Angola seeks peace with Cabinda rebels

Press, 24 October 1978, Page 16

Angola seeks peace with Cabinda rebels

By

A. OYAMISAH-OYOWE

The recent decision of the Angolan President (Mr Agostinho Neto) to release hundreds of political prisoners, mostly “active rebels” and supporters of the Cabindan Enclave Liberation Front (F.L.E.C.), may be the prelude to a peace agreement between Mr Neto’s regime and the province’s independence movement. Since the beginning of the year, intense behind-the-scenes diplomatic activities. have been going on to reconcile both sides amid the reality of F.L.E.C.’s ineffectiveness as a liberation movement in Cabinda. In spite of the movement’s persistent claims to control over two-thirds of the province, independent observers have been able to establish that the opposite is, in fact, the case. They have pointed out that government forces occupy Sanda Massala, the small village in the north where F.L.E.C.’s so-called provisional government claims to have its headquarters. in March, the movement’s President. Mr Nzita Henriques Tiago, dissolved the provisional government and asked its external affairs official, Mr Bernard Bory, to form another with the mandate to find “a peaceful solution with the help of neighbouring countries and Portugal.” As a man who has had contacts abroad, especially with Portuguese officials, Mr Bory was considered better placed to carry on negotiations (which many believed were at an advanced stage) with Luanda and extract favourable terms. F.L.E.C.’s announcement a month later, in April, that its representatives were to meet Angolan government officials in Lisbon lent greater weight to a theory' that the Cabinda rebellion was truly over. But nothing has since been heard. Informed sources, however, say that recent diplomatic contacts between Angola. Portugal, and Zaire provided new impetus to F.L.E.C.’s initiatives, to which the Angolans are apparently responding favourably. At this stage, though, it is doubtful whether the movement will be able to extract better, terms than it would have some months ago. President Mobutu’s pledge to cease supnort for onponents of Luanda, including F.L.E.C. which worked in Cabinda from bases in southern Zaire, would deal a mortal blow to the movement’s last vestiges of resistance. However, whatever emerges in the coming months in F.L E C.M P L.A. relations. President Neto’s amnestv, announced while on a tonr rff the oil-rich enclave. ; s seen as a pointer not onlv to the Government’s be'ief that it has evervthing under control in the province. but also a manifesta-

tion ot us desire to ne reconciled with a population which is still nursing bitterness at the brutal manner with which unrest in Cabinda was recentlyput down. This development comes amid more diplomatic successes which could further strengthen the Neto regime against its most formidable but beleaguered opponents, the F.N.L.A. and U.N.I.T.A. With improvement of relations with Portugal and establishment of diplomatic relations with Zaire, Angola’s relations with Belgium also took a turn for the better early in September, when the Belgian Foreign Minister (Mr Henri Simonet), accompanied by officials of the Belgian Ministry of Cooperation, visited Luanda at the invitation of the Angolan Minister of External Affairs (Mr Panto Jorge). Commenting on the visit, President Neto predicted that Belgium would be the first major Western country to have a cooperation agreement with Angola, co-operation that would be mainly in the fields of agriculture, consumer goods, and processing industries. Undoubtedly Angola is opening up to the West. Already it has been learned that Mr Simonet who, before his visit, had seen Mr Hans Genscher, the West German Foreign Minister, has invited Angola to normalise relations with West Germany. While Angola is reportedly reluctant because of West Germany’s connection with the Otrag missile base in Zaire, it is being pointed out that Mr Simonet’s visit to Luanda must have taken place with President Mobutu’s blessing—a further indication of Zaire’s determination to cement ties with Angola. The possibility, meanwhile, of a rapproachment between Angola and West Germany and Angola joining the A.C.P./E.E.C. Lome Convention cannot be ruled out. although obstacles such as Angola’s becoming as associate member of C.0.M.E.C.0.N. (the East European equivalent of the

Common Market) still lie in the way. Against this background, the losers are the F.N.L.A., whose most recent success on the battlefront was April, when it shot down an Angolan aircraft in northern Angola, and U.N.I.T.A. U.N.1.T.A., late last August, vowed to stop Angola and Zaire reopening the Benguela railway which links mineral-rich Shaba with the Atlantic. It claims to control 75 per cent of the area surrounding the line and to have put out of action 15 of the 35 bridges on the line. True or false, Zaire’s effective denial of bases and assistance will almost certainly reduce safe sanctuaries open to U.N.I.T.A. With Namibia’s independence around the corner, the days of South Africa’s backing for U.N.1.T.A., as it is constantly being pointed out, are numbered. The option for both the F.N.L.A. and U.N.I.T.A. will be to do battle inside Angola with government forces backed by the Cubans, a situation the Neto regime will cherish, and at a time when weapons and advisers are pouring into Angola from the Soviet Union.—Copyright: World Feature Ser - vices.