Angola, 1993

First of all, Sir,

on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Angola and

on my own behalf, I congratulate Ambassador Insanally

48 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

warmly on his unanimous election as President of the

General Assembly at its forty-eighth session. I am

convinced that his proven experience and dedication to the

noble ideals of our Organization constitute a secure

guarantee of the success of this session.

To Mr. Stoyan Ganev, his predecessor, I should like to

express my sincere gratitude for his exemplary and unselfish

manner of directing the forty-seventh session of the General

Assembly. The results we obtained during that session are

undeniable testimony to his valiant contribution in the search

for just and lasting solutions to the grave problems with

which we are confronted.

We are very pleased to welcome the new Members of

our Organization. Their admission confirms the universal

vocation of the United Nations at a time when its actions are

felt all over the world.

To the Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali,

I also want to express my Government’s satisfaction at the

devotion and energy he has shown during the first year of

his difficult mandate, whose principal objective was the

constant search for adequate solutions to the problems that

afflict all mankind. We would not be wrong to say that

under his leadership concrete and decisive steps have already

been taken towards the resolution of certain issues that

seemed too difficult to resolve.

In this context we salute his efforts, within the

framework of the restructuring and revitalization of the

United Nations system, to give the system a new vitality in

the fulfilment of its mission. We also support the

mechanisms established for the prevention of conflict, as

explained in the report entitled "An Agenda for Peace",

whose sub-title includes the words "Preventive diplomacy".

My Government continues to support such initiatives and

commends the United Nations for the General Assembly’s

unanimous adoption of resolution 47/120 B at its forty-

seventh session on 20 September 1993.

Therefore, the restructuring and revitalization of our

Organization should include reform of the Security Council

so that it can respond to the realities of today’s world. We

understand that restructuring the Security Council -

specifically its enlargement - so that it can permit equitable

representation of all the regions of the globe is aimed at

guaranteeing greater representativeness, credibility and

efficiency. We think that the time has come for the defence

of peace and international security to be the responsibility of

all States.

Significant and far-reaching achievements have occurred

and are still occurring in international relations, after the end

of the East-West confrontation and the cold war. These

events are taking place in spite of the proliferation of armed

conflicts that put at risk the hope for peace and stability,

conditions that are indispensable for the promotion of

mutually advantageous international cooperation.

With the signing of the peace accords in Washington

between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the

Government of Israel, a new era has opened up for the peace

process in the Middle East. My Government commends the

signing of these accords and hopes that the international

community will continue to work for the rights of all the

people of that region, in particular so that the opportunity for

the Palestinian people to live in peace and freedom will be

an irreversible reality.

Regarding South Africa, it was with great satisfaction

that we heard, in the speech by Mr. Nelson Mandela in this

Hall on 24 September 1993, the announcement of the

organization of free and democratic elections in April 1994

and the call for the lifting of the sanctions. We also

commend the creation of the Transitional Executive Council,

which will put an end to three centuries of white minority

domination. From this rostrum, my Government would like

to add its voice in support of all the initiatives that aim for

a peaceful and negotiated solution in South Africa for the

peaceful transition of power to the black majority.

In this context, my Government hopes that the

international community will remain vigilant in order to

deter any attempt by extremist groups to derail the present

democratic process, which will culminate in the

establishment of the right to one man, one vote, in South

Africa.

While there has been encouraging progress with regard

to the conflicts in the Middle East and apartheid, it is

unfortunate that the same is not true in relation to other

conflicts, such as those in East Timor, the former

Yugoslavia, some States of the former Soviet Union,

Somalia, Liberia and my own country. As a matter of fact,

these conflicts and civil wars continue daily to kill thousands

of human beings and to impede the social and economic

development of the countries involved. We should like the

international community, and the United Nations in

particular, to give more attention to the resolution of these

conflicts, on the basis of international justice and legality.

I should like to express our solidarity with, and

encouragement to, the Government of Mozambique and our

Forty-eighth session - 28 September l993 49

Mozambican brothers and sisters, so that they may, with

determination and patience, continue on the paths that will

lead that country to a lasting and peaceful solution within the

framework of the accords signed in Rome, whose

implementation should be scrupulously observed by all

interested parties, under the supervision of the United

Nations.

We welcome the positive signs which resulted from the

recent meeting regarding East Timor between the Ministers

of Foreign Trade of Portugal and Indonesia, under the

auspices of the Secretary-General.

We hope that this profitable dialogue will lead to a just

solution that takes into account the aspirations of the

Maubere people in accordance with the relevant resolutions

of the General Assembly and of the Security Council.

