Angola 'needs reconciliation'
2005-11-01 08:14
Luanda - A conference on reconciliation and peace, jointly organised by Christian Churches and the government, opened in Luanda on Monday in an attempt to end the legacy of 27 years of civil war.
Government and opposition delegates along with the leaders of non-government organisations and the Churches will gather until November 4 to draw up a timetable of practical steps leading to reconciliation, said Zacarias Kamuenho, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lubango.
The aim is to foment debate over ways and means to "lead the Angolans toward true reconciliation," Kamuenho added.
More than 500 000 people were killed in fighting in the former Portuguese colony before a peace agreement was signed in 2002, and an estimated 3.5 million Angolans were driven from their homes.
Doubt about elections
Foreign Minister Joao Bernardo de Mirando said that agreement between the army and National Union for the Total Liberation of Angola (Unita) rebels was "irreversible."
Unita, now the country's principal opposition party, complains that only a few of the 85 000 former rebel fighters have been reintegrated as promised since the agreement.
Unita leader Isaias Samakuva, who took over the movement after the death of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, has also cast doubt on the process that is supposed to lead to general elections next year.
He said the elections would take place under "very precarious" conditions because of the absence of a free press and an independent judicial system capable of ruling on disputes during the electoral process.
Samakuva said the nominally independent National Electoral Commission was mostly comprised of people linked to the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) led by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
"The composition of this commission violates the principles of a democratic state," Samakuva added.
He also complained that preparations for the election were going too slowly.
Dos Santos has yet to fix a date for the poll.