Delays in implementing Angola’s peace accords were highlighted at Unita’s third congress in Bailundo last month, reports John Liebenberg
THE town of Bailundo, set in the , farmlands of central Huambo, has always played a significant role in Angolan history. Once home to the Ovimbundu kings, famous for leading a 1902 rebellion against Portuguese rule, the town is now home to a different ruler. Jonas Malheiro Savimbi turned the town into the new headquarters for the Uniaco Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola (Unita) in 1994.
Late last month the third extraordinary congress of Unita, now celebrating 30 years of resistance to Portuguese and Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola (MPLA) rule, was held amid the mix of renovated and shell-damaged buildings of Bailundo.
In the town centre, the city hall was draped with red and green flags sporting the symbolic black cockerel crowing at dawn. Inside, the walls were plastered with paintings of Unita’s African heroes Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, Gamal Nasser and many more lined the entry to the stage.
And when Savimbi arrived at the congress venue, the music of Jean Michel Jarre filled the air. The town’s new king looked healthy and young, his cropped head neatly clipped with not a grey hair in sight.
The media are keen to discover why there have been interminable delays in cementing a peace accord for the country. The latest is due to Savimbi’s rejection of the vice presidency, a post he had agreed to accept until recently.
The recent demand that a senior Unita staffer fill the post came as a surprise to all at the United Nations, the Troika (Russia, America and Portugal) and the MPLA. Savimbi added at the congress that the integration of the rival parties’ armed forces, delayed by security problems, and the MPLA’s use of mercenaries, are other factors stalling the process.
Unita is now insisting that all 40 generals in its high command be integrated into the MPLA’s Angolan Armed Forces a move possibly designed to quell growing discontent in Unita’s military ranks as officers demand the same treatment as the movement’s political leaders.
Some of the generals, recently promoted by Unita, have allegedly been responsible for major human rights atrocities in Angola. The move is possibly designed to obtain a guarantee of safety from the MPLA and the United Nations so that these people can effectively be indemnified against punishment for war crimes.
The MPLA announced recently in Luanda a general amnesty for all war crimes committed since 1992, but few in the Unita ranks believe this will come about.
The congress made it obvious that Unita has little intention of returning now or soon to Luanda. Savimbi insisted he wanted to remain president of Unita, a post he would have to relinquish if he became deputy president of the country.
>From Bailundo he makes endless demands that will continue to paralyse the Angolan government and economy. With his militia and civilian supporters being accommodated by the United Nations, the status quo can continue indefinitely.
has also played an important role in the supply of logistics to Unita’s quartering areas, through recent multi-million dollar donations. An estimated $30-million a month from diamond revenue is also making Unita a profitable venture.
A party celebrating Unita’s success at the end of the congress perhaps reflected the new fortunes of Unita’s leaders, who entertained congress members with imported French champagne and wine, Schol beer made under licence in Zaire and whisky from the heartlands of Scotland.
A block away from the congress hall, lay the reality of Unita. Heavily armed commandos patrolled the streets with the familiar and dreaded red berets on their heads, as ominous reminders that the movement’s special forces are far from being quartered.
In the town a silence prevails. People talk in whispers, no one laughs out loud, the streets are full of people but empty of voices.
Attempts to interview or meet locals from Bailundo are totally out of the question. They scamper away at the sight of journalists. The eyes of Unita officials fill with fear when reasonable questions are asked. Asking questions is the task of only senior people, who also prefer to answer questions with questions.
A press conference held by Savimbi on the last day after the congress reflected the movement’s ongoing xenophobia. The first critical question directed at Savimbi erupted into loud jeers and booing from the audience. The bemused Portuguese journalist glanced back into a sea of angry faces and sat down. But there was no mercy and he was called on again to repeat his question.
This was not the time or the place to ask questions on past human rights violations, the war against ordinary Angolans or the nine-month siege of Quito which forced its dehumanised people to eat dogs and the bodies of the dead.
On the fate of South African mercenaries captured and held, Savimbi suggested “the question be put to the MPLA who employed them”. But the fate of these men now seems evident.
“The South Africans … captured by Unita?” asks General Arlindo Pena known as “Ben Ben”.
“They are not here … they are dead … If they were captured on the front line … then they were executed.”
“General!” a journalist insists, “There are South African families who believe the men are still held by Unita.”
“We have no one here. We would present them. They are not alive … they are dead. If they were caught in the front line …”.
“General, what is the message I tell the mothers, the wives?”
“Tell them … we are not sorry.”
The treatment meted out to the four South Africans captured while mining for diamonds and held at Bailundo for nine months, leaves little hope of survival for the men who have been missing since mid-1993.
The four were tortured for months on end. Bags were placed over their heads so that they did not know where or when the beatings would start or where the punches were coming from. Their thumbs were tied over their shoulders, and their arms stretched for days on end.
“And mercenaries employed by Unita, general?” the journalist asked.
“We have none.”
Unita now has an Internet address: http://www.sfiedi.fr/kup/kup@worldnet