With regard to Western Sahara, my Government

supports the holding of the referendum on self-determination

for this Territory under the terms of the resolutions of the

Organization of African Unity and of the United Nations.

My Government also hopes that the existing obstacles will

be overcome as soon as possible.

There have lately been startling changes in the world

economic situation. This applies especially to third world

countries, particularly in Africa. In this regard, while we

witness almost linear economic growth in the developed

countries, a substantial decrease has been recorded in the

less developed countries.

The indebtedness and the debt servicing of the less

developed countries, together with the great decrease in the

prices of raw materials and the recession in the industrialized

countries, constitute the principal obstacle to their

development and to their full participation in the world

economy.

In summary, it may be said that the socio-economic

situation of the developing countries - in particular, the

countries of Africa - is alarming and requires the assistance

of international financial institutions.

Nevertheless, we are opposed to the doctrine that has

been termed the états en échec - the failed States - according

to which these countries are not able to resolve their

problems by themselves and, therefore, need new "tutors".

It seems to us important that certain political situations

that are a legacy of the past be revised with a view to

reaching agreement and reducing the great barriers that exist

and the mechanisms that jeopardize real cooperation for the

economic, technical and scientific advancement of the

developing countries. In this context, we propose a

restructuring of the mechanism of international management

for economic development and cooperation.

My Government shares the opinion that a successful

outcome to the forthcoming world conferences on economic

and social development and on population is of great

importance to the international community so that there may

be, at the highest level, an open and frank dialogue with a

view to finding the most equitable solutions to the most

diverse and burning issues concerning mankind: poverty,

hunger and malnutrition - in a word, "underdevelopment" -

that grip a great part of our planet.

I should like to refer also to the importance that my

Government attaches to environmental issues and the

attention that it pays to implementation of the

recommendations and decisions of the Rio Conference of

1992. In this context, the Government of Angola has

established the post of Secretary of State for the

Environment, whose purpose is to apply the

recommendations and decisions of the Rio Conference. In

addition, an inter-ministerial commission, with an essentially

consultative role, has been set up to study and follow closely

projects related to the activities of the United Nations

Economic and Social Council’s Commission on Sustainable

Development.

The promotion of and universal respect for human

rights remain the prerequisites for the strengthening of

international peace and security.

The Republic of Angola actively participated in the

World Conference on Human Rights, which was held in

Vienna, and supported the consensus view. Nevertheless,

Angola continues to believe that, in the broad sense, human

rights are universal. We believe that there must be no

selectivity in the observance of human rights. Nowhere

should human rights serve as a pretext for interference in the

internal affairs of sovereign States Members of the United

Nations.

The world and the United Nations have witnessed the

evolution of the political situation in my country in recent

years - in particular, since 1988. To make possible a better

understanding of the phenomena that have contributed to the

dramatic situation in Angola, allow me to provide a brief

historical overview.

50 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

The Angolan Government is ever-conscious of the

intrinsic link between peace and socio-economic

development, not just for Angola but for all of southern

Africa. My Government took the initiative of presenting a

peace programme to the then Secretary-General of the

United Nations. This programme contained the principles

that culminated in the signing of the Accords in New York

in December 1988. We recall that these accords provided

for the withdrawal of Cuban soldiers from Angola and their

return to Cuba, as well as for the withdrawal of the apartheid

forces from Angolan territory and the implementation of

Security Council resolution 435 (1978) concerning the

independence of Namibia. At that time the international

community greeted with satisfaction the New York Accords,

which opened a new era in the relations between States in

that region.

With regard to the internal conflict in Angola, the

Government was aware of the fact that only domestic peace,

achieved through dialogue and political mediation, would

make possible the creation of a favourable framework for a

solution of the conflict. Apart from its own efforts, the

Government showed that it was sensitive to African

initiatives that sought to contribute to the restoration of

peace in Angola.

Thus it was that, in the framework of the Government’s

internal peace plan, we arrived in Gbadolite in June 1989.

Unfortunately, the Accords lasted only a short time because

UNITA’s friends and allies wanted a different solution. The

failure of the Accords was due essentially to bad faith on the

part of the head of UNITA.

In spite of this failure, the Angolan Government

continued to commit itself to economic and political reforms,

as well as to a negotiated solution of the conflict. It

continued to promote genuine national reconciliation, whose

fundamental purpose was to put an end to the conflict with

UNITA.

