Angola Peace Monitor
Published by ACTSA

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Issue no.5, Vol. VIII
1st February 2002

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More UNITA officers arrested

More senior UNITA soldiers have been captured, lending support to claims by
the Angolan army that Jonas Savimbi is surrounded with the net tightening.

The Angolan army is reported to have recovered personal property belonging
to Jonas Savimbi, indicating that it is getting closer to capturing the
leader of the rebel-movement UNITA. Amongst the items recently seized near
Cassamba in Moxico province was a hunting rifle given to Savimbi by former
South African President PW Botha.

The search for Savimbi is concentrating on eastern Moxico. The World Food
Programme warned on 25 January that, "intense military movement close to the
Angolan border with Zambia has resulted in large population movements from
the interior into the Moxico province capital of Luena". The fact that much
fighting is taking place close to the border with Zambia reinforces claims
by UNITA officers recently captured by the Angolan army that Jonas Savimbi
is trying to escape across the border.

On 18 January the former head of UNITA's security service, General Samuel
Martinho Epalanga, was brought before the media in Luena by the Angolan
army, FAA, having recently been captured in Moxico province. Epalanga
refuted allegations by UNITA representatives in Europe that those recently
captured were already retired from UNITA's armed wing.

The other senior UNITA official captured is Brigadier Domingo Sopite who was
head of UNITA's communications.

Recently captured officers have told the army that the UNITA column
defending Jonas Savimbi is suffering from serious malnutrition. General
Epalanga told reporters that those who remain in the forest are in a
critical physical condition.

Elsewhere around the country, FAA has announced more desertions and arrests.
FAA announced on 23 January that in its southern military front, 48 rebels
were shot dead over the previous week, with nine rebels captured and 86
rebels deserting to the government side. This builds on the statement on 9
January that 49 UNITA soldiers had been killed in the previous week, with 73
rebels captured.

In Malange province, 68 rebels surrendered to FAA. According to the Angolan
news agency, ANGOP, the rebels came from Cambundi-Catembo, Lukembo, Quibinda
and Mafuma.

In Bengo province, FAA reports that on 21 January it foiled an attempt by
UNITA to attack Caxito city. This attack was a mere shadow of last May's
attack, when 200 UNITA soldiers attacked the city, killing dozens.

In general, the military situation is much calmer than it has been for
months. The World Food Programme on 25 January stated that, apart from
Moxico, the security situation was considered relatively stable, despite
reports of military incidents in Bie, Benguela and the Lundas.

There has been a reported case of banditry by a group known as the Katangese
Gendarmes. Voice of America reported on 9 January that the gendarmes -
descendants of gendarmes from the province of Katanga in Congo who fled to
Angola in the 1960's - had set up roadblocks on the Dundo-Lucapa road and
were charging motorists for safe passage.

Meanwhile a mass grave containing forty-five bodies was recently found at
Chicumbi village, near Jonas Savimbi's former headquarters at Andulo. It is
thought that the bodies are of victims of UNITA.

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Diplomatic offensive picks up pace

Whilst the Angolan army continues to make advances against UNITA, the
government is stepping up its efforts to build an international alliance.

As part of this diplomatic offensive, President Jose Eduardo dos Santos
spoke at the Extra-Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Malawi on 14 January.
In his speech, President dos Santos stated that "sanctions should continue
on them [UNITA] until they respect the Lusaka Protocol for peace in Angola".

In response, the SADC Summit called for "the continuation and
intensification of sanctions against UNITA-Savimbi in order to bring the
rebel movement to dialogue and to compel it to comply with the provisions of
the Lusaka Peace Protocol. Summit welcomed the Angolan Government's
commitment to the 1994 Lusaka Peace Protocol, and urged UNITA-Savimbi to
return to the negotiating table, in a spirit of national reconciliation".

Several key figures have either recently visited Angola or are due to arrive
shortly. The most senior of these is the Secretary General of the United
Nations, Kofi Annan who is still due to visit the country.

Meanwhile, the chair of the UN Monitoring Mechanism on Sanctions Against
UNITA, Juan Larrain, received a warm welcome during his four-day visit to
Luanda.

Larrain arrived in Luanda on 15 January, where he met with the Ministers of
Foreign Affairs Joao Bernardo de Miranda, Minister of Mines Manuel Africano,
and the Minister of Defence Kundi Paihama. He also met with the army Chief
of Staff General Armando da Cruz Neto and the head of Military Intelligence,
General Antonio Jose Maria.

