Peace after decades of war

Angola finally looks forward to peace, now that UNITA, after Jonas Savimbi's death, is willing to negotiate a peace agreement with the government.

POLITICAL developments in Angola have proceeded at a hectic pace ever since the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) leader Jonas Savimbi was killed in February in a battlefield encounter. Savimbi had almost single-handedly thwarted efforts to bring peace to the war-ravaged country for more than three decades. Angola, a country with the potential to be among the richest in the world, was brought to it knees by the depredations of one man and his guerilla army. It has now become abundantly clear that Savimbi was the stumbling block to peace. Within weeks of his death the remnants of his guerilla army agreed to sign a peace agreement. The decision was taken in the last week of March, following cease-fire negotiations with the Angolan government in Luena, a town in eastern Angola.

Initially, many people treated the news of the talks between the government and the rebels with scepticism. Senior UNITA representatives abroad even dismissed the talks as inconsequential, alleging that they were being held under the barrel of the gun. But ground level UNITA commanders decided not to miss out on the historical opportunity to opt for peace.

With Savimbi's death, his supporters were reduced to isolated guerilla groupings and they resorted to looting remote villages in order to survive as they no longer had control of the diamond-producing areas. The government forces had shown in the last one year a new vigour and determination to eradicate the guerilla scourge. Evidently the UNITA cause became even more hopeless after Savimbi's death. By the third week of March, UNITA representatives in various European capitals acknowledged that high-level talks to end the war were indeed on.

The government was quick to offer the olive branch to the rebels immediately after Savimbi's death. They were no longer described as "bandits" by the official media. "Reconciliation" and "pacification" became the favoured words. The government stopped its military offensive against the rebels by the second week of March, after senior UNITA commanders accepted the offer, in order to facilitate contacts between the Angolan army and the UNITA military forces.

The government said in a statement that the measures would open the way "to dialogue and collaboration" between the military chiefs of both sides. It said that a decision had been taken to stop immediately acts of violence against the civilian population and allow the free flow of citizens and goods. Much of Angola's rural populace had fled to the relative security of the cities to escape marauding UNITA guerillas. The countryside is also littered with mines - a legacy of the long-drawn-out civil war. The government has pledged to launch a de-mining campaign with international help so that the internal refugees can return to their homes.

Before launching its peace initiative the government made it clear to the faction-ridden UNITA movement that it was not interested in exploiting its internal contradictions and would allow "the party's militants to internally and freely solve the problem of the party's leadership and its reorganisation and functioning, in accordance with the law". The government has reiterated that it considers the demilitarisation of UNITA as a precondition for national reconciliation. It has at the same time promised to reintegrate UNITA officers and soldiers into national life with due dignity and honour. The government intends to present Parliament with an amnesty bill for crimes committed within the ambit of the civil war and to promote other measures necessary to hasten the national reconciliation process.

At the peace talks the government assured the UNITA commanders that it would implement the Lusaka Protocol of 1994. The Lusaka agreement envisaged power-sharing between the two sides. However, a vengeful Savimbi, unable to digest his defeat at the polls in 1992, jettisoned the agreement that he had signed and returned to the bush to relaunch his war. The government has also assured the UNITA rebels that besides the framing of a new constitution, the electoral law will be revised. A census will be undertaken once the displaced people are resettled.

With lasting peace no longer a mirage, the government has announced ambitious plans to resettle four million displaced persons and to rehabilitate 150,000 demobilised soldiers. The government has also announced plans regarding the hundreds of thousands of civilians who have been handicapped by the war and the indiscriminate use of mines in the countryside. More than 50,000 orphaned children are desperately in need of shelter. The government has made an appeal to the international community for help to meet the new challenges. "It is high time for reconciliation, mutual forgiveness and unity," it stressed in a statement that was issued before the latest round of talks with UNITA started. UNITA has from all available indications responded positively to the sentiments shared by the overwhelming majority of the Angolan people.

The preliminary cease-fire agreement was signed by General Geraldo Nunda, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Angolan army, and General Abreu Komorteiro, UNITA's military commander. Present at the signing were representatives of the United Nations, the United States, Russia and Portugal. They were flown in for the occasion by the Angolan government. The broad terms of the cease-fire agreement are said to include the demobilisation of rebel troops and the handing over of their weapons. There is also a commitment from the government that some of the UNITA troops will be incorporated into the Angolan army while others will be integrated into civilian life.

Serious high-level political talks with the UNITA leadership are still to take place. One reason why such talks have been delayed is that there seems to be a political vacuum at the top level in UNITA. The number two in the hierarchy, General Antonio Dembo, is rumoured to have been killed soon after Savimbi. The next in line is General Paul "Gato" Lukamba, but he too has remained incommunicado for a long time. "Gato" has the strongest support among UNITA leaders, but he, a "hardliner", had previously opposed talks with the government. He may emerge as the interim leader until UNITA holds a party congress. Also in the running for the vacant leadership post is General Abreu Komorteiro, who signed the peace accords in March. He has taken over the military leadership.

The Angolan people hope to witness a new dawn. The government has promised to consult all sectors of society while charting out a new political course. Significantly, there is a commitment to hold elections - the first since 1992. But there are still many hurdles to cross before normalcy can return to the beleaguered country. Many UNITA guerillas, used to a life of looting and pillaging, have turned into brigands. The government's plans for resettlement and rehabilitation of around one-third of the population require a lot of funding and will be dependent on international aid. The West has not been particularly helpful to African countries that are in dire need of humanitarian aid. But Angola could be a different case. The West has a large financial stake in Angola's rich hydrocarbon sector. The diamond industry is another lucrative sector attracting Western multinationals.

Some Angolans are asking about the whereabouts of the loot that was secreted out of Angola by Savimbi and his cohorts. In the last decade itself, Savimbi is said to have earned billions of dollars from the illicit sale of diamonds. Some of the wealth is said to be in the hands of Savimbi's friends in neighbouring countries such as Togo, Gabon and Burkina Faso.