10 April 2003
U.N. Taking Active Role in Rebuilding Angola as Ceasefire Holds
(U.N.'s I. Gambari speaks at Woodrow Wilson Center) (720)
By Kelly Machinchick
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Angola's future appears promising now that the year-old
ceasefire remains unbroken and the United Nations (U.N.) has increased
its presence in the country to rebuild this battered nation.
But the U.N. faces stiff challenges in this task, said Ibrahim
Gambari, current U.N. Under Secretary General/Special Adviser on
Africa and Nigeria's Permanent Representative to the U.N. He
elaborated on these challenges in a panel discussion, "Angola's First
Year of Peace: An Assessment," sponsored by the International Crisis
Group (ICG) at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on
April 8.
Throughout Angola's 27-year civil war between the Popular Movement for
the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Front for the
Liberation of Angola (UNITA), Gambari said, the U.N. has always been
active in attempting to halt the violence and mediate between the
parties.
He added, the death last year of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi especially
increased the probability of a lasting peace and reinvigorated the
U.N. effort in Angola.
The role of the U.N. is extensive, according to Gambari, with the
organization taking on the role of peacekeeping, peacemaking, halting
the human rights abuses perpetrated by both UNITA and the ruling MPLA,
and establishing a sound legal system. U.N. officials who deal with
the Angola situation have had to "use a lot of imagination" to make
progress toward peace, he said.
U.N. efforts have yielded fruit. "There has not been a single
ceasefire violation" throughout the course of a year, he said. UNITA
forces are in the process of being disarmed and demobilized, though
this will take time. UNITA has also become the second-largest party in
parliament after the MPLA. This, he said, offers hope that peace will
be permanent in Angola.
Of course, unpleasant surprises occasionally arise. Gambari said that
UNITA originally indicated that 65,000 fighters needed to be disarmed.
However, that figure has climbed to 105,000 soldiers. All are people
who need to be reintegrated into society.
While the disarming and demobilizing of the former combatants is the
primary task, the U.N. faces the equally great challenges of
resettling millions of refugees and internally displaced people,
holding free and fair elections, disarming civilians, and planning and
holding a donor conference to help rebuild Angola, said Gambari.
The war-ravaged Angolan society has to deal with as many as five
million refugees and displaced persons, he said, and, while armed
UNITA forces numbered 105,000, it is not just the combatants that had
arms. The diplomat estimated that one-third of Angola's population of
10 million has access to weapons. It is not simply a matter of
disarming the combatants, but disarming the civilian population as
well, he said.
Obviously, the U.N. would like elections to take place, but they
cannot do so until conditions are stable enough to permit them to be
held freely and fairly, said Gambari. Also, U.N. officials will
continue to build support and elicit participants for a donor
conference to facilitate Angola's reconstruction.
"Angola needs help," he said, and it is necessary for the main donor
nations -- the United States, the European Union (EU), and Japan -- to
take part in the conference. It would be better to hold the conference
"sooner rather than later" but realistically, Gambari admitted, the
gathering would probably not take place until the end of this year.
Gambari emphasized the important role of the Angolan government in
rebuilding a stable society and economy. "[The government] must take
the lead to consolidate the peace." Angolan officials, with the help
of the U.N., must be willing to promote transparency and work to
attract foreign investment in the economy, which is in shambles.
"The U.N. cannot walk out of Angola," he said, and it has no plans to
do so. Conferences such as the one in which he participated show the
world that "Angola matters." He concluded by pointing out that with
the help of the U.N., the U.S., and the rest of the developed world,
Angola has a chance to become an economically viable nation and an
example of peace for the rest of Africa.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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