The conditions in which prisoners are being held in MPLA jails has been described as deplorable. According to UNITA militants who have had prison experience and who recently managed to escape, hunger, physical and psychological torture are the order of the day in the Government run prisons. Acts of brutality on prisoners are also common. Most of the former prisoners were detained without any formal charge and were never brought before a court of law. According to a source at the UNITA Juridical Office, a case in point is the continued dentention of four UNITA Parliamentary deputies. An Angolan journalist, William Tonet, who was recently detained by the Luanda authorities, described conditions in the prisons as inhuman and a flagrant violation of human rights by the MPLA regime during its long years in power. The source criticised the silence on the part of the international community over the constant violations of human rights by the ruling MPLA party and its President, José Eduardo dos Santos. Even when the MPLA is caught red handed violating human rights, only human rights organisations speak out against such abuses. He said such an attitude further encourages the MPLA to commit atrocities and violate human rights in Angola.

The UNITA Foreign Affairs Secretary, Alcides Sakala Simões, has said that his party is capable of resisting for another 20 years if necessary against the war launched against UNITA by the MPLA regime. Alcides Sakala, who was speaking in interviews with the international press, was reacting to the current large scale military offensives by the MPLA regime against UNITA administered areas. The UNITA official reiterated his party’s willingness to continue working towards national reconciliaition in the country.Questioned over the validity of the Lusaka Protocol, Alcides Sakala said as far as his party is concerned, the Lusaka Protocol died as soon as José Eduardo dos Santos declared the current war on UNITA.

A unita Parliamentary deputy, Celestino Kapapelo has denied that his party has asked for a cease fire with José Eduardo dos Santos. Kapapelo, who is a member of the UNITA leadership, was reacting to allegations by the Government that Dr. Savimbi for a cease fire or political assylum in a letter supposedly written to José Eduardo dos Santos. Dr. Kapapelo said UNITA had no intention of doing so and will fight to the last man if necessary, in an interview with Radio France International. Reacting to recent statement by the South African diamonds firm, De Beers, Dr. Kapapelo said UNITA will continue to sell its diamonds in order to safeguard the interests of the native people of Angola. He said: ‘gold is gold in any part of the world and our diamonds will not be less bright just because they belong to UNITA.» And Carlos Morgado, a member of UNITA’s diplomatic mission in Portugal, reacting to the recent false press reports alleging that UNITA General Kalias had surrendered to Government forces, dismissed these as Government propaganda. He said General Kalias is firmly engaged in his work.

Kup/ends

Meanwhile, reports from the northern Angolan province of Uige say Generalised Popular Resistance forces have liberated the locality of Mukaba, situated north of Uige City. Thirty Government soldiers died following the seizure of Mukaba by UNITA forces following a fierce gun battle. The fall of Mukaba has provoked a wave of displaced people, mostly MPLA supporters who had participated in crimes against UNITA sympathisers during the exstension of state administration, within the framework of the application of the Lusaka Protocol.

MPLA military commanders involved in the current large scale military offensive against UNITA held areas in central Angola are beginning to admit the possibility of the current operation resulting in failure. Reports circulating in the Angolan capital, Luanda, say that the recent appointment of new frontline commanders by José Eduardo dos Santos, following military setbacks suffered at the hands of UNITA forces, has not helped to reverse the trend. The sources point out that UNITA forces are bravely and heroically resisting the military onslaught by Government forces ever since the current military offensive against UNITA administered areas got underway last September 14^th.

The most fierce fighting is taking place in central Angola. Heavy fighting is also taking place in northern Angola, particulary in the Uige region, where Government forces are trying to wrestle control of strategic localities from UNITA. One of the localities which MPLA forces are trying to seize the municipality of Maquela do Zombo which lies on the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Despite the military onslaught by Government forces, UNITA forces have the situation under firm control. In a recent counter attack, Generalised Popular Resistance forces captured the municipality of Mukaba, which lies to the north of Uige City. A number of local Government officials are reported to be roaming the bushes following the fall of Mukaba to UNITA forces.

Reports from Kwanza Sul Province say Government troops are killing innocent villagers. A local chief, António Máquina, murdered by MPLA troops last October 11, is one of the recent victims. According to KUP sources, the murders were committed by Government troops stationed in the town of Quibala. Two entire villages were torched. A number of villagers wre also tortured and women raped by the attackers. Many villagers have been forced to flee into the nearby bush in panic in order to escape the reign of terror.

