Unita anger at ‘murder attempt’ against leader

LUANDA – Angola’s largest opposition party, Unita, on Tuesday accused policemen of trying to assassinate its leader last week.

The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) accused policemen of firing on a building where Unita leader Isaias Samakuva and other members of the party were present in the town of Camabatela, east of the capital Luanda. “When police officers are in front of a building and know that the president of Unita is inside and they shoot at it, it’s obvious it’s an attempt against the life of all the people inside, not just the president,” Adalberto da Costa Jr., Unita’s secretary for information, told Reuters.”Three shots went into the room where the president was sitting and they hit the wall and they were all within one metre of the president.Bullets aren’t flowers,” he said.Carlos Mendonca, the police commander in Kwanza Norte province, where Unita says the incident took place on March 2, said he was not aware of any assassination attempt on the Unita leader.”I don’t know anything about an attempted assassination against the Unita president,” he said.”There were some gunshots fired in the area by people who are unknown to the police and I can’t say exactly where the incident occurred.”We are carrying out an investigation to establish the facts,” Mendonca added.Unita is set to face the ruling MPLA, in power since independence from Portugal in 1975, in the country’s first elections in more than a decade in 2008.Unita and other opposition groups have accused President Jose Eduardo dos Santos of trying to hold on to power by delaying the elections.His failure to groom a successor has further added to speculation that the former liberation fighter may look to extend his tenure well into the future.Unita fought government forces in a 27-year civil war which ended in 2002 after its then-leader Jonas Savimbi was killed.Samakuva, who spent years in the southeast of the country with Unita’s leaders during the conflict, was elected as the party’s new leader in 2003 and has led its transformation from rebel movement to political group.A legislative ballot is scheduled to take place in 2008 with a presidential vote to be held a year later.The last elections to take place in oil-rich Angola were in 1992 when the incumbent MPLA defeated Unita in a disputed poll, which eventually led to resumption of hostilities between the bitter opponents.Angola, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest oil exporter after Nigeria, is currently enjoying an economic boom that has been fuelled by high oil prices and billions in foreign investment.Nampa-Reuters”When police officers are in front of a building and know that the president of Unita is inside and they shoot at it, it’s obvious it’s an attempt against the life of all the people inside, not just the president,” Adalberto da Costa Jr., Unita’s secretary for information, told Reuters.”Three shots went into the room where the president was sitting and they hit the wall and they were all within one metre of the president.Bullets aren’t flowers,” he said.Carlos Mendonca, the police commander in Kwanza Norte province, where Unita says the incident took place on March 2, said he was not aware of any assassination attempt on the Unita leader.”I don’t know anything about an attempted assassination against the Unita president,” he said.”There were some gunshots fired in the area by people who are unknown to the police and I can’t say exactly where the incident occurred.”We are carrying out an investigation to establish the facts,” Mendonca added.Unita is set to face the ruling MPLA, in power since independence from Portugal in 1975, in the country’s first elections in more than a decade in 2008.Unita and other opposition groups have accused President Jose Eduardo dos Santos of trying to hold on to power by delaying the elections.His failure to groom a successor has further added to speculation that the former liberation fighter may look to extend his tenure well into the future.Unita fought government forces in a 27-year civil war which ended in 2002 after its then-leader Jonas Savimbi was killed.Samakuva, who spent years in the southeast of the country with Unita’s leaders during the conflict, was elected as the party’s new leader in 2003 and has led its transformation from rebel movement to political group.A legislative ballot is scheduled to take place in 2008 with a presidential vote to be held a year later.The last elections to take place in oil-rich Angola were in 1992 when the incumbent MPLA defeated Unita in a disputed poll, which eventually led to resumption of hostilities between the bitter opponents.Angola, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest oil exporter after Nigeria, is currently enjoying an economic boom that has been fuelled by high oil prices and billions in foreign investment.Nampa-Reuters