Bullets to ballots: The reintegration of UNITA in Angola

Abstract

Angola has enjoyed mostly peace since April 2002 and is preparing for legislative elections in September 2008—the first since 1992. This paper charts the fortunes of the former rebel movement, UNITA, the Union for the Total Independence of Angola, assesses how successfully it has transformed itself from a rebel movement into the leading party of the democratic opposition and what its future prospects are. Many of the problems that UNITA faces are similar to other political opposition parties in Africa and there are few signs that UNITA is any longer disadvantaged by its violent past. The biggest threat to UNITA is that it loses badly in the September 2008 legislative elections and makes these ex-rebels irrelevant to the majority of Angolans.

Notes

 1. Vines, ‘Angola: Forty Years of War’, 76–77.

 2. The FAPLA or Forças Armadas Populares de Libertação de Angola (People's Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola) was the armed wing of MPLA, which became the government armed forces when the MPLA came to power.

 3. Vines, ‘Angola: Forty Years of War,’ 75.

 4. Porto and Parsons, Sustaining the Peace in Angola, 19.

 5. Anstee, Orphan of the Cold War, 48.

 6. Hartzell and Hoddie, Crafting Peace, 118. By June 1992 from approximately 192 000 troops only 20,000 soldiers from both sides had been demobilised. Only 37% of government troops and 85% of UNITA troops had been put into the 48 established cantonment areas in spite of the 1 August deadline. By this date, only 8,800 had been integrated into the FAA—Vines ‘Angola: Forty Years of War’, 78.

 7. Messiant, ‘Why did Bicesse and Lusaka fail?’, 19.

 8. Bicesse Peace Accords, 31 May 1991.

 9. UNAVEM II was the successor to UNAVEM I, which was established to oversee withdrawal of the Cubans from Angola established by Security Council Resolution 698.

10. Porto and Parsons, Sustaining the Peace in Angola, 21.

11. For an insider account of the Bicesse Peace Process see Anstee, Orphan of the Cold War, 48–56.

12. Heywood, Contested Power in Angola, 217.

13. Ibid., 218.

14. Anstee, Orphan of the Cold War, 67.

15. Heywood, Contested Power in Angola, 219.

16. Ibid., 219, 224.

17. Required to determine the presidency as neither candidate had secured more than 50% of the vote.

18. Vines, ‘Angola: Forty Years of War’, 75–79.

19. Vines, Angola Unravels, 17–29.

20. Heywood, Contested Power in Angola, 230.

21. Angola. Protocolo de Lusaka, 31 October 1994.

22. MacQueen, ‘Peacekeeping by attrition’.

23. Vines, Angola Unravels, 23.

24. Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch World Report 1999.

25. MONUA was established under Security Council Resolution 1118 (1997) 30 June 1997 to assist the parties in consolidating peace and national reconciliation.

26. United Nations. UN Document S/1999/49, 17 January 1999.

27. Springer, Deactivating War, 146.

28. Griffiths, ‘The end of the war’, 25.

29. Angola Peace Monitor (APM), Vol. IX, Issue No. 2.

30. Eugenio Manuvakola was the UNITA signatory to the Lusaka Protocol.

31. Griffiths, ‘The end of the war’, 26.

32. Ibid., 25–27.

33. Conciliation Resources, chronology of events in Angola available from http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/angola/chronology.php; Ex-combatants were formally demobilised in August 2002.

34. Meijer, ‘Introduction: Lessons from the Angolan “Peace Process”’, 15.

35. APM, Vol. IX, Issue No. 2.

36. IRIN, ‘UNITA welcomes government plan to assist former soldiers’, 31 October 2002 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/ACOS-64DB8G?OpenDocumentx&rc = 1&cc = ago

37. APM, Issue No.6, Vol. X.

38. Agence-France-Presse (AFP), ‘Angola's joint peace commission is dissolved’, 21, November 2002 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/ACOS-64BNW8?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

39. IRIN, ‘UNITA disappointed at Joint Commission closure’, November 2002 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/ACOS-64CQS9?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

