From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: ANGOLA: MPLA OFFERS TO SHARE POWER, PLEDGES TO SEEK PEACE
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 01:10:54 GMT

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: ANGOLA: MPLA OFFERS TO SHARE POWER, PLEDGES TO SEEK PEACE


lisbon, oct 7 (ips/mario dujisin) -- angolan foreign minister
pedro van dunem said here wednesday that the ruling mpla was
willing to share power with other political forces with a view to
solving the country's political crisis.

''the popular movement for the liberation of angola (mpla)
''reiterates its desire to form a national unity government,
including other parties, which permits national reconstruction,''
van dunem said.

he said his government would do everything possible to avert
the danger of armed conflict in the southern african country.

van dunem arrived wednesday in lisbon, where he met with
portuguese prime minister anibal cavaco silva, whom he asked to
intercede with the opposition union for the total independence of
angola (unita) to get the former rebel group to respect the
results of the sep. 29 - 30 presidential and legislative
elections.

with 90 percent of the ballots tallied, angolan president jose
eduardo dos santos obtained 50.9 percent of the votes, while
unita leader jonas savimbi polled 39,4 percent.

in the legislative elections, the mpla leads unita by 55
percent to 33.4 percent.

last weekend, savimbi questioned the results, accusing the
mpla of rigging the elections. threatening to resume the civil
war, he ordered his generals to pull out of the unified high
command of the angolan armed forces.

van dunem's remarks have been interpreted in lisbon as an
appeal to unita and the majority of the other 16 political
groupings which contested the elections and which, despite their
modest results, represent the various cultures of angola's
complex ethnic mosaic.

the angolan foreign minister stressed that his government
''has made all possible efforts to contact dr. savimbi, but he is
completely isolated and wishes to speak with no one.''

in the meantime, ''we shall continue trying to contact him and
will use all means to find a peaceful solution to the crisis,''
he said.

portuguese secretary of state for foreign relations and
cooperation, jose manuel durao barroso, said wednesday that
portugal and the united states ''will try everything'' possible
to convince unita to respect a 1991 peace accord. (more)
----


''we are faced with an illegal international situation,''
durao barroso said at a meeting with the international press.

the portuguese official said unita's decision to break the
peace agreement ''automatically places the matter in the hands of
the united nations, the forum which guarantees international
legality.''

he guaranteed that his government backed without reservations
a resolution passed tuesday by the un security council, in which
the it decided to send an ad hoc commission to angola to persuade
political parties there to continue the peace process and avoid a
new civil war.

durao barroso chaired for one year the negotiations between
the mpla, backed by the then soviet union, and unita, supported
by the united states and south africa, which ended 13 years of
civil war in the southern african country of 10 million people.

the negotiations were capped by a may 1991 peace accord, in
which the two parties agreed to the holding of general elections
and the fusion of the angolan army and savimbi's rebel forces
under a unified high command, with advisers from portugal, the
former colonial power.

durao barroso said that the possible violation of the peace
agreement by unita ''is not based on any serious accusation of
(electoral) fraud,'' but rather, isolated circumstances, ''which
occur in any electoral process, in any part of the world.''

truly independent observers ''like those of the united
nations, did not report serious facts which question the
results,'' he said, adding that observers from the united states,
''a country which cannot be qualified as anti-unita ... also
endorsed the results.''

asked whether he thought the hostilities might resume, the
portuguese minister expressed confidence that reason would
prevail and that in withdrawing its generals, unita ''left a door
open, that of waiting for the confirmation of the results.''

reacting to a statement by unita to the effect that ''it is
not up to foreigners to decide in angola,'' durao barroso
confined hismelf to recalling that portuguese, north americans
and russians were in the country ''at the request of both angolan
parties.''

''in the concrete case of portugal, we are not interested in
diplomatic exhibitions, nor in paternalistic attitudes, but in
giving all the support we possibly can to the un,'' he said.
(end/ips/trd/po/md-ar/kb/92)
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