Cabinda: The war goes on
2003-09-19 15:59
Luanda - The Angolan army is still at war with secessionists in the oil-rich enclave of Cabinda, wedged between the two Congos, the daily Jornal de Angola said on Friday quoting an armed forces commander in the province.
The army is currently trying to "neutralise all enemy manoeuvres" near Necuto, once a stronghold of the Liberation Forces for the Cabinda Enclave - Combatant Armed Forces (FLEC-FAC) in northern Cabinda, said Lieutenant-Colonel Antonio da Conceicao, also known as "Lacrau".
The Angolan army announced early this year that it had captured Necuto following a year-long offensive against separatist forces in the province.
Clashes in the tiny enclave, where armed groups have been fighting for independence from Angola, have left some 30 000 people dead over the last 25 years.
The enclave, which is cut off from the rest of Angola by a coastal sliver of the Democratic Republic of Congo, only has 200,000 people, but nearly two-thirds of Angola's oil production comes from off-shore deposits there.
Cabinda is the only province of Angola that is still at war after the army from the southwest African country last year signed a truce with rebels from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), who led Angola into a 27-year civil war.
The Angolan army was "doing everything" to re-establish free movement of goods and people in the north of Cabinda, halted by continuing fighting, Lacrau said.
On Thursday, Unita - which has since the end of the war become a political party - called for a referendum on autonomy for Cabinda.
"We back autonomy for Cabinda. The will of the people (of the province) must be respected, so we are proposing a referendum," Unita president Isaias Samakuva told Angola's Eccelesia radio from Lisbon.
Cabinda, which was administered separately from the rest of Angola during Portuguese colonial times, was handed over to the Angolan government by Lisbon on independence in 1975.
The separatists argue that since Cabinda was administered separately, it should have become a separate state. They have long pushed Luanda, which opposes independence for Cabinda, to hold a vote on the issue.
But Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has said any referendum on Cabinda should involve the entire population of Angola due to the importance of the issue for the country.
Samakuva also called for a "serious dialogue" on Cabinda.