40. Ibid.

41. Government of Angola, ‘Lusaka Protocol: Bilateral Commission to handle outstanding matters’, 21 November 2002 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/OCHA-64BNCJ?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

42. AFP, ‘Angola's joint peace commission is dissolved’, 21 November 2002 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/ACOS-64BNW8?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

43. Government of Angola, ‘Ruling party and opposition to sign memorandum’, 6 December 2002 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/OCHA-64CSDE?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

44. Government of Angola, ‘UNITA pleased with sanctions’ lifting', 10 December 2002, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/OCHA-64CEXD?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

45. APM, Vol. IX, Issue No. 5.

46. IRIN, ‘Reconciliation crucial to lasting peace’, 30 January 2003 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/OCHA-64CGAY?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

47. APM, Vol. IX, Issue No. 6.

48. AFP, ‘US lifts economic sanctions against Angola's UNITA’, 7 May 2003, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/ACOS-64C9CS?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

49. IRIN, ‘Angola: Interview with senior UNITA leader Isaías Samakuva’, 6 March 2003 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/KHII-5ZCB7D?OpenDocument

50. APM, Vol. IX, Issue No. 2. Samakuva returned to Angola on 1 November 2002.

51. APM, Vol. IX 0, Issue No.1.

52. APM, Vol. IX, Issue No. 11.

53. APM, Vol. IX, Issue No. 11.

54. IRSEM was created in 1995 after the Lusaka Protocol but it really only became functional after the Luena Memorandum.

55. Ex-combatants were to receive five months back payments of salaries according to military rank, a $100 reintegration allowance and a ‘kit’ of basic household items and tool and an identity document.

56. In addition, 33,000 former members of the government's armed forces should have been demobilised by the end of 2005.

57. IRIN, ‘Angola: Year-ender 2002—Political Challenges for the future’, 22 January 2003 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/ACOS-64BQ4P?OpenDocument&query = political%20challenges&cc = ago

58. Springer, Deactivating War, 148.

59. Parsons ‘Beyond the Silencing of Guns,’ 41.

60. Security Council resolution 7486 (2002).

61. APM, Vol. X, Issue No. 2.

62. De Barros and Njele. Demobilisation and Reintegration.

63. IRIN, ‘Easy access to guns concern as election nears’, 13 March 2006 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/KHII-6MV87Y?OpenDocument&query = number%20one%20priority&cc = ago

64. AFP, ‘Angola's UNITA denies claims of weapons cache’, 9 September 2005 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/ACIO-6G3QJ9?OpenDocument&query = disarmament&cc = ago

65. Capapelo and Netswera, Small Arms and Social Development, 3.

66. Aragão, Manuel. ‘Statement by H.E Manuel Da Costa Aragão, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Angola At The General Exchange of Views of the United Nations Conference to Review Progress Made in the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Traffic of Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects’, New York, 27 June 2006, 2.

67. Capapelo and Netswera, Small Arms and Social Development, 29–30.

68. For example the murder of an 80-year-old Portuguese Catholic priest Father José Afonso Moreira in Bailundo on 9 February 2006 at his mission home.

69. Parsons, ‘Beyond the Silencing of Guns’, 40.

70. Porto, Parsons and Alden, From soldiers to citizens, 60–61.

71. Government of Angola, ‘Effective peace is four years old’, 4 April 2006, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/YAOI-6NK3T4?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

72. IRIN, ‘More needs to be done for reintegration of former soldiers’, 29 October 2004.

73. World Bank, Report No. T7580-ANG. Technical Annex for a Proposed Grant of SDR 24 million (US$ Million equivalent) to the Republic of Angola for an Angola Emergency Demobilisation and Reintegration Project, March 2003, at http://www.mdrp.org/PFs/Country_PDFs/AngolaDoc_TechAnnex.pdf, p. 21.

74. IRIN, ‘Demobilised soldiers find work in the security industry’, 14 June 2004, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/KHII-5ZY42U?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

75. There had been donor discussions headed by the World Bank in May and July 2002 but agreement was only reached in January 2004. It appears that the World Bank wanted to head this process but the government opposed and the creation of a Management Unit was the eventual compromise.