After New York and Gbadolite, peace negotiations

continued - the Portuguese Government mediating - and the

Bicesse Accords were signed on 31 May 1991. After a

period of 18 months, during which the Angolan people lived

in relative peace, the country’s first multi-party elections

were held on 29 and 30 September 1992.

As the Assembly is aware, the United Nations

considered these elections to be to be free and fair.

UNITA was not satisfied with the defeat that the

Angolan people had inflicted on it through the ballot-box,

and once again showed its Fascist character. It did not

hesitate to take up arms again to take power by force. It

resumed its previous role as a militarist organization

incapable of conforming to democratic rules.

Jonas Savimbi’s military option plunged our country

into a civil war that has caused incalculable loss of human

lives, the destruction of social and economic infrastructure

and the displacement of millions of citizens, with such

consequences as hunger, poverty, sickness and lack of proper

clothing.

As we stated in the Security Council on 15 September

1993, the situation in Angola is exceptionally tragic and

requires special attention from the international community.

Daily, thousands of people die as a direct or indirect

consequence of the war. Children, elderly people and

women are direct victims of these acts of war. We can

declare, without fear of contradiction, that the critical

economic and political situation in Angola today bears no

similarity whatever to the situation in Somalia, Bosnia,

Cambodia or any of the republics of the former Soviet

Union. It is our profound hope that peace will be restored

to those regions.

The international community seems insensitive to our

tragedy. It is as if the Angolan people were paying the price

for playing the democratic game. Indeed, how are we to

understand the curtain of silence that envelops my country?

A poor loser will not hesitate to defy the international

community with impunity unless it punishes him once and

for all. How can one explain that UNITA still maintains

offices in certain democratic countries and that some of its

officials are still received with great pomp by officials who

do not hide their aversion to totalitarianism and are the most

ardent defenders of human rights?

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of

Angola and of its martyred people, who are dying daily by

the thousands, I appeal to the United Nations and the

international community from this rostrum to help my people

and compel the UNITA leader, Jonas Savimbi, once and for

all to abandon his military adventurism and respect the will

of the Angolan people, as freely expressed at the ballot

boxes in September 1992.

Speaking to the Security Council last week during its

consideration of the evolving situation in Angola, we asked

ourselves how long that great organ, responsible for

international peace and security, would permit the leader of

UNITA to perpetrate with impunity heinous massacres that

Forty-eighth session - 28 September l993 51

shock the human conscience. These acts discredit and

dishonour the United Nations itself and the Security Council,

whose resolutions have been purely and simply ignored. We

would like to remind this Assembly that since the beginning

of the war in Angola in October 1992 the Security Council

has adopted 10 resolutions condemning UNITA and

demanding that it abandon the military option and resume

dialogue aimed at restoring peace.

Yet UNITA has met neither demand. Worse yet, in

reaction to Security Council resolution 864 (1993) of 15

September 1993, which provides for the imposition of

sanctions, UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi attempted once

again to dupe international public opinion and the Security

Council by declaring a false cease-fire and stipulating

conditions at variance with the spirit and letter of the

Bicesse Accords, the Abidjan Protocol and the electoral

results.

The truth, however, is quite different. Not only was the

unilateral cease-fire declared by UNITA not respected, but

we witnessed an increase in military operations throughout

our national territory. As a result, fighting in Kuito and

other regions has recently intensified in a desperate UNITA

attempt to reoccupy new areas and consolidate its position.

Moreover, by making new proposals outside the negotiating

framework, Savimbi revealed his obvious intention to ignore

the resolutions of the Security Council and seize power for

himself at any cost, including the death of hundreds of

thousands more Angolans. Savimbi does not want peace

without power. Savimbi only wishes to gain time.

Obviously, the Government of Angola cannot accept the

policy of fait accompli that UNITA wishes to implement by

proposing a cease-fire in situ. We believe that there is no

good will on UNITA’s part and that it does not wish to

establish dialogue to put a definitive end to the war. This

armed party is plotting a dangerous manoeuvre with the aim

of shirking its obligation to fulfil the Bicesse Accords and

the resolutions of the Security Council.

The United Nations has a great responsibility in the

Angolan process and must not be complacent as regards

UNITA. It is important that the prestige of this Organization

in the peaceful settlement of the conflict not be jeopardized

or challenged by the irreverence of the leader of a rebel

political organization. The Government of Angola, the

United Nations and the troika of observers of the Angolan

peace process have all fallen victim in succession to

UNITA’s bad faith over the past 12 months, a bad faith that

has characterized the behaviour of Mr. Savimbi in every

meeting held since the Namibe, Addis Ababa and Abidjan

meetings.

