Global Policy Forum

Angola's peace process took a tentative step forward on Friday when UN Under-Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari revealed that the government was ready to allow the United Nations to resume its role of mediator, and to get UNITA rebel leader Jonas Savimbi back to the negotiating table.

Briefing the Security Council, Gambari, who is also the UN Secretary-General's Special Advisor for Special Assignments in Africa, said that a "convergence of opinion was emerging for the first time that the United Nations should play a more proactive role in the Angolan peace process".

Gambari's Council briefing followed his week-long visit to Angola earlier in December. During the trip he held talks with the Angolan government, UNITA MPs who have abandoned the armed campaign, civil society and with the church, which has played a major role this year in coordinating peace efforts in the country.

According to a Council statement issued after the briefing, Gambari told members that the United Nation's two-pronged strategy for the Angolan conflict, "improving relations between the parties while maintaining sanctions on UNITA", was bearing fruit, although it remained to be seen whether Savimbi was serious about dialogue.

"As for moving the peace process off the streets, he (Gambari) said the challenge was how to establish credible regular contacts between the Angolan government and UNITA and to make them productive. The role of the churches in such a dialogue should be one of facilitation, rather than mediation," the Council statement said. It added that the Secretary-General Kofi Annan had directed Gambari to build support and "to promote the possibility of talks, even if they were only talks about talks".

Gambari told the Council that the Angolan government would not object to a church role in facilitating contact with UNITA through the United Nations. "Regarding the next steps for getting dialogue off the ground, he said the United Nations must accept a mediating role without ruling out the role of civil society, as well as other governments, playing a facilitating role," the statement added.

According to the Council statement, Gambari said that issues on which the Angolan government wished to begin immediate cooperation included management of its Fund for Peace and Reconciliation (aimed at promoting peace and disarmament), pilot projects for demobilised soldiers and resettled internally displaced persons (IDPs), and assistance in the electoral process.

"Among the issues that the government felt required further consideration, he (Gambari) said, were modalities for disarming UNITA combatants and weapons collection; direct contacts with UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi; and the possibility of establishing humanitarian corridors. While ruling out any attempts to resolve the Angolan conflict outside the Lusaka Protocol framework or to renegotiate the protocol, the government recognised the need for some adjustments to take account of the changed realities on the ground," it added.

According to Gambari, UNITA parliamentarians said the Lusaka Protocol - negotiated under the UN's aegis in 1994 - should be implemented with adjustments indicated in a 12-point peace plan that the organisation submitted to the United Nations. "While reiterating their commitment to dialogue within the Lusaka Protocol, they cautioned that the Protocol should not be used simply as a platform to obtain Mr Savimbi's surrender. Although the parliamentary group could largely convey UNITA's position, the final decision lay with Mr Savimbi," the Council statement quoted Gambari as saying.

In its overture in early August, UNITA proposed, among other things, the formation of a transitional government comprising of the ruling MPLA, UNITA and the opposition National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). It also mooted the creation of a "supreme peace council".

Gambari told the Council that the almost-30-year-old war continued to take a heavy toll on the Angolan population and that the humanitarian situation was worsening, with the number of IDPs and refugees having reached 4.1 million this year. He attributed the large increase in IDPs to the government's current offensive against UNITA in several regions of the country and to the government's "strategy of moving people from their areas of origin, to deny UNITA food and recruits".

"Nevertheless, the government had allocated additional funds to tackle the influx of IDPs into urban areas. It had also improved access and food delivery to areas that had previously been inaccessible by road," Gambari was quoted as saying.

The challenge now facing the authorities, he added, was the consolidation of humanitarian aid, first to places accessible by road, and then gradually to the entire country. Aid organisations continued to campaign for greater access to the vulnerable this year, but the government's offensive against UNITA - as well as UNITA's guerrilla tactics - made it impossible to reach an estimated 500,000 vulnerable people at one point during the year.

In some instances, like in the central province of Bie last month, an increase in military activity was reported throughout the province, leading to thousands of people fleeing their homes. In one instance, according to a World Food Programme (WFP) report, a major road linking the provincial capital of Kuito to Camacupa, where a massive humanitarian operation is under way, had been mined. It said that active landmines had allegedly been found and cleared by the Angolan army (FAA) on 11 November in the Calombante area, located 50 km from Kuito on the road to Camacupa.

In spite of continuing problems with access, though, Gambari told the Council that the Angolan government did not believe there was a need to establish humanitarian corridors in "classical terms" because UNITA did not control any territory. The government was, however, willing to consider "safe areas", Gambari said. He did not elaborate.

And with the possibility of peace taking a real step forward for the first time in about eight years, Gambari also told the Council that the Angolan government indicated that the United nations should assume responsibility for the collection and destruction of weapons in the event that the peace process accelerated.

This could mean that the world body would have to take a decision on boosting its presence in the country dramatically, as it did during the implementation of the Lusaka Peace Protocol. The mission, charged with overseeing the implementation, was asked to leave by the Angolan government just before war resumed in 1998.

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