Vioolent clashes continue to take place in Angola. The scene of the heaviest battles is central Angola where UNITA forces are bravely resisting against the military onslaught by the Luanda regime against their strongholds. According to KUP sources, things have not been smooth running for Government forces in the current military offensive which was initially planned to last only a week.. After 28 days of heavy fighting, war weariness is reported to be setting in among Government forces. A Generalised Popular Resistance source told the UNITA News Agency that the current military offensive is proving to be a heavy financial drain on MPLA forces. The source appealed to MPLA soldiers to revolt against the regime which he accused of not respecting human life. Quting the words of Kundy Payama, the man who replaced General Pedro Sebastião as Defense Minister in one of his speeches after being sworn in, Angolan youth are «firewood for fuelling the flames of war».

Kup/ends

Meanwhile, reacting to the Vatican initiative, a source close to the UNITA Information Secretariat noted that peace in Angola has necessarily to take into account UNITA and its President, Dr. Jonas Malheiro Savimbi. He, however, expressed his party’s doubts as to an eventual role by the Catholic Church in mediating the Angolan conflict given the posture adopted by some Catholic officials in the past. The Vatican envoy’s visit comes in the wake of growing calls from the international community, especially the European Parliamentarians, urging Luanda to abandon its militaristic attitude and negotiate an end to the war with UNITA and its President, Dr. Jonas Malheiro Savimbi. They see this as the only way to achieve peace in Angola. The European parliamentarians are also demanding that the dos Santos regime should reciprocate recent overtures given by UNITA aimed at finding a lasting solution to problems dividing Angolans through dialogue.

Four UNITA members of Parliament detained by the Luanda regime were released on October 14^th, according to report from the capital, Luanda. Carlos Alberto Carlitas, Domingos Maluka, Manuel Savihemba and Carlos Kandanda were detained at the beginning of this year without any formal charge. The decision to free the four men was ordered by the Supreme Court after finding no evidence that they committed any crime. However, a UNITA source, reacting to news of the four men’s release, said there is a still a possibility that they may be taken back to prison by the MPLA regime. The source described the release as a public relations act at a time when Pope John Paul’s Special Envoy is expected to arrive in the Angolan capital. The four released UNITA deputies’ health has been described as worrisome due to the maltreatment to which they were subjected while in detention. During the last ten days of their detention, the four men had no access to food and medical care.

Meanwhile, many journalists working for the independent press in the Angolan capital are soon to appear for court trial. They include Rafael Marques, Deputy Editor of the independent publication, AGORA, who was recently interrogated by Luanda Judicial Police. Marques had recently written an article which was published in another Angolan independent publication, Folha 8, where he contributes as a freelance journalist. In his article, the newsman had described Eduardo dos Santos as the most astute and cruel authoritarian rulers in Africa and the main culprit for the current situation in the country.

An increasing number of youths in the Angolan capital are fleeing the country in order to seek refuge abroad. Most of the youths are heading to Western European capitals in order to dodge the forced recruitment drive currently underway. They feel that by being forced to join the MPLA army, they face certain death without glory at the battle for a cause which is not theirs. Numerous recruitment campaigns by the Luanda regime in urban areas under Government control have ended in failure given widespread apathy among the youth. The situation has been made further worse by an increase in the wave of desertions among MPLA military units.

In another development, traditional chiefs in the diamond-rich north-eastern Lunda Norte Province have written an open letter to the MPLA President, José Eduardo dos Santos, expressing disappointment with the way his Government is misruling the country, especially the province. In the letter, the chiefs denounced atrocities committed by Government troops, including theft of property belonging to the local people. The traditional rulers also urged Eduardo dos Santos to put an end to the war which he is currently waging against the native people of Angola.

Kup/ends.

Meanwhile, more than 100 tons of diverse bombs, most of them internationally banned, have so far been used by the Luanda regime’s military aircraft in bombing raids on villages and towns since the current large scale military offensive against UNITA strongholds in central Angola got underway last September 14^th. The main targets of the current military offensives are the towns of Bailundo, Mungo, Andulo and Nharea. According to KUP sources, war weariness is beginning to show on the invading Government forces who are now turning their fury on the civilian population by shelling villages, towns and cities, using its military aircraft. Most of the victims are women and children.

Thirty days after having launched its current military offensive against UNITA strongholds in central Angola, war weariness is beginning to set in among invading Government troops. A senior UNITA military officer told the UNITA news agency, KUP, October 12, that the current situation in the country continues to be characterised by fierce fighting between MPLA and UNITA forces. According to the officer, five MPLA military regiments have so far been destroyed with an estimated 3.000 Government troops killed and four thousand others wounded since the current military offensive, code-named «Operation Restore» got underway last more than a month ago. Many of the wounded have been unable to be evacuated from the battle frontlines. He affirmed that UNITA forces have the military situation in the country under control and will continue with their military actions until José Eduardo dos Santos is neutralised.

