Angola promotes peace, 22 years after civil war
Angolan Ambassador to Kenya Samwel Sianga Abilio delivers his speech at the embassy in Nairobi during events to mark 22 years after the end of the civil war in his country. He said Angola is promoting peace on the continent.
Angola is proclaiming itself as a peace ambassador for the volatile Great Lakes Region, seeking to pass on lessons it learnt from its civil war more than two decades ago.
Angolans across the globe on Thursday marked the Day of Peace and National Reconciliation. The day, the government says, is meant to celebrate the end of civil war between the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Liberation of Angola (UNITA), two rival movements from around independence in 1975.
On April 4, 2002, the ruling MPLA and main opposition UNITA put an end to 27 years of hostility, with the signing of the peace and national reconciliation agreements.
The signing was preceded by negotiations – including the Bicesse agreement signed in Portugal on May 31 in 1991, and the Lusaka protocol agreed on November 20, 1994.
Angolan Ambassador to Kenya, Samwel Sianga Abilio, said his country has moved on from the war years.
“We learnt that you can never do anything in war. Everything you do requires peace,” he said on the sidelines of an event to mark the day, at the embassy in Nairobi, on Thursday.
“My President João Lourenço is a champion of peace mandated by the African Union. He understands the danger of war and the value of peace. This is what we want our brothers and sisters in the Great Lakes region to understand.”
Angola has been leading the Luanda Process, one of the tracks in search for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It seeks dialogue between Rwanda and the DR Congo, who are at odds and accuse each other of fomenting rebel movements.
The Luanda Process is supposed to complement the Nairobi Process, facilitated by Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta under the East African Community.
The Nairobi Process seeks dialogue between the government in Kinshasa and rebels fighting in eastern parts of the DR Congo.
The two processes appear stalled as tensions between Rwanda and the DR Congo escalate.
Angola, Abilio said, would not relent as it understands its peace is largely affected by what happens in the neighbourhood.
“There is a process, a roadmap. It basically sayd we a ceasefire, cantonment and integration in the civil life. We have not reached these objectives,” he said.
“Our president is still talking to the parties. The situation is that they should talk to save lives. People are dying and we understand their concerns but it is important to talk.”
Angola, in the meantime, wants do to do business too, as it seeks to diversify the economy from oil dependency.
The southwestern country is Africa’s second largest oil producer after Nigeria.
“Tourism is an area that Kenyans have experience. We have built almost the same biodiversity that we have there. There is no more war. Come and join us. Come and build partnerships with us,” Abilion said.
“I am signing many visas from Kenyans going to Angola. No one is coming here; everyone is going to Angola. We should balance.”
The ambassador’s message was consistent with President Lourenço’s televised speech on the same day.
Lourenço said Angola wants to provide peace guarantees to the continent.
He added that functioning of government institutions has allowed the foundations of the democratic rule of law to be strengthened, national unity to be guaranteed and the defence of national sovereignty.
“It is no surprise, then, that Angola sets an example in Africa and it is also no coincidence that the country is called on to use its experience in conflict resolution as a mediator in the Great Lakes Region and in Central Africa.”
Having gained independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola did know peace until the deal on April 4, 2002.
It put to an end to the longest civil war in an independent country on the continent.
President Lourenço said Angolans now live in a different kind of reality.
MPLA continued to lead the country but the popularity of UNITA is rising.
In the elections last year, the opposition party got more seats that in the previous polls.
UNITA, however, said on Thursday, that Angola is yet to address many challenges, including poverty and joblessness, “especially among young people of working age”.
UNITA, nonetheless, praised Angolans “on the conquest of this precious asset (peace), which embodies the aspirations of Angolans for harmony and the socio-economic and cultural development of our country”.
It asked the government to deepen democracy.
