From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:ANGOLA: NATIONAL UNITY CABINET INSTALLED, UNITA POSTS LEFT OPEN
Date: 16 Dec 92 02:50:59 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

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: NATIONAL UNITY CABINET INSTALLED, UNITA POSTS LEFT OPEN


lisbon, dec 4 (ips) -- angolan president jose eduardo dos santos
friday swore in a government of national unity, issuing a ''last
warning'' to the ''national union for the total liberation of
angola'' (unita) to lay down arms and join the democratic
process.

headed by the former secretary-general of the ruling ''popular
movement for the liberation of angola'' (mpla), marcolino moco,
the new cabinet includes three opposition parties, while posts
offered to unita have been left open.

the three opposition groups include the ''angola national
liberation front'' (fnla), which had been the mpla's traditional
foe during the anti-colonial war against portugal (1961-1974).

the balance of power in the new cabinet also takes ethnic
factors into consideration. moco is one of the few members of
angola's largest ethnic group, the ovimbundu, in the uppermost
echelons of the mpla.

ovimbundus, who are about one-third of angola's 10 million
inhabitants, make up 90 percent of unita's forces, led by
jonas savimbi, himself an ovimbundu.

at the swearing-in ceremony, transmitted live by the main
portuguese radio and television stations, dos santos accused
savimbi of adopting a ''suicidal attitude'' by continuing his
armed actions against the state.

''it is inadmissible for there to be someone who causes so
much suffering to the people of angola,'' stressed the president,
whose mpla won a resounding victory at elections in september.

he added that unita ''has to accept the election results, lay
down its arms, occupy its seats in parliament and accept its
posts in the new government.''

''patience, goodwill and our availability to unita are already
coming to an end,'' he concluded, in what portuguese diplomats
and journalists in luanda interpreted as an indication that the
army has completed preparations for a counterattack against
unita.

the rebel group seized towns in northern angola days after
signing a second peace accord with the mpla on nov. 27. the two
sides had concluded a peace agreement in portugal in may 1991,
which was to have put an end to the civil war which broke out in
1976.

new prime minister moco said that ''the new executive branch
will take measures of force'' because ''all our goodwill towards
unita is to no avail.'' (more)
----


asked by a portuguese journalist whether this meant all-out
war, moco answered: ''there are some things which are difficult
to swallow, but dr. savimbi is not leaving us many
alternatives.''

analysts feel that, following the condemnation of unita's
armed action by the three countries which sponsored the 1991
peace agreement -- portugal, russia and the united states -- the
mpla government feels it has the ''green light'' to attack the
rebels, including by air.

early friday, armed forces chief of staff, general antonio dos
santos franca n'dalu, placed all military units on a ''state of
alert.''

public opinion was rudely shaken this week by the
assassination of medical doctor david bernardino, a pediatrician
sympathetic to mpla who worked with malnourished children, in the
central angolan town of huambo, savimbi's headquarters.

according to the correspondent of the portuguese station,
''tsf-radio jornal,'' ''bernardino, who was doing essentially
humanitarian work in huambo, was assassinated by unita soldiers
because he witnessed the murder of poet fernando marcelino by
savimbi's guerrillas last month'' and denounced it publicly.

a spark of optimism was lit on friday during a direct
interview by a portuguese t.v. station with unita spokesperson
jorge valentim, head of the group's information section.

he said unita ''is preparing to withdraw from the towns it
occupies in the north -- uige and negage -- with the assistance
and presence of un forces.''

to get his commanders to obey the order to withdraw, '' doctor
savimbi sent a unita general to uige and negage,'' valentim
explained.

with regard to the possibility of unita's joining the
democratic process, he said that ''unita's deputies will appear
in the national assembly (parliament) at the right moment.''

but he declined to mention dates or to state whether the group
would take up the cabinet posts allocated to it.
(end/ips/trd/so/md-ego/kb/92)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african