(2004/C 78 E/0723)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3960/03

by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission

(5 January 2004)

Subject:   Angola — reintegration of ex-combatants and disarmament of civilians

According to a communiqué issued by the Unita Standing Committee at the meeting which it held from 31 October to 2 November 2003 for the purpose of analysing the party's internal situation and Angola's social, economic and political situation, there has been an increase in the number of acts of intimidation and violence committed in the country against former FALA combatants and against Unita supporters. The destruction of villages followed by the forced removal of people from their homes along the Quembo River in Kuando Kubango province to areas in the Lupiri district (where land-mines are still present) is just one example.

The Unita Standing Committee deplores and condemns such acts and it has called upon the government to take whatever action is necessary in order to prevent any repetition and any spread thereof, and it regrets the fact that the bilateral mechanism stemming from the Luena Memorandum which is intended to enable such cases to be dealt with was not brought into operation.

In the same communiqué the Unita Standing Committee also calls on the President of the Republic to make every effort to promote peace amongst Angolans by insisting upon the disarmament of the civilian population and the abolition of the Civil Protection Organisation (ODC), the existence of which it regards as a flagrant violation of the country's Constitution.

In view of the above, would the Commission answer the following questions:

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(30 January 2004)

The Commission is aware of the Unita Standing Committee's communiqué and also of an article by Unita's Terra Angolana on the matter. While it is difficult to obtain further information on the substance of these allegations, it cannot be excluded that such acts have occurred and the Government should do its utmost to prevent these. However, the limited information available leads to the conclusion that these seem to be isolated incidents that do not present a substantial threat to the consolidation of the peace process.

On a more general note, these issues fall into the area of respect of human rights, and this will be one of the items on the agenda of the structured EU-Angola political dialogue which was formally opened on 3 December 2003. Furthermore, the Commission has declared Angola a priority country for the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights. Finally the United Nations (UN) has a specific mandate to deal with human rights questions, and an office in Luanda.

As regards the functioning and mechanisms of the Memorandum of Understanding, the Commission believes that the Troika and the UN, as official witnesses to the document, have a prominent role and should be the parties to address in case of conflict or violation of the Agreement or where the Agreement is not considered to have been properly followed by the two signatory parties.

As regards the situation of the demobilized soldiers and their families, the World Bank, which is co-operating with and supporting the Government through the Angola Demobilization and Reintegration Program (ADRP) (to which the Commission contributes, with part of its EUR 20 million contribution to the Multi-Donor Trust Fund for the Greater Great Lakes area), considers that the demobilization process is satisfactory. The ADRP has started and specific actions for reinsertion of the demobilized are expected to begin soon (by now almost all of the demobilized should have returned or resettled and are being re-integrated). The resettlement process in general is indeed not flawless and in many resettlement locations the minimum conditions are not in place, this also including the problem of landmines. The Commission's de-mining programmes (on-going and planned) and the European Humanitarian Aid Office's (ECHO) activities address these issues directly.

While the peace process continues to make progress, difficult living conditions for people could lead to an increase in banditry in the future. The large quantities of small arms and light weapons constitute a problem in this context, which, while not considered as a threat to stabilization, is still serious and needs to be addressed. The Government seems to consider the disarmament of civilians a growing priority and has conducted a number of (isolated) operations in this sense. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is prepared to support the Government with a specific programme.