Global Policy Forum

Peace is around the corner in Angola. Angolan Army leaders and officials from the UNITA rebels have signed an agreement to halt the devastating civil war. A nationwide ceasefire will be in effect by Thursday, 4 April, and negotiations between civilian leaders are to start soon in Luanda.

Military leaders from the two sides to the conflict had been negotiating for two weeks in the small south-eastern town of Luena. Finally, on Saturday, the Angolan Army and the UNITA military leaders announced they had reached an agreement, aiming at an end to the 27-year-old civil war, which has cost the lives of an estimated 500,000 Angolans and has displaced millions. The negotiations were made possible by UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi's death in battle on 22 February, and the following announcement by the Angolan Army it would cease "all offensive military movements" (13 March).

According to statements from the Angolan government, the Luena memorandum is to supplement the 1994 Lusaka Protocol, were the two parties reached a peace agreement that was flawed after UNITA's return to arms when it had lost national elections. The Luena agreement mostly treats technical modalities, in particular what is going to happen with UNITA's armed rebels. The memorandum defines the areas the 50,000 rebel soldiers are to be quartered and their military integration into the national army during demobilisation.

The memorandum reads that the "two sides pledge to put an end to hostilities and restore peace throughout Angolan territory." The government calls the Luena memorandum "a giant step" forwards in the process of establishing durable peace in Angola. The Angolan Army's Chief of Staff, General Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda, who signed the memorandum for the government side, called it "a moment of great pleasure."

Also the head of UNITA's delegation in Luena, General Abreu Muengo Muachitembo "Kamorteiro", praised the memorandum. "We are declaring to the world that UNITA will do everything to comply with this accord," General Kamorteiro, who also is UNITA's commander-in-chief, said, asking all Angolans to "help constructing peace in the country."

According to the Portuguese news agency Lusa, the representative of the Secretary-General of the UN in Angola, Mussagy Jechande, had made a statement, saying the parties had agreed to implement a nationwide ceasefire from 4 April. Jechande had observed the Luena talks, and held that the agreement would be a welcome contribution to the Lusaka Protocol, and assure "peace, democracy and social progress" for the Angolan people.

While only military leaders had participated in the Luena talks, although following a mandate given by civilian leaders, it is now expected that political leaders will take over the process. According to signals from the government, the Luena agreement and the ceasefire will be formalised by political leaders in the Angolan capital, Luanda, next week.

The new UNITA leader, General Paulo "Gato" Lukamba, has been given a mandate to negotiate with President Jose Eduardo dos Santos or his government. The split in the rebel movement on the Luena talks now seem to have been bridged. A group of UNITA militants, hitherto doubting the validity of the mandate of the UNITA delegation in Luena, has issued a statement giving its full support to the leadership of General "Gato". He therefore seems to have obtained support from all fractions of the movement, thus having a clear mandate if he decides to negotiate with the government in Luanda.

While the formal ceasefire still is to take effect, the country has experienced tranquillity for two weeks now, since the truce was announced by the Angolan government. Also UNITA fighters have respected the truce, although some incidents have been reported. The most serious incident happened on Friday, when suspected UNITA rebels killed 15 people near the coastal city of Benguela. The Angolan Army has however wanted to downplay the importance of the incident, saying it must have been initiated by a "group out of control". There was no proof UNITA was behind the attack.

The peace process initiated after the death of Savimbi has a massive popular support in war-ridden Angola. The poor country, so rich in natural resources, has experienced 41 years of almost continuous war. The present civil war between UNITA and the Luanda government started immediately after 14 years of war of independence from Portugal in 1975.

The Angolan civil war was one of the hot spots in the Cold War, where the Soviet Union and Cuban troops supported the Marxist-oriented independence movement MPLA, which managed to install itself in government in 1975, and where South Africa and the West backed UNITA. The Western support for UNITA however slowed down as the movement's cruel attacks on civilians became known and as the movement was seen as an instrument for the South African apartheid regime. Only the US substantially supported UNITA until the end of the Cold War.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the fall of apartheid also changed the situation in Angola, where the MPLA government slowly distanced itself from Marxism and any support to UNITA now only was seen as prolonging the unnecessary bloodshed of civilian Angolans. By moving against UNITA's illicit trade of diamonds, financing the war, the international community forced UNITA to the negotiating table.

In May 1991, UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi and Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos signed a peace treaty in Lisbon, finally ending the civil war, it seemed. The treaty also provided for a new Angolan constitution, introducing multi-party parliamentarianism. MPLA and UNITA should exist as two political parties and elections were planned for. The September 1992 elections, observed to have been free and fair, were won by President dos Santos and the MPLA. UNITA reacted by rejecting the results and returned to the armed struggle. By next year, even the US had broken its ties with UNITA. The rebel movement however still managed to finance its war by its great illicit trade in diamonds.

A second peace initiative lasted from 1994 to 1997. In 1994, the government and UNITA agreed to the Lusaka Protocol, under UN auspices. Savimbi and dos Santos agreed to a government of national unity and UNITA troops started to become integrated into the national army. UN peacekeepers were stationed. Savimbi however never participated in the government and by 1997, tension had built up and fighting resumed.

The decades of fighting have had an enormous toll on Angola's population. An estimated 500,000 persons have lost their lives and one third of the country's 12 million inhabitants have been forced to leave their homes. Entire regions are destroyed by the fighting. Extreme poverty is common. Peace hopes are therefore elevated in the plagued nation, where nobody can understand the reasons for the bloodshed - except the control over diamonds and oil.

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