Africans should make peace with colonialism and move on, the Angolan ambassador to South Africa, Isaac Dos Anjos, said in Pretoria on Wednesday.
”After 500 years of colonialism, I now wear a suit and tie. That is enough. I don’t want another 500 years of African colonialism to be taught how to lose the tie and wear clothes from the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] or anywhere else. I keep my tie and move on,” said Dos Anjos, addressing the Africa Institute of South Africa on Angola and the Road to Reconciliation and National Reconstruction.
He said Africans have to learn not to blame the West for their problems but to learn from them and move forward.
Emerging from 40 years of civil war and approaching its second democratic election in 2006, Dos Anjos said Angola is still a country of extremes with little infrastructure.
But, he said, the death of rebel Unita leader Jonas Savimbi in February 2002 had set a course that was the ”desire of all of us”.
He said Savimbi’s death resulted in the end of fighting and the start of the road to reconciliation.
He said the reunification of the Angolan family was the first step in rebuilding the country. This, he said, was backed by the integration of the various military organisations immediately after the ceasefire, and transparency in the management of public affairs.
He said a favourable climate for the second general election in 2006 will be vital in the reconstruction of Angola.
”Only Angolans have the right to choose and to decide about their future, and that is one of the pillars that will strengthen the new democracy,” he said.
Angola has, in collaboration with the United Nations’s High Commissioner for Refugees, sought to locate former citizens around the world.
But, Dos Anjos said, his government is thankful that other countries have taken them in and Angola does not mind if they stay.
He explained that there is much interaction between the country and its citizens wherever they are, and that Angola will benefit from the vital knowledge and expertise they have acquired.
He said Africa should not fear its populations mixing with the world’s cultures.
”We need interaction. We [Africans] try and blame our failures on politics but it’s not, it’s policy issues,” he said.
He explained that shortly after the Portuguese left, Angola had the leading maize-research station in Southern Africa, but it died after failing to develop and now South Africa has the lead.
”It’s easy for South Africa today to think that they are the best in Africa, but it was because the advent of democracy did not stop the process and black economic empowerment did not stop the process — the country continued working. But in Angola, the war stopped everything and now the expertise has gone,” he said.
Dos Anjos said the UN has approached Angola to advise on the peace process in the DRC and Burundi.
”The recent Angolan history allows us to say without fear that the state has a fundamental role to play in the establishment of effective peace and national reconciliation,” he said, adding that the contributions of the civil society, religious groups and community organisations are not to be underestimated. — Sapa