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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
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Angola: Peace Monitor, II, 10
Any links to other sites in this file from 1996 are not clickable,
given the difficulty in maintaining up-to-date links in old files.
However, we hope they may still provide leads for your research.
Angola: Peace Monitor, II, 10
Date Distributed (ymd): 960622
Angola Peace Monitor
Published by ACTSA on behalf of the Angola Emergency Campaign
Issue no.10, Volume II, 14 June 1996
-------------------------------------------------------
NEW GOVERNMENT FORMED TO TACKLE ECONOMIC CRISIS
On 3 June Angolan President Eduardo Jose dos Santos announced
a dramatic reshuffle of his Government to deal with the
growing economic and social crisis facing the country.
The sacking of the Prime Minister, Marcolino Moco, by
President dos Santos had been predicted by analysts during the
previous month. One reason for this was growing discontent at
the performance of the economy, with calls for demonstrations
in Luanda against the Government (which were in fact
unheeded).
Various commentators have suggested that the position of Prime
Minister is likely to disappear with the creation of two posts
of Vice-President, with Moco vying for one of these positions.
The reshuffle also leaves space for UNITA nominees to join the
cabinet, as envisaged under the Lusaka Protocol.
-------------------------------------------------------
PRESIDENT PLACES RESPONSIBILITY ON GOVERNMENT FAILURES
In an address to the nation on 3 June, broadcast on radio and
television, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos warned that the
country faced the most serious socio-economic crisis ever.
He stated that "the successive experiments undertaken to
overcome that crisis over the past three years have failed.
The consequences of that are the virtual paralysis of the
productive sector, except oil production; the drastic erosion
of the social infrastructure, notably electrical power and
water; hyper-inflation whose annual rates exceed 3,000 per
cent; the worsening of the budget deficit; the unbridled
expansion of economic credit; a huge increase in the issuing
of money, but with no return; the practical existence of two
currencies that has discredited and undermined the banking
system; a major lack of control over foreign exchange; and so
on".
The President went on to criticise the speculative commercial
sector, and its parallel financial system, which amount to
over 90 per cent of the country's overall imports.
Commentators have pointed out that this system has led to vast
fortunes being made by those with access to hard currency at
preferential exchange rates.
President Dos Santos drew a grim picture of the social crisis,
pointing out that "most salaries have become virtually
symbolic, notably salaries in the civil service", and that
"the state health and education sectors have almost collapsed
due either to the resignation of many of the officials and
workers or to the worsening of basic working conditions".
Criticising Government inaction, the President said that "the
1996 programme of action and the state budget proposed by
Government, and approved by the National Assembly, merely
comply with the economic management philosophy and Government
action responsible for the aforementioned situation. Since the
beginning of the year, the Government, from a practical and
economic stand-point, has done nothing but propose and approve
new fiscal laws to review successively the official foreign
exchange rates and "rehearse" the payment of a new salary
scale for the civil service sector, though not fully covering
the entire sector."
Turning to the Government, the President said that "the time
of reckoning has come. Those that have failed must modestly
take responsibility for their mistakes. One must change, and
to do that we must identify precisely the fundamental causes
that have led to this state of affairs".
Whilst the President put the economic crisis in the context of
the return to war after UNITA rejected the results of the 1992
elections, he also firmly placed blame upon the influence of
speculation and illegal diamond mining on the economy.
-------------------------------------------------------
NEW GOVERNMENT SWORN IN
In the light of the situation outlined in the President's
speech to the Angolan nation, the President on 3 June
relieved Marcolino Moco of his duties as Prime Minister, and
appointed in his place Dr Fernando Jose de Franca Dias Van
Dunem.
Van Dunem is 61, and has represented Angola as Ambassador in
Belgium, Holland, Spain, Portugal and the European Community.
He has also acted as Minister of Justice and of Planning as
well as Vice Minister of Foreign Relations. From 1991 until
1992 he was Prime Minister of Angola. Since the 1992 election,
he has been a Deputy at the National Assembly, as well as
President of the Assembly. He has been a member of the MPLA's
Political Bureau since 1990.
