From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: ANGOLA: Expert claims democratisation is 'make-believe'
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 21:45:26 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: Expert claims democratisation is 'make-believe' /RELATE/


attn editors: please relate the following item to 'angola: tension
mounting in cabinda as elections approach' moved from cabinda,
earlier.

leiden, sep 26 (ips) -- a ''democratic deficit'' will seriously
hamper the angolan general elections, scheduled for september 29
and 30, says a french expert.

''the elections are an exercise in make-believe,'' said christine
messiant of the paris-based 'centre d'etudes africaines'.

according to her, many of the necessary precondition for fair and
free elections, laid down in the peace accord between the two
sides in the angolan war -- ruling popular movement for the
liberation of angola (mpla) led by president jose eduardo dos
santos, and insurgent national union for the total independence of
angola (unita) under jonas savimbi -- have not been fulfilled.

she noted that the mpla, which recently swopped marxist-leninism
for the doctrines of free-market capitalism and multi-party
democracy, has never whole-heartedly supported the democratic
process, opting for a military solution up to the point when
international pressure made peace talks with u.s.-backed unita
inevitable in 1989.

but messiant does not have high hopes for mpla's commitment to
the free market in the face of the desperate state of angola's
economy. she signals ''a transition from mafia-like socialism to
mafia-like capitalism'', whereby the state in fact still controls
who will be the next owner of companies that are being privatised.

according to messiant, both sides, the main contestants in the
elections, still have their own armies, reducing the new national
army, into which they are being merged, to an impotent apparatus.
unita also still controls the administration of its former
territorial base in southern angola, complicating the safeguarding
of fair registration and election procedures.

messiant concluded that, whatever the election results, the
losing party will have the power to dispute the outcome in a
violent way. reacting to recent reports that unita and mpla are
willing to form a coalition government, she said that both
parties, pervaded by a ''one-party logic'', are still
''totalitarian'' in nature.

messiant also cited reports that, contrary to the peace accord,
not all political prisoners have been released by unita, and fraud
during the registration process has been widespread. (more/ips)

angola: expert claims democratisation is 'make-believe' /relate/(2-e)

angola: expert claims (2)

but guido van heecken, one of the ten representatives of the
hague-based association of european parliamentarians for africa
(awepaa) who will go to angola to monitor the elections, is
optimistic about his observer role.

''if there will be many foreign observers, the angolan people
will feel they are not forgotten by the international community,''
he said.

van heecken added, however, that compared to the 6,000 u.n.
observers monitoring the 1988/1989 transition to independence in
neighbouring namibia, the number of 650 election observers in
considerably larger angola, is rather small.

he said the two main parties and the national election council
(cne) all ask for more observers, whom, he says, the authorities
guarantee free access to people, parties and documents.

according to van heecken, the presence of the observers may help
to maintain order after the elections. ''if we conclude that the
elections have been free and fair, it may be easier for the losing
party to accept the results.'' (end/ips/np/gdb/rj/92)

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