Imprensa Internacional Sobre Angola Julho - Outubro 2002
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Imprensa internacional sobre Angola Julho - Outubro 2002 AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - ENGLISH 18th October 2002 UN SECURITY COUNCIL VOTES END OF SANCTION AGAINST FORMER ANGOLA REBELS UNITED NATIONS, Oct 14 (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Friday voted to end sanctions against the former Angolan rebel group, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Resolution 1439 said that sanctions, which had been suspended for five months, will formally end in one month. A committee overseeing the measures will continue for two months. The unanimously voted measure also said that from November 14, a ban on movements by UNITA cadres will end. UNITA on Monday put forth its candidates for posts in a national reconciliation government, the UN mission in Angola said. The posts were stipulated under a 1994 peace agreement that has been revived since UNITA and the army signed a ceasefire on April 4, finally bringing 27 years of fighting to an end. The so-called Lusaka accords gave UNITA four ministerial posts, seven deputy ministerial posts, six ambassadorships, three regional governorships and 75 posts in local administrations. The list of candidates was submitted to Ibrahim Gambari, the head of the UN mission and special representative of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to Angola. be/tw/aln -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XINHUA NEWS AGENCY 18th October 2002 UN EXTENDS MONITORING MECHANISM ON SANCTIONS ON ANGOLA'S UNITA UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The United Nations Security Council on Friday extended by two months the mandate of a panel monitoring sanctions against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). In a unanimously adopted resolution, the panel was asked to assess possible violations of the rebel group since the government and UNITA signed their Memorandum of Understanding in April, which covers military aspects omitted by the 1994 Lusaka Protocol. The protocol forms the basis for the Angola peace process. The resolution also requests the panel to provide information on possible violations of the arms embargo which has been in place against UNITA since 1993 and the prohibitions, which date back to 1998, against the import of Angolan diamonds not controlled by the government. The Security Council initially imposed sanctions against UNITA in 1993 for its failure to carry out obligations under peace accords signed with the government. Since then, the council has tightened the sanctions by a series of resolutions. In May 1999, the council established an independence panel of experts to trace violations in arms trafficking, oil supplies and diamond trade, as well as the movement of UNITA funds. The following April, the council set up the new monitoring mechanism. Copyright 2002 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY. AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - ENGLISH 15th October 2002 BUSINESSMAN LINKED TO ANGOLA ARMS SCANDAL JAILED PARIS, Oct 15 (AFP) - A Franco-Brazilian businessman suspected of a pivotal role in illegal arms sales to Angola in the early 1990s has been jailed for breaking his parole terms, French legal sources said Tuesday. A judge ordered Pierre Falcone detained Monday after he met another French businessman under investigation in the case despite an order prohibiting him from contact with 41 others allegedly linked to the sales. The arms-to-Angola scandal has reached the highest levels in French politics. Jean-Christophe Mitterand, the son of late former president Francois Mitterrand, as well as one- time Gaullist interior minister Charles Pasqua and another Mitterand advisor, Jacques Attali, also face possible charges. Five hundred million dollars (euros) of jets, helicopters and other weaponry were sold to the Angolan government of Eduardo Dos Santos in 1993 and 1994 in breach of international sanctions. Falcone is suspected of organising the sale and buying influence. He spent a year in pre-trial detention before being released in December under the parole conditions. He has claimed his innocence. Earlier this year, former foreign minister Hubert Vedrine and European Affairs minister Pierre Moscovici were interviewed by a judge looking into allegations they used their influence to lift a huge tax bill facing Falcone. Both denied anything to do with the abolition of the 1.3 billion euro tax bill against Falcone's company, ZTS Ozos, in 1998. jca/rmb/mc XINHUA NEWS AGENCY 15th October 2002 ANGOLA TO CLOSE DISPLACED, DEMOBILIZATION CAMPS BY YEAR END: OFFICIAL LUANDA, Oct 15, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The Angolan government has announced that it plans to close camps for hundreds of thousands of war-displaced people and former National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) fighters