Rebels deny Angolan unity deal

2006-06-30 20:22

Luanda - The Angolan government announced the signing of an agreement preserving the country's unity with an umbrella group of organisations, from a restive, oil-rich northern province, on Thursday.

A rebel leader, however, denied knowledge of the agreement.

The umbrella Cabinda Forum for Dialogue includes the separatist Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda, as well as church and civil society representatives.

The deal reportedly stated the rebels' recognition of Angola as a "unitary and indivisible state" while granting Cabinda special administrative status.

"I have no knowledge of this agreement, I was not contacted by the Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos," said the rebel group's president, N'Zita Tiago, on Thursday.

Tiago said the representative who signed the agreement on behalf of the rebel delegation, Antonio Bento Bembe, had no negotiating authority.

Cabinda is an oil rich province wedged between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo and is not physically attached to the rest of Angola.

Tiago's fighters have been seeking independence for Cabinda since 1975, when Portugal relinquished control of Angola and other colonies.

Cabinda's oil production began in 1968, and accounts for most of Angola's oil exports.

- AP