He stated that there was no doubt that sanctions against UNITA had been
successful and that they would be maintained until the conflict was
resolved.

Namibian president, Sam Nujoma, arrived in Luanda on 27 January for a
day-long working visit to Angola, during which he met with President dos
Santos.

The meeting follows an earlier visit to Angola by President Paul Kagame of
Rwanda. His official visit, from 8 to 10 January saw a strengthening of ties
between the two countries that had previously fallen out over the Democratic
Republic of Congo.

In a signal of the growing relationship between the United States and
Angola, it has been announced that the US Under Secretary of State for
Africa, Walter Kansteiner, will probably visit Angola in March.

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos will visit President George Bush in
Washington on 26 February. The visit to Washington would have taken place
last year, but the events of 11 September made a delay necessary.

Meanwhile, the members of the troika of observing nations - Russia, the
United States and Portugal - have all confirmed their willingness to take
part in the Angolan peace process.

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Aid workers warn of newly displaced people

As a result of the fighting that is taking place in Moxico province, there
is an influx of people into the provincial capital, Luena. Security remains
a matter of concern, with UNITA claiming that it shot down an aircraft as it
was coming in to land at the airport in Luena. The Antonov-12 crashed on 27
January, killing half of the sixty people on board.

Cristina Muller of the World Food Programme told the IRIN news agency on 30
January that 2,359 new displaced people were registered in Luena during the
previous week, bringing the total number registered in January to 4,869. She
told IRIN that "at the moment government forces are reportedly moving
100-150 people daily by helicopter into the provincial capital Luena, where
the situation remains calm. The area along the border with Zambia is
reported to be highly insecure, but humanitarian agencies have no access to
the region".

According to the report, the majority of people being flown in by the
Angolan army arrive in a state of "moderate malnutrition - not as bad as
they would be if they walked to the capital. After being registered,
evaluated and given a months ration of food, the internally displaced people
were moved to Muachimbo camp about 12 km from the capital".

Elsewhere in the country the number of displaced people continues to grow.
According to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs, OCHA, an estimated 22,000 people in a critical condition may try to
enter Camacupa and Cuito in the next few weeks. Since July 2001 about 65,000
people have been displaced in Bie province, bringing the total number of
displaced people in the province to 181,000. OCHA warns that ongoing
military operations in the northern areas of the province and along the bord
ers with Huambo and Moxico provinces led to 11,740 new displaced people
arriving in the first two weeks of January, with 9,720 of these arriving in
Camacupa.

Once again, the aid agency warns that the poor condition of the airstrip at
Cuito impedes the delivery of adequate humanitarian assistance.

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DRC moves towards dialogue

Meanwhile, efforts to reach a peaceful settlement in the Democratic Republic
of Congo continue, although progress is painfully slow.

The SADC Summit's final communiqué stated that it "welcomed the partial
withdrawal of Ugandan forces, and urged the latter and Rwandan forces to
complete their withdrawal as a matter of urgency. Summit expressed concern
at the slow progress in the implementation of the Lusaka Ceasefire
agreement, and urged all parties concerned to comply fully with its
provisions".

The summit received a report from the Facilitator of the Inter-Congolese
Dialogue, Sir Ketumile Masire. It heard that the Dialogue, which started in
Addis Ababa in October last year, was abandoned due to a lack of money. If
sufficient funds are raised, it is intended to resume the talks in South
Africa in mid-February.

Meanwhile, Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, visited the DRC,
Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda from 21 to 23 January to discuss the situation in
the Great Lakes region. Straw accompanied French Foreign Minister Hubert
Vedrine in the trip during which they met with DRC President Joseph Kabila,
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the leaders of the two main Congolese
rebel movements.

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UNITA deputies suspended for absenteeism

On 29 January the Angolan parliament, the National Assembly, suspended and
revoked the mandates of six UNITA deputies who have been absent for over two
years.

The sacked MPs are Carlos de Oliveira Fontoura, Arlete Chimbinda, Antonio
Manuel Urbano "Tchassanha", Georgina Clara Sapalalo, Franco Menzes
Marcolino.

Joao Antonio Tunga has been suspended and his position will be looked at
again at a later date.

The vote to take the action was adopted by 95 in favour with 25 against and
19 abstentions. The UNITA parliamentary group will now have to select five
individuals to replace those who have been removed.

