Angola faces ID crisis
2004-03-22 18:11
Luanda - Nearly two million eligible voters in Angola do not possess identity documents, Justice Minister Paulo Tjipilica was quoted as saying by state radio on Monday.
"I think nearly two million people in the adult population, who are eligible to vote, don't have identity papers," he said, announcing an imminent census in the country, still emerging from a 27-year war that ended with the death in battle in 2002 of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi.
The minister did not indicate when the census would start but said one of the main challenges being faced by the government was stopping foreigners from acquiring Angolan identity papers in the process.
The population according to the last census taken for the 1992 general elections was 10 million but is now estimated at around 13 million.
Angola's ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) recently set 14 pre-conditions for upcoming presidential and general elections, including a law relating to a census of voters.
The former rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), now the main opposition group, meanwhile has accused the government of dragging its feet on the proposed elections, the dates of which have not been announced.
Unita soldiers and government troops in April 2002 ended a civil war which had raged almost continuously since before oil-rich Angola's independence from Portugal in 1975.