Under the constitution, Van Dunem was given five days to
appoint the Government. On 8 June the following were sworn in
as Ministers:
Defence: General Pedro Sebastiao (*)
Interior: Santana Andre Pitra (Petroff) (**)
External Relations: Venancio da Silva de Moura (**)
Territorial Administration: Jose Anibal Rocha (**)
Agriculture and Rural Development: Isaac Maria dos Anjos (**)
Industry: Manuel Diamantino Borges Duke (***)
Culture: Ana Maria de Oliveira (**)
Oil: Albina Faria de Assis Africano (**)
Planning and Economic Co-Ordination: Emanuel Moreira Carneiro
Finance: Mario de Alcantara Monteiro
Education: Antonio Burity da Silva
Fisheries: Maria de Fatima Monteiro Jardim (**)
Transport and Communications: Andre Luis Brandao (**)
Trade: Manuel Francisco Gomes Maiato (**)
Information: Pedro Hendrik Vaal Neto (**)
Assistance and Social Reintegration: Albino Malungo (**)
Justice: Paulo Tchipilica (**)
Youth and Sports: Jose da Rocha Sardinha de Castro (**)
Public Administration: Antonio Pitra Neto (**)
Minister Without Portfolio, and head of Government delegation
to the Joint Commission: Fernando Faustino Muteka (**)
(*) previously acting Minister of Defence following the death
of Pedro Maria Tonha (Pedale). (**) no change (***)
previously Deputy Minister
None of the Secretary of State positions have altered, except
for the scrapping of the post of Secretary of State for Co-
operation. Three ministerial positions have been left vacant:
Health; Geology and Mines; and Public Works and Town Planning.
Under the Lusaka Protocol, UNITA are to hold the following
ministerial posts: Health; Geology and Mines; Trade; and a
created post of Hotel Business and Tourism.
Also removed in the reshuffle was Antonio Gomes Furtado, the
Governor of the central bank. He has been replaced by
Sebastiao Bastos Lavrador, who was Governor of the National
Bank of Angola in 1992.
The other important new appointment was that of Secretary to
the Council of Ministers, who is now Antonio Pereira Van
Dunem.
-------------------------------------------------------
FIRST UNITA OFFICERS INCORPORATED INTO ANGOLAN NATIONAL ARMY
The first fifteen officers from UNITA's military forces have
been incorporated into the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA). This
follows an agreement between the Government and UNITA for the
incorporation of 26,000 UNITA soldiers into the FAA between 1
June and 30 July (see APM 9).
On 3 June, the first fourteen officers were integrated: a
colonel, five lieutenant colonels, four majors and four
captains took their positions in the FAA at a ceremony at the
army's communication regiment in Luanda.
On 12 June as UNITA's self imposed deadline of quartering
50,000 of its troops by 15 June approached, UNITA had
quartered 44,518 people. However, on 3 June (the latest
available figures) 5,389 had deserted.
The Guardian in London on 5 June stated that according to UN
and aid officials, at least half of those quartered were not
soldiers. A UN official is quoted as saying that "UNITA has
not even begun a serious effort towards disarming and
demobilising, 18 months after the Lusaka accords, and there is
no sign of any change in their attitudes".
General Philip Sibanda, the head of UNAVEM's military
component said that "it is clear we do not have the best
troops in the quartering areas, we do not have the best
weapons, we do not have ammunition or other war stores,
explosives, communications equipment". By June 11 only 26,995
weapons had been handed in.
However, sources in Luanda talk of growing optimism in the
capital. It is understood that UNITA have begun to quarter
"real" soldiers.
-------------------------------------------------------
MANDELA CANCELS TRIP
A planned visit to Angola by South African President Nelson
Mandela, set for 11 to 13 June has been rescheduled at the
South African premier's request, following the reshuffle in
the Angolan Government.
Mandela was due to visit the country to honour a long standing
invitation by President dos Santos. It would have been his
first official State visit to the country. He was scheduled to
address the National Assembly, meet with members of the UNITA
leadership, as well as with members of the Joint Commission
(who are charged with overseeing the implementation of the
peace process). He was also to have visited Lubango in Huila
Province, where a number of South African firms have invested.
A bilateral co-operation agreement was also due to have been
signed. According to President Mandela's office, Mandela
instructed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alfred Nzo, to visit
Angola on 10 June to convey a personal message to the Angolan
President.
