Angola
Howard Barrell
South Africa has launched a diplomatic offensive to spur the United Nations and big powers into decisive action to halt Angola’s accelerating slide into all-out civil war.
In Parliament this week, President Nelson Mandela called for a new international approach to bring peace to the Angola. At the same time, South African officials disclosed they were trying to pressure UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to take active steps to bring the Angolan government and the rebel Unita movement together in talks.
The UN recently decided to pull most of its peace mission out of Angola when a ceasefire broke down with fierce fighting in the central highlands.
Leaders of the Southern African Development Community, meeting in Mauritius late last year, declared Unita leader Jonas Savimbi an international criminal. The implication of this is that only the UN secretary general may now deal with him officially.
Some South African officials believe the decision was a mistake as it prevents neighbouring states from exploring all avenues for peace.
South Africa has also been appealing to UN Security Council permanent members France and the United States, whose transnational corporations own most of the oil facilities in Angola, to engage actively in the search for peace there.
South African officials said they were “very worried” at the gains being made by Unita and some of the aggressive postures being struck by the government in Luanda.
The Angolan government, which already has troops in both Congo (Brazzaville) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), recently made threatening noises against Zambia, accusing it of providing aid and transit to Unita.
There is particular concern about the potential for spillover from the Angolan war. Already, the Angolan government is supporting President Laurent Kabila’s regime in the DRC and President Denis Sassau-Nguesso in Congo (Brazzaville). Unita is supporting the rebels in both those countries.
Moreover, several other countries – Chad, Namibia, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe – have had or currently have troops in the DRC. Southern African security analysts report that rebel forces within the DRC are continuing their advance westwards. They have now reached Kabinda, a town about 100km east of the diamond mining centre of Mbuji-Mayi, situated in east-central DRC.
Although the major foreign belligerents backing both the government and the rebel side in the DRC agreed last month in principle to a ceasefire, they have not yet signed an agreement.