July 27, 2000
A senior U.N. leader Thursday called on the Angolan government and the international community to demonstrate their political will to take concrete actions to bring peace to the war-torn Angola so that the resources-rich southern African country can be prosperous again.
The statement was contained in a speech by Ibrahim Gambari, U. N. under-secretary-general on African affairs, when he was introducing a report by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan at an open U.N. Security Council meeting. The report was circulated Thursday here.
"It is possible to make Angola a prosperous country again if there is the political will to take concrete actions to bring this about," he said.
"If peace is given a chance, Angola's endowment in mineral and human resources provides the country with a great potential to eradicate poverty in a relatively short period and promote the well-being for all Angolans," he said.
Angola is an important oil-exporting country, and it is also one of the world's richest countries in diamonds and, at one point, one of the world's largest coffee producers. However, Angola, due to the 25-year civil war, has been long plunged into armed conflicts, thus making the humanitarian situation on the ground very serious.
"On November 11, Angola will be celebrating its 25th anniversary of independence, but in the last 25 years, Angolans have not witnessed a single year of peace," he said. "On the contrary, for a quarter of a century, they have seen destruction after destruction, countless deaths and loss of youths, waste of talents and atrocity after atrocity." "The world has also seen several thousands of refugees and hundreds of internally displaced persons in Angola," he said.
Meanwhile, Gambari, the former Nigerian permanent representative to the United Nations, called on the Angolan government to take "the primary responsibility for addressing the plight" of the internally displaced persons in the African country.
"The international community has a critical supporting role," he said. "In this regard, some of the work conducted by U.N. agencies, some national and international NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in supporting internally displaced people are encouraging."
In his report to the Security Council, Annan said, "I remain deeply concerned by the continuing fighting and its devastating effects on the population. As disturbing is the absence of any meaningful attempt to reach a political settlement of the conflict. "
The rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) "bears the primary responsibility for the return to war in Angola," Annan said.
The UNITA has been repeatedly blamed for its refusal to comply with key provisions of the Lusaka Protocol, in particular its failure to demilitarize its forces and to allow state administration to be extended throughout the country, precipitated the resumption of widespread hostilities.
A 1994 peace deal, called the Lusaka Protocol, broke down in December 1998 after the government and the UNITA resumed civil war that began after the nation's 1975 independence.
About 1 million people have died and many more have been displaced in the 25-year civil war since Angola's independence from Portugal in 1975.