-------------------------------------------------------
SAVIMBI CALLS OFF EUROPEAN VISIT
A tour of European capitals by UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi
planned for early June has been cancelled.
The official UNITA explanation of the cancellation was that
the political situation in Angola was the cause. However,
sources in Europe suggest that Jonas Savimbi was unhappy with
the lack of importance placed on his visit by the host
countries. One factor raised by the Portuguese radio station,
Radio Renascence Lisbon, was that the planned timing of the
visit clashed with a major Lusaphone conference.
-------------------------------------------------------
GENERAL DE MATOS CONTINUES WITH ITINERARY
In contrast to the cancellation of the trips of Savimbi and
Mandela, the head of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), General
Joao de Matos has continued with his planned visit to Germany
and Britain.
General de Matos was in Germany to visit General James
Jamerson, second in command of American forces in Europe. He
then arrived in Britain on 8 June at the invitation of the
British Government. Amongst others, he met with Baroness Lynda
Chalker, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office.
-------------------------------------------------------
UNITA WANT TO BE THE OPPOSITION
A communique issued by the Political Commission of UNITA on 4
June stated that UNITA want to continue to be an opposition
party. At the same time, it demands that all the opposition
parties represented at the National Assembly be included in
the Government.
It stated that "UNITA would like to emphasise that it will
only participate in a Government of National Unity and
Reconciliation if it will reflect the consensus of the Angolan
parties within the National Assembly. UNITA should be seen
inside and outside Angola as an opposition party to the MPLA
government".
-------------------------------------------------------
REPORTS OF MILITARY ACTION IN CABINDA
Separatist forces in the oil-rich enclave of Cabinda have
claimed that a battle has taken place between its forces and
those of the Government.
The news agency AFP stated on 6 June that the separatists have
claimed that 150 have died in fighting around Nekuto since 10
May. The Cabinda Liberation Front - Cabindan Armed Forces
(FLEC-FAC) claimed that the FAA launched an attack on the town
with tanks and helicopters.
As previously reported in issue no.9 Vol II of the Angola
Peace Monitor, an agreement on a cease-fire was signed between
the Government and FLEC-FAC on 15 May.
-------------------------------------------------------
DE BEERS SIGN AGREEMENT WITH GOVERNMENT
Endiama, the state owned diamond company, has signed an
agreement with De Beers for diamond prospecting. The agreement
commit De Beers to spend $50 million on prospecting.
In another significant move, the Director of Endiama, Paulino
Neto, and Government representative Higino Carneiro, have
visited Bailundo to discuss with Jonas Savimbi the future of
the diamond industry after the Government resumes
administrative control of the whole country.
-------------------------------------------------------
REFUGEE RETURN DELAYED
The Minister for Assistance and Social Reintegration, Albino
Malungo, warned on 10 June that the repatriation of 100,000
Angolan refugees from Zambia will be delayed.
The refugees should have returned in June, but conditions for
their return have not yet been met. Shelters have not been
provided for, due to the lack of freedom of movement in the
country. The unfinished quartering of UNITA troops has also
delayed the repatriation, the Minister stated.
The return of the refugees is now scheduled for August or
September.
-------------------------------------------------------
The Angola Peace Monitor is produced every month by ACTSA -
Action for Southern Africa, the successor organisation to the
British Anti-Apartheid Movement.
It is produced as our contribution towards the work of the
Angola Emergency Campaign, which seeks to highlight the need
for international action in support of peace and democracy in
Angola.
A years subscription to the Angola Peace Monitor is available
at a cost of 10 pounds sterling in Britain and 15 pounds
sterling elsewhere. Please indicate whether you wish to
receive the Angola Peace Monitor by post, fax, or e-mail. A
full set of back issues is available at an additional cost of
2 pounds sterling. Payment should be made in pounds sterling.
If you wish to pay in any other currency, you must add the
equivalent of 6 pounds sterling to cover our bank charges.
ACTSA, 28 Penton Street, London N1 9SA, UK
e-mail [email protected],
fax +44 171 837 3001, telephone +44 171 833 3133.
Back issues of the Angola Peace Monitor are available on the
Web at http://www.anc.org.za/angola/
************************************************************
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC's primary
objective is to widen the policy debate in the United States
around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa, by
concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant
information and analysis usable by a wide range of groups and
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