In Abidjan the Angolan Government bent over

backwards to be flexible. In spite of the involvement of the

United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative

and of the leaders of the delegations of the observer States,

UNITA did not sign the Protocol of Understanding which

was negotiated and agreed upon to lead to the establishment

of a complete cease-fire in Angola. We would like to point

out that President Houphouët-Boigny and his Minister of

Foreign Affairs have done their best in the search for a just

solution to the Angolan conflict. These efforts have not

been successful, due solely to the obstinacy of Mr. Savimbi,

who says "Yes" one day and "No" the next.

We therefore consider that it is crucial that the

international community identify the transgressor and move

vigorously against him in Angola in an act of justice towards

our people and Government, so that our hopes for the

establishment of democracy will not be frustrated in the

midst of the transitional process currently taking place

throughout the world. We want a lasting peace based on

viable conditions for reconciling all Angolans.

In that context, my Government proposed, on 22

September 1993, the following conditions to resolve the

post-electoral crisis caused by UNITA.

First, UNITA must withdraw its military forces from

the areas they occupied illegally following the multi-party

elections held on 29 and 30 September 1992, and must then

observe the cease-fire under the terms of Security Council

851 (1993) of 15 July 1993.

Secondly, after the declaration of a cease-fire,

humanitarian assistance should be implemented and the

urgent evacuation of the wounded, sick, interested persons

and foreigners accomplished.

Thirdly, UNITA must accept fully and unequivocally

the validity of the Bicesse Accords and the results of the

election held in September 1992.

Fourthly, UNITA must respect the legislation produced

by the instruments of sovereignty established by the

elections.

The Angolan Government reiterates its willingness to

resume negotiations as soon as the conditions for those

negotiations have been established.

52 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session

In my statement to the Security Council on 15

September 1993 I alerted its members to the crimes

committed by UNITA against defenceless civilian

populations. These crimes range from the cold-blooded

murder of medical personnel and hospital patients, and the

hunting down and physical elimination of journalists, family

members of Government officials and UNITA dissidents to

the bombardment of cities by long-range guns and missiles.

I also had the opportunity to discuss the situation prevailing

in some regions of Angola, where, as in Kuito, the

population has had to eat the flesh of human corpses in

order to survive. UNITA has encircled Kuito for more than

eight months and does not allow humanitarian assistance to

be distributed to the population or allow foreigners to leave

the areas in which they found themselves when the war

resumed.

In Somalia, one warlord, General Mohammed Aidid,

has been labelled an undesirable person by the United

Nations. An international arrest warrant was issued for that

Somali leader. Several days ago the General Assembly

elected a group of international jurists whose mandate is to

judge those accused of war crimes allegedly committed in

the former Yugoslavia. And what is to be said of Jonas

Savimbi?

Are the crimes that are being committed in Angola

under Mr. Savimbi’s order not worse than those which the

United Nations has attributed to General Aidid or the crimes

that it intends to judge in the former Yugoslavia? The

murder of medical personnel and patients in hospitals; the

hunting down and execution of journalists; family members

of Government leaders and dissidents from UNITA, Jonas

Savimbi’s organization; the incineration of political

adversaries in huge bonfires; the indiscriminate

bombardment of cities with long-range guns and missiles;

and UNITA’s ties with the forces of apartheid - what does

all this mean? Are these not crimes against humanity?

The sanctions that the Security Council decreed and

which entered into force on 25 September constitute proof

of the commitment of the international community to the

Angolan conflict. We hope that these signs will be

honoured by Mr. Savimbi and his allies so that dialogue can

be resumed as soon as possible, on the basis of the Bicesse

Accords, the Abidjan Protocol and on fulfilment of

paragraphs 6 and 12 of Security Council resolution 851

(1993).

In conclusion, I should like once again, on behalf of the

Government of the Republic of Angola, to express our

profound gratitude for the wide range of support the

international community has provided to alleviate the

suffering of our people. We hope this assistance will

continue in an even more substantial way. We wish to pay

here a special debt of gratitude to the humanitarian

organizations and in particular the World Food Programme,

which, in spite of UNITA’s irresponsible and criminal

actions, has continued its operations, risking the lives of its

own personnel.

We express also our gratitude to the countries that in

diverse ways have given humanitarian assistance to the

people, who still are in need of it now.

Once again, I wish the President every success in the

work of the forty-eighth session of the General Assembly

and hope that its results will contribute to the strengthening

of international peace and cooperation.