From: f54oguocha@edison.usask.ca
Subject: RE: Great Victory in Angola! Savimbi loses elections.
Organization: University of Saskatchewan
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 21:01:38 GMT

In a previous article, pmmst8+@pitt.edu (Paul M Mweene) wrote:
>In article <4OCT92.20090780@skyfox.usask.ca> oguocha@skyfox.usask.ca writes:
>>Hi,

> 
>Certain things are clear and should not need qualification. UNITA  is absolu
>tely evil and MPLA  one of the most courageous and progressive parties in
>Africa. This is something that shouldn't even be contested. I will conceed that
>no man is without blemish MPLA has consistently and principledly stood for
>for right.   
 I am happy you have tacitly agreed to the fact that neither MPLA nor UNITA 
nor any of the other parties that took part in the just concluded elections
in Angola was 'righteous' in the way the electioneering campaigns were executed.
In any case, you are yet to tell us what evils there are in UNITA that cannot
be found in the closets of MPLA or other parties. Don't forget that many of us
knew how and where the Angolan crisis started. Records of the attrocities com-
mitted by all and sundry in the crisis abound. Of course, I have no doubts
that you are an ardent follower of MPLA. Very  patroitic indeed! But sentiments
should not be allowed to overflow. Every party in the crisis should be criti-
cised for all the acts of omission and commission it precipitated on the good
people of Angola. And so, minority parties (including UNITA) should not be
'legislated out'. They will make the Angolan polity a healthy one.

>You are the first person to mention it. Let me point out that the view that 
>only "god" knows virtue is not universally held. There ared those who consi
>der a man to be good if he displays certain virtues.

That's because they do not believe in God in the first instance. I hope you
are not like them.

>> People like you should repent and think democracy
>>in its real sense.
>i Please spare me your sanctimonious sermons. I am perfectly capable of
>rational analysis, even without the benefit of your suggestions ...

Who says you cannot read between the lines? Just know that 'repent' in the
above sentence has nothing to do with your faith. It has got to do with your
inability to think democracy, even now that the wind of democracy is blowing
across mother Africa. Ok!

> Where have you been. How could you utter such stuff. You are saying that 
>thgey gave Savimbi 80 million dollars in order for him to lose the elction.
>You are in effect claiming that they supported the stopping of the insurgency
>even though they knew that their enemy  MPLA would win the election? I have
>never heard or read this anywhere. If this is so then they are devoid elementaryanalytical skills. W	hy not press the war until Savimbi won? Afterall they
>had managed to deprive MPLA of external military support. 
>The truth is that they had been misled by their victory in Nicaragua. They 
>thought that the traitor Savimbi would win.

Boy, come off it! The millions were spent to bring democracy to Angola. Why did
you fail to tell us how much Cuba and the estwhile USSR threw into the rat race
to sustain communism in MPLA-controlled Angola? Again, your statistics is bia-
sed. Tell us the other side of the story!!! 

>What minorities are you talking about> Savimbi belongs to the biggest ethnic
>group in Angola. His backers pinned their hopes on the illusion that ethnicism would win over reason and patriotism. This fatally flawed logic inevitably did
>them in as the right guys romped away with the victory.  

I know as much as you know that Dr Savambi belongs to a major ethnic group. That
is not the issue. The fact is that his UNITA party is a minority party. And 
there is no way one should have expected a guy just coming back from bush war
to conjure a landslide victory while the government in power is the one that
traded bullets with him. Just allow time to pass and you will be supprised at
the magic of ethnic factor in politics.

>Further more Savimbi is a doctor of nothing if not terrorism. Some people 
>conviniently forgot the fact that MPLA on innumerable occasions had Savimbi
>cornered and clobbered, however South African intervention saved him each time.

Well said. But how many times did Cuban reinforce her over 40,000 troops in
Angola while the unfortunate crisis lasted? Millitary reinforcements are not
just for joke, we all know that.

>The sad reality is that the murder and mayhem by Savimbi will go unpunished.
>This is because this is  on us. When it concerns them, consider Honecker or the
>Nazis, they make sure to exact a measure of retribution however minute the
>wrong might  be. It is further more an illusion that Angolans would not
>accept peace without Savimbi. This is not necessatily true. It is possible 
>to punish Savimbi and still ewnsure propesperity, but this would have to be
>done tactfully.

Every war can be justified. It all depends on which side it is viewed. That
Dr Savambi fought a war he considered rightful should not make you call for
his castration or execution. The fact that neither side won the war is even the
more reason why I would not buy your ideas about punishment or something like
that. I would like you and other Angolans who think the way you think to copy
the Nigerian example. Afterall, Nigeria is an African nation. Chief Emeka
Odumegwu Ojukwu who led the Biafran Seccesion against Nigeria between 1967
and 1970 is today in Nigeria enjoying all the political clout he can muster.
Let us see another example in Angola, for this is the only way real democracy
can thrive in Africa.

Oguocha