Angola’s Unita (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) rebel movement, which transformed itself into a political party after the oil-rich southern African state last year ended its 27-year-long civil war, on Tuesday began picking a successor to slain leader Jonas Savimbi.
Three senior figures are in the running for the top job: Paulo ”Gato” Lukamba, who has led Unita since Savimbi died fighting government forces in February last year, and Isaias Samakuva and Eduardo Chingunji.
The group began a conference here on Tuesday which is due to culminate in the election of a new leader at the weekend.
Unita secretary general Marcos Corriea Victor opened the conference by praising members of the party for having ”given a lesson in democracy to Angolans by overcoming internal differences through tolerance”.
Before the death of Savimbi, Unita had split into two factions. One, led by Savimbi’s former right-hand man, General Eugenion Manuvakola, had allied with the government in Luanda, while the other, led by Savimbi, continued the fight.
But last October officials from the two factions said they had officially reunited as a political party and set up a political committee, comprising 270 officials from both factions.
”We have undertaken a reconciliation without exclusion,” said Unita’s interim secretary general ”Gato” at the time.
Gato then proceeded to lead the reunited Unita.
Some 1 200 delegates from Angola’s 18 provinces are attending the current conference in Luanda. In addition to electing a new leader, they will draw up the party’s agenda for general elections, the date of which has yet to be set. The ruling party of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has sent a delegation to the conference, at Unita’s invitation.
Savimbi’s death signalled the beginning of the end of Angola’s civil war, which was, at the time, Africa’s longest running conflict and claimed some half-a-million lives since it was launched in 1975, the year the country won independence from Portugal.
Six weeks after Savimbi’s death, the Angolan Parliament voted to grant amnesty to Unita rebels, and two days after that, the army and Unita signed a ceasefire agreement which has been largely respected since then. – Sapa-AFP