Angola: Endgame or Stalemate?

The deputy president of UNITA arrived in Luanda with three other senior officials to reopen the office and launch UNITA officially as a political part

Late on 1 April, Antonio Dembo, the deputy president of the Unia?o Nacional de Libertac?a?o de Angola (UNITA), arrived in Luanda with three other senior officials of the party to reopen the UNITA office closed and largely destroyed during the fighting of 1992. UNITA spokesperson, Isaias Samakuva, said that Dembo had come to launch UNITA officially as a political party in the capital. The delegation would also "make every effort to create the conditions for Dr Savimbi to come to Luanda as soon as possible." The delegation was met at the airport by Alioune Blondin Beye, the United Nations special envoy to Angola, and the ambassadors of the three powers that have helped to implement the Lusaka Protocol of 1994: the United States, Portugal and Russia. UNITA also announced that its radio station, `Voice of the Black Cockerel` (Vorgan), would stop broadcasting that evening, in accordance with the latest agreements on the implementation of the peace timetable.

This timetable also made provision for UNITA`s leadership, including Savimbi, to move to Luanda from the headquarters at Bailundo and Andulo and for the government to extend its control over those centres. A presidential spokesperson, however, seemed to concede that there would be some delay in achieving this, pending UNITA`s preparations on the ground. He indicated that the government did not want a situation to arise in which the use of force became necessary.

Did these developments signify that the war in Angola was coming to an end?  

Authors

Richard Cornwell and Jakkie Potgieter, Institute for Security Studies