Angola’s Defence Minister Kundi Paihama said on Tuesday the demobilisation camps the government set up for Unita soldiers have taken in many people who have falsely claimed to belong to the rebel group.
”We will make a budget and determine who was in the (Unita) military and which outfit they belonged to,” he told reporters in Lisbon at the end of a two-day meeting of defence ministers from Portuguese-speaking countries.
Paihama said many people who merely lived in Unita controlled areas have identified themselves as having been rebel soldiers in hopes of preferential treatment by the government.
Since the government and the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) signed a ceasefire pact in April to end a bloody civil war that has rumbled on since independence from Portugal in 1975, 35 camps have been set up.
Unita estimates that 69 000 former rebels have moved to the camps throughout the country, while 200 000 relatives have settled nearby. Thousands more are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.
Paihana said some 5 000 former Unita rebels will be integrated into the Angolan armed forces within the next 15 days.
Aid agencies, the United Nations and Unita have said conditions in the camps are critical, with no food or medicine available for the ex-fighters.
The groups have warned that without immediate international aid, a massive famine that could fuel a flight from the camps with rebels seeking their survival through crime.
An Angolan military source said last week that 75 Unita soldiers and family members died of starvation on their way to demobilisation camps.
A UN team is due to visit Angola from June 8 to 14 to assess the needs in the camps. – Sapa-AFP