Angolans fear fresh war after key polls

LUANDA – Many residents of the Angolan capital fear a resurgence of civil war after the oil-rich nation’s first post-conflict elections, a group of non-governmental organisations said on Wednesday.

“The possibility of an eruption of a conflict after the elections and the hassles during drawing up the voters’ list is worrying citizens,” of the seaside capital Luanda, the report by 46 bodies grouped under the Angola Electoral Network said. The elections were due this year but have been deferred until at least 2007.The report was based on public hearings conducted in January in five densely-populated areas of Luanda housing some two million people.Angola, sub-Saharan Africa’s second biggest oil producer after Nigeria, was devastated by a 27-year civil war that claimed 500 000 lives and displaced another half a million.Elections were last held in September 1992 but a second round of voting was scrapped after the rebel Unita claimed widespread fraud, and the civil war resumed for another decade until a peace pact was signed in 2002.”Elections in our country are synonymous with violence, given the past experience of 1992,” said Gomes Angelino, one of the officials of the Angola Electoral Network.”The main problem according to them is that many civilians still possess arms,” he said.The report said most people in Luanda “do not have any information about the electoral process.”Another problem is the lack of a national disarmament policy.Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos last week went back on a pledge to hold the polls this year, saying they could not be held until road and rail links in the war-scarred country were repaired.In a New Year’s message last year, dos Santos had said: “In 2006, Angolans will be called to the polls to exercise their right to vote, to freely choose their legitimate representatives through an electoral process.”- Nampa-AFPThe elections were due this year but have been deferred until at least 2007.The report was based on public hearings conducted in January in five densely-populated areas of Luanda housing some two million people.Angola, sub-Saharan Africa’s second biggest oil producer after Nigeria, was devastated by a 27-year civil war that claimed 500 000 lives and displaced another half a million.Elections were last held in September 1992 but a second round of voting was scrapped after the rebel Unita claimed widespread fraud, and the civil war resumed for another decade until a peace pact was signed in 2002.”Elections in our country are synonymous with violence, given the past experience of 1992,” said Gomes Angelino, one of the officials of the Angola Electoral Network.”The main problem according to them is that many civilians still possess arms,” he said.The report said most people in Luanda “do not have any information about the electoral process.”Another problem is the lack of a national disarmament policy.Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos last week went back on a pledge to hold the polls this year, saying they could not be held until road and rail links in the war-scarred country were repaired.In a New Year’s message last year, dos Santos had said: “In 2006, Angolans will be called to the polls to exercise their right to vote, to freely choose their legitimate representatives through an electoral process.”- Nampa-AFP