The UNITA parliamentary bench has been the focus of serious factional
divisions between UNITA-Renovada which is led by Eugenio Manuvakola and
another, larger, group which refused to join Renovada but remained in Luanda
when Savimbi returned to war - led by Abel Chivukuvuku

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Kimberley Process carries on

The Kimberley Process - which seeks to draw up an international
certification scheme to be adopted by the UN to stop the trade in conflict
diamonds - is to continue its work in 2002 to try and reach agreement over
outstanding matters.

The Kimberley Process brings together representatives of governments, the
European Commission, SADC, the United Nations, the World Customs
Organisation, trade bodies and non-governmental organisations. It has sought
to build a consensus around a scheme to halt the trade in conflict diamonds.

In what was supposed to be its final meeting at the end of November in
Gaborone, a Working Paper was adopted which covered all the main details of
a certification scheme. However, there was not sufficient consensus over the
wording on the need for a monitoring mechanism or a common international
database, leading to non-governmental organisations formally raising
reservations.

The Kimberley Process is now going to meet again, this time in Ottawa in
March 2002.

It had been hoped that the UN General Assembly would endorse the Working
Document at its meeting in December. However, due to what was termed
"technical difficulties" in the translation of such a large document, this
has now been deferred until its next session in March.

However, campaigners fear that if the General Assembly goes ahead before the
meeting in Ottawa, there is the danger that it will endorse a wording which
various NGO's are uncomfortable with.

On 17 January a letter was sent to the Ambassadors and Permanent
Representatives to the United Nations on behalf of ActionAid, Amnesty
International, Fatal Transactions, Global Witness, Oxfam International,
Partnership Africa Canada, Physicians for Human Rights and World Vision. It
stated that "we are very concerned that the proposed UNGA Resolution [on
conflict diamonds] addresses two critical outstanding issues that have not
yet been resolved; notably the need for a common international database on
the production and trade in rough diamonds, and the need for credible
international monitoring of national systems and the proposed industry chain
of warranties".

The letter continued that "there is currently an NGO reservation in the
Kimberley Working Document on the issue of monitoring. As it stands, the
proposed weak wording on monitoring invalidates the entire enterprise. It
will ensure public controversy, along with increased uncertainty for the
diamond industry as a whole".

The letter concludes "without stronger resolve, the proposed certification
scheme cannot be effective and will not be credible".

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UNICEF needs $18 million for Angolan children

The UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, has announced that it needs $18 million to
carry out projects in Angola aimed at reducing the terrible conditions faced
by children. Angola has the world's second highest death rate for children
under the age of five, with 420 children dying every day.

UNICEF points out that last year the war forced 400,000 more people out of
their homes and into camps. This brought the total number of internally
displaced people since the war resurged in 1998 to 3.1 million people - a
quarter of the population.

UNICEF has requested its funding through this year's United Nations
Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Angola. However, despite the huge need
for projects to save the lives of children in Angola, UNICEF has been forced
to cut back its work due to a lack of funding. In 2001 it appealed to the
international community through the United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency
Appeal for Angola for a total of $18.8 million. But it only received $5.2
million - 28% of what was needed.

Over half of its donations for Angola - $2,812,590 - came from Sweden, with
Ireland being the next most generous donor with $613,735. Finland,
Netherlands, Denmark and Norway were the next most generous donors, with
Britain donating $220,500.

Despite financial difficulties, UNICEF carried out a wide range of
activities in Angola in 2001.

It provided health authorities with 21 vaccines against polio, measles, DPT,
BCG, Yellow Fever and Tetanus Toxoid. It carried out activities against the
most common cause of death among children - malaria, and provided 600
Essential Drugs Kits with sufficient drugs to cover 600,000 consultations.

UNICEF warns that food security remains fragile and malnutrition is still a
significant underlying factor for the death of children and women in Angola.
More than half of children suffer from chronic malnutrition, although acute
malnutrition levels stabilised in areas where humanitarian agencies
implemented programmes.

At least 60% of the general population and 90% of the displaced population
use contaminated water and UNICEF is undertaking programmes to provide clean
water and improve sanitation. It is also running HIV/AIDS awareness
programmes.

It also runs educational programmes and supports the National Family Tracing
Programme, which in 2001 united 2,052 children with their families.

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The Angola Peace Monitor is produced every month by ACTSA - Action for
Southern Africa.

ACTSA,
28 Penton Street,
London N1 9SA,
e-mail [email protected],

www.actsa.org/apm

fax +44 20 7837 3001,
telephone +44 20 7833 3133.

ends