Africa-Press – Angola. UNITA defended a “democratic peace”, the terms of which should be discussed at the National Assembly (parliament), for the region of Cabinda, the Angolan province that is experiencing a “guerrilla war led by FLEC”.
The position was presented by the president of the parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA, the largest opposition party), Liberty Chiyaka, at the launch of the party’s 12th Parliamentary Conference, which will take place between 26 and 30 March in Cabinda.
According to the politician, the province of Cabinda, an enclave in northern Angola, has specific political issues to resolve and, 50 years after the colonial era, the situation in that territory “is as sad” as that experienced in the other provinces of Angola.
“The situation [in Cabinda] is further aggravated by the de facto existence of a guerrilla movement led by FLEC (Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda – which fights for the autonomy of that region),” Liberty Chiyaka recalled at a press conference.
The people of Cabinda, he argued, need a new approach to realize their “legitimate aspirations for peace, freedom and prosperity, having failed to reach several expectations of understanding with several dignitaries of Cabinda”.
“We have concrete proposals for this new approach. We understand that the National Assembly, within the framework of its political and representative powers, must take the political initiative and schedule the specific discussion of proposals that lead to democratic peace in Cabinda”, he stressed.
He argued that the people of Cabinda “do not just need peace”, but also “freedom, democracy, local autonomy, fair redistribution of national wealth and prosperity”.
UNITA deputies, he added, will go to Cabinda to talk with local leaders and to consult civil society about the Bill on Supramunicipal Level Authorities in Cabinda.
A supra-municipal authority must contribute to the fight against hunger and poverty, achieve the national objective of eliminating asymmetries through a more equitable distribution of public resources between the State and local authorities, and ensure the provision of local and other public services, explained Liberty Chiyaka.
The FLEC/FAC (Armed Forces of Cabinda) has been demanding for several years the independence of the territory of Cabinda, the province from which a large part of Angolan oil comes, invoking the Treaty of Simulambuco, of 1885, which designates that territorial part as a Portuguese protectorate.
Angolan President João Lourenço, in a recent interview with Jeune Afrique magazine, stated that the security situation in the oil province of Cabinda is stable and FLEC-FAC does not pose any threat to Angolan territory.
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