The war in Angola has taken a new turn, a month after fierce fighting broke out, with MPLA Government forces suffering heavy military setbacks in their current military offensive against UNITA strongholds in central Angola.

UNITA forces continue to dominate the military situation and are gaining ground each day.

KUP sources in central Angola say the acquisition of new military equipment by the Luanda authorities, estimated to have cost a billion dollars, has been unable to fulfil the Luanda authorities’ dream of penetrating UNITA administered areas.

Total despair and desertions have become the order of the day among MPLA military units involved in the so-called «Operation Restore».

Kup/ends.

The successive wars which our country, Angola, has been experiencing have rarely deserved an impartial and balanced treatment by the international community. This is mainly due to the negative influence of the MPLA’s propaganda machine. It is constantly with sophism and light interest that the blame for the current crisis in the country is placed.

It is within the framework of refreshing the memory of all those who are interested in Angolan affairs that the Secretariat of Information would like to recall the serious non compliance by the MPLA of the Lusaka Protocol as well as other actions which were the background to the war which José Eduardo dos Santos declared on December 5^th 1998 during the opening ceremony of his party’s IV Congress.

1. Cases of serious non-compliance

1 – The MPLA/Government never repatriated foreign mercenaries it had recruited. Instead, it hid them behind so-called private security firms or transformed them into businessmen, especially in the diamond industry in association senior Army officers. Many of them were also granted Angolan citizenship.

2 – The MPLA /Government never disarmed its militia which, between 1992 and 1994 played the dirty role of indiscriminately eliminating UNITA militants in all Angolan cities.

3 – The Rapid Intervention Police, known by its Portuguese acronym P.I.R., was not quartered and its equipment was not stripped down to suit its police duties as stipulated in the Lusaka Protocol. Its numbers also grew from 6.000 to 60.000 men and it became ever more omnipresent, interfering in the «pacification» of all sectors and corporations of Angolan society and Angolan citizens in general.

4 – The continued and systematic hostile propaganda campaign by MPLA controlled media in order to tarnish UNITA’s image. The Lusaka Protocol recommended, from the moment of its signing, the cooling down and eventual cessation of hostile propaganda.

5 – In an attitude which only reveals a lack of African cultural values, the MPLA/Government, up to then, had not returned the bodies of UNITA officials assassinated in Luanda in 1992 while negotiating with the MPLA a solution to the post-electoral crisis which was had the implicit cushioning of the international community. The bodies of the UNITA officials assassinated in Luanda include those of the late Vice-President, Jeremias Kalandula Chitunda, Party Secretary General, Adolosi Paulo Mango Alicerces, and the UNITA Representative on the Joint Political-Military Commission (CCPM), Engineer Elias Salupeto Pena.

1. Acts carried out by the Luanda regime during the application of the Lusaka Protocol as a background to the war.

1. - The intense rearming of Government forces since 1994 with the support of Brazil, Portugal and Russia. The last two countries were, at the time, members of the Troika group of observer countries in the application of the Lusaka Protocol.
2. – The declaration by José Eduardo dos Santos on October 2 1996, in Luanda, during a SADC regional summit in which he stated that he «would not lose the next war!».

It is worth noting that this statement was made at a time when UNITA Generals were already in Luanda in order to be incorporated into the Government Armed Forces.

3. –The unilateral prolongation of the mandate of MPLA parliamentary deputies through the constitutional coup of 1996.
4. – The confiscation of UNITA’s sources of revenue despite the understanding reached between the two parties, Government and UNITA, with the United States of America as witness in October 1997.
5. . The normalisation of state administration, which should have been the most clear expression of national reconciliation, was transformed, by the Government, through its police force and Armed Forces, into an operation aimed at the physical destruction of UNITA. UNITA party symbols were burnt and buildings housing its party structures demolished. In addition, thousands of UNITA party militants and cadres were thrown into prison, tortured and murdered in cold blood, resulting in the dispersion of more than a million and half UNITA members inside the country.
6. – The suspension and obstruction of dialogue with the UNITA leadership even after the June 1998 agreement of Andulo aimed at rectifying all errors and failures registered up to that time.
7. – The brutal, inopportune and wanton prevention of the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative to Angola, Issa Diallo, from meeting the UNITA leadership.
8. – The creation on September 2, 1998, by José Eduardo dos Santos of a new so-called new interlocutor with which it planned to conclude the remaining tasks of the Lusaka Protocol.
9. 10 – The declaration of war and the passing of the death sentence on the UNITA leaership, through its President Dr. Jonas Malheiro Savimbi, by José Eduardo dos Santos in his opening speech to the IV Congress of his party in Luanda on December 5^th 1998.

It is our hope that these facts will allow impartial analysts to see the responsibility of the MPLA regime in the current war in Angola.