OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Wednesday 11.30pm.
SEVENTY MPs belonging to Angola’s rebel Unita movement who were dismissed from parliament last week have refused to joint the breakaway faction which has established itself as the movement’s alternative leadership.
Five ministers, also dismissed for being Unita members, last week denounced leader Jonas Savimbi and set up a “renovation committee” which has won the blessing of the Angolan government.
The committee, headed by Eugenio Manuvakola, has since occupied Unita’s Luanda headquarters and says it is committed to the peace process.
The 70 MPs said in an official statement on Wednesday that only a meeting between Savimbi and Angolan President Jos Eduardo dos Santos could bring about a solution to the conflict.
Late last week Angola’s police chief called for Savimbi and his supporters to be arrested on sight, and for the police to use force in dealing with armed Unita insurgents.
Angolan police said on Wednesday they had killed 20 Unita members in fighting on Sunday around Kwima, south of the central town of Huambo. Five people, including two government soldiers, were killed in clashes on Wednesday at Puri in the northern province of Uije, they said.
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