July 14, 2000
The United Nations is quietly encouraging Angola to seize an opportunity to restart the country's collapsed peace process after a string of government military victories and new demands by the Angolan people for an end to war. Undersecretary-General Ibrahim Gambari, a U.N. special adviser for Africa, told a news conference Thursday that the government's military campaign and tightened U.N. sanctions on UNITA rebels were beginning to weaken UNITA's ability to wage war.
But Gambari stressed that the government's victories alone would not spell an end to the quarter-century-old conflict since UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi and his supporters were already engaging in guerrilla warfare and would likely continue. ``We have to just start thinking of how to bring the peace process forward because there is a growing recognition in Angola that this military victory ... by itself will not bring the fighting to a complete stop,'' he said.
When Gambari traveled to Angola in May, he said he brought a message from Secretary-General Kofi Annan that the United Nations was ready to work with the government to accelerate that peace process. Gambari also said he hoped to mend the frayed relationship between the Angolan government and the world body, which deteriorated after the government accused the United Nations of turning a blind eye to rebel violations of a 1994 peace accord.
That accord collapsed in December 1998 after the government and UNITA resumed fighting a war that began after independence from Portugal in 1975. The U.N. peacekeeping force that had been overseeing the accord pulled out in February 1999, and only a token U.N. office remains in the capital, Luanda.
Recently, several ``positive'' events indicate that prospects for an end to the conflict may be emerging, Gambari said. For example, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos in June suggested Savimbi could be pardoned if he surrendered and renounced war. The president also reaffirmed that the collapsed 1994 peace deal was still valid. The government previously said it would no longer negotiate with Savimbi because he reneged on the 1994 deal -- as well as two prior ones.
Gambari also pointed to a recent rally organized by grassroots groups and church organizations that drew some 200,000 Angolans demanding an end to war and a resumption of dialogue. The United Nations, he said, was looking hoping to capitalize on the changing situation, but only with the agreement of the Angolan government, which he said was beginning to regain trust in the organization.
In a report Thursday, Annan outlined the humanitarian costs of the war, saying the overall situation in the country remains ``precarious.'' One million people are completely reliant on food aid to survive and another 2.5 million receive other types of humanitarian assistance. Access by humanitarian agencies has been restricted because of the fighting, leaving hundreds of thousands of people at risk, Annan said.