by the end of this year as conditions have been created for their return to former home areas. It was "fundamental" for people to begin heading home, given the hefty cost of maintaining the 37 camps, said Minister of Social Reintegration Baptista Kussumua here in the announcement, Angolan official daily Journal de Angola reported on Tuesday. Provincial governments had received 2 million US dollars for the fee of transportation and some 700,000 displaced had already returned to home areas, a development which "encourages us," Kussamua said. "We appeal to and recognize the dignity of the people" in the camps "and think they will accept the process of return to begin working the land and the reintegration process," he added. Kussumua said that the Angolan government was working with the UN High Commission for Refugees to prepare for the return of nearly 500,000 Angolan refugees in neighboring countries, 14,000 of whom recently returned from Namibia. In another development in the implementation of the peace process, special UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari said Monday that UNITA had presented its list of candidates for integration into central and provincial government posts and ambassadorial positions. The list would be presented to the government, said Gambari, who chairs the Joint Commission overseeing implementation of the Lusaka protocol peace scheme. Officials in Province of Cuanza Sul said that nearly half of the 60,000 former UNITA fighters and relatives assembled in that province had been registered and received identification documents. On April 4, the Angolan government and UNITA forces signed a peace accord to end 27 years civil war, which broke out in 1975 after the country's independence from Portugal. Copyright 2002 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY. PANAFRICAN NEWS AGENCY (PANA) DAILY NEWSWIRE 8th October 2002 ANGOLA, EU SIGN FISHING AGREEMENT russels, Belgium (PANA) - Angola and the European Union have signed a three-year fishing agreement, the ninth such accord in the last 15 years. The three-year agreement was concluded in July, but took effect from 3 August 2002, according to the EU in a communique issued in Brussels Monday. Under the agreement, Angola would receive 15.5 million euros per year as against 13.975 million euros in the previous agreement. Out of this amount, the EU said that 5.525 million euros would be put into projects geared towards the development of sustainable fishing in Angola. The deal allowed 33 European fishing boats to operate in Angolan waters. There would be six French, 23 Spanish and four Portuguese. Among these vessels would be 15 refrigerated tuna boats. Under the deal, the Netherlands and Ireland are allowed to have two boats in Angolan waters to fish pelagic species for an experimental period of six months. The accord also provided for a breeding period to be set aside annually to facilitate the renewal of Angola's fish reserves. The EU said that the agreement was the ninth with Angola since the first was signed in 1987. Copyright 2002 Panafrican News Agency. Source: Financial Times Information Limited. Copyright © 2002 Financial Times Information Services Limited. All rights reserved. BBC INTERNATIONAL REPORTS (AFRICA) 4th October 2002 ANGOLA'S DOS SANTOS COMMENTS ON ZIMBABWE, DRCONGO, CABINDA Text of interview of Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos at news conference at Palace of Congress in Luanda at the end of SADC heads of state summit as reported by Angolan TV on 3 October; First three questions and answers indistinct, omitted; subheadings inserted editorially [France Press journalist] Mr President, you referred a lot to humanitarian issues. My question is the following: The conditions in the UNITA quartering areas are very bad and UNITA has accused the government of avoiding assistance from reaching these camps. What is the Angolan government's reaction? [Dos Santos] It is a slandering attitude to say that there is an attempt to create difficulties for the people who are at this moment in the quartering areas. There are transport difficulties to certain areas due to the conditions of the roads. We can only reach the quartering areas by air transport. Even with the use of air transport it is not always easy. This is the reason why supplies have decreased in four or five quartering areas. But as the president of the republic and commander in chief, I ordered the Armed Forces Chief of Staff to improve the assistance given to government commission, who is now dealing with this issue, to channel as soon as possible the necessary supplies to these areas. There is no lack of food and medicine. We do have the means and there are others on the way, but the difficulty lies in transportation to these areas. I think that through the measures to be taken soon this situation will be overcome. [RTP Africa Journalist Alves Fernandes]