PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL'S REPRESENTATIVE FOR ANGOLA
Press Briefing
PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL'S REPRESENTATIVE FOR ANGOLA
19970627
The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Angola, Alioune Blondin Beye, told correspondents at a Headquarters briefing today that he had informed the Security Council of the most recent developments in Angola. Nobody could have imagined that developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo would not have any effects on its southerly neighbour, Angola. Of the nine nations bordering the former Zaire, Angola had the longest boundary with it -- about 2,600 kilometres -- and was affected immediately by the developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Right after the 17 May fall of Kinshasa to the forces of the new President Laurent-Desire Kabila, the Angolan Government decided to take some security measures to prevent the entry of foreign forces into its territory, especially into areas controlled by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).
However, he continued, UNITA did not accept that explanation regarding the Government's action in the northern part of the country. Rather, it described the Government's manoeuvre as a pretext to take control of northern Angola's diamond fields. Up to 6 June, the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III) was not allowed into that area. Later, however, the mission was allowed into the area with military observers of the Troika. It found that the Angolan Government had taken over about 10 areas previously occupied by UNITA, of which five were uninhabited. The fighting there was never intense, being limited to small skirmishes and ambushes. No foreign forces were found alongside UNITA troops, but the UNAVEM team found that the UNITA forces it saw were different from what was proclaimed in a UNITA statement last December.
He went to say that the Joint Commission made some recommendations that were accepted by the two parties. It asked the Angolan Government to stop its security operations since they were no longer necessary. Demanding that UNITA disclose the forces it had not proclaimed in its December statement, the Commission also asked the party to disarm, quarter and demobilize the troops. Further, it called on Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi to meet quickly to solve their problem over the diamond fields.
For its part, the Security Council would endorse those recommendations in a draft resolution that was before it, the Special Representative said. It would terminate UNAVEM III's mandate and replace it, as of 1 July, with another for new operation called the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola/Missão de Observação das Nações Unidas em Angola (MONUA). The new mission could be established until 1 February 1998, but its initial mandate would run through 31 October. The Council would review the situation in Angola by the end of August.
Angola Briefing - 2 - 27 July 1997
Since last Friday, he continued, no movement of Government troops had been reported in Angola.
Special Representative Beye was asked about the impact of the fall of the former President of the former Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko, on Dr. Savimbi's fortunes. He replied that even though he had once feared that Dr. Savimbi might withdraw from the Angolan peace process, the UNITA leader had recognized that the Lusaka Protocol was the only option worth pursuing.
Asked to estimate the number of UNITA troops in northern Angola, he said it was difficult to answer that question. While there had been various allegations about the strength of the forces, UNAVEM would rely solely on what it found out itself. But the Angolan Government had asserted that there were some 25,000 UNITA troops in the entire nation and about 5,000 in the northern Lunda Norte province.
Asked for an assessment of Dr. Savimbi, the Special Representative said he had good relations with the UNITA president, who, along with the Angolan President, was still committed to the Angolan peace process.
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