which smuggling to Zaire is taking place has threatened a Unita lifeline.
Control of the diamond industry had been one of Unita’s demands during the prolonged ceasefire negotiations. However, they were offered to run the Ministry of Geology and Mines in a government of national unity. For the restoration of peace in Angola, however, there is need for the collection of arms in possession of civilians, the quartering of troops and organization of the national army and to work for national reconciliation.
Many in this region are unanimous that peace in Angola completes the historic transformation of southern
Africa and are of the opinion that Angola will contribute significantly to the stability and prosperity of the entire region. (SARDC)