76. Due to this delay, UNDP created a $4.3 m Special Project to Support the Re-integration of Ex-Combatants in the Framework of the Peace Process in Angola. The project provided agricultural reintegration for 44,816 ex-combatants and training for 4,891 ex-combatants through 48 projects in six provinces; technical assistance and training for IRSEM between 20 August 2003 and 30 June 2005. See project appraisal document, dated 13 January 2006, at http://www.mdrp.org/PDFs/Implem_comple_Ang_UNDP.pdf

77. AFP, ‘Former Angolan rebels criticise delay in rehabilitation of ex-fighters’, 1 September 2005, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/ACIO-6FTRGW?OpenDocument&query = Chitombe&cc = ago

78. AFP, ‘Angola pledges model post-war elections as it fetes key anniversary’, 11 November 2005, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EVOD-6J2KKN?OpenDocument&query = consolidating%20peace&cc = ago

79. The Association for Cooperation, Exchange and Culture financed $323,000 of projects for the re-integration of 802 ex-UNITA combatants in Huambo province between December 2005 and June 2006. It calculated that its funds for reintegration projects in Bié, Huila and Luanda, targeted some 82,000 linked to UNITA. 2,919 resettlement kits were also delivered to demobilised combatants.

80. Lourenço, ‘Irsem precisa de parceiros para implementer programas’.

81. ‘MDRP-Supported Activities in Angola: July 2007’, www.mdrp.org

82. Porto, Parsons and Alden, From soldiers to citizens.

83. Universidade Católica de Angola, Relatório Económico de Angola 2006. Luanda: Centro de Estudos E Investigação Científica, July 2007, 9–10.

84. ‘Governo aposta na criacao de emprego para demobilizados’, Jornal de Angola, 25 June 2006.

85. Interview with opposition party leaders, Luanda, September 2004.

86. IRIN, ‘Electoral table announced’, 25 August 2004 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/SZIE-647PE9?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

87. APM, Vol. XI, Issue No. 3.

88. APM, Vol. XI, Issue No. 2.

89. Swiss Peace Foundation, FAST Update Angola: Semi-annual risk assessment, December 2004 to May 2005, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EVIU-6E7BLU?OpenDocument&query = Pereira&cc = ago

90. Interview with MPLA officials, Luanda, September 2004 and February 2007.

91. Marques and Pearce, Unfinished Democracy.

92. Author visited one such location that had just been attacked in central Angola in August 2004.

93. Government of Angola, ‘Government calls for Politics-Free Election Civic Campaign’, 3 October 2006 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/HMYT-6U8RM7?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

94. AFP, ‘Angolan president confirms election dates’, 28 December 2006.

95. Swiss Peace Foundation, FAST Update Angola No.3: Trends in conflict and cooperation, May–June 2007 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/AMMF-75FDCS?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

96. Swiss Peace Foundation, FAST Update Angola No.2: Trends in conflict and cooperation, March–April 2007 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/YZHG-733MKA?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

97. Government of Angola, ‘Opposition UNITA's Political Commission to Review Situation’, 28 January 2004 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/ACOS-64BFWB?OpenDocument&query = samakuva&cc = ago

98. AFP, ‘Angola needs national unity government for at least another decade: UNITA’, 13 February 2004 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/ACOS-64D4VU?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

99. IRIN, ‘Savimbi's ghost still haunts UNITA’, 23 February 2004, see Nicholas Shaxon's comments at http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/ACOS-64CFG4?OpenDocument&rc = 1&cc = ago

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alex Vines

Alex Vinesis Head of the Africa Programme at Chatham House. He is author of a number of books on Angola including Angola Unravels: the rise and fall of the Lusaka peace process (Human Rights Watch, 1999). He was an election officer in Angola for UNAVEM II in 1992.

Bereni Oruitemeka

Bereni Oruitemeka is a consultant research assistant for the Africa Programme at Chatham House and has a specialist interest in human rights issues in Africa.