Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee. Thank you for inviting me to testify today on the Administration’s policy towards Angola.
The international community has a historic opportunity to assist Angola in following the right path after more than two decades of civil war and poor governance. Secretary Powell witnessed first hand the commitment of Angolans to securing peace and achieving national reconciliation and development during his visit there in September. The Administration believes that we should seize this opportunity to transform Angola from a war-torn nation to a center for stability and economic growth in southern Africa. Angola is blessed with tremendous natural resources, which can assist the country’s positive transformation. But they must be used to benefit all Angolans and the region.
Angola will have a prominent role to play in international affairs and in both the southern and central African regions. For the next two years, Angola will be seated as the African regional representative on the United Nations Security Council. The Government of Angola has just assumed the presidency of the Southern Africa Development Community.
Our efforts in Angola are aimed at addressing humanitarian needs, improving governance, and building the private sector and democracy in the new post-war environment -- all themes stressed with the Angolans during recent visits and underscored in our on-going diplomatic dialogue and assistance programs.
As you are well aware, the February 22 death of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) leader Jonas Savimbi and the subsequent April 4 demobilization accords ended a brutal civil war that cost one million lives and squandered billions of dollars. Since that time, more than 84,000 UNITA soldiers have reported with their families to 35 quartering areas and relinquished approximately 35,000 weapons. Nearly 5,000 of these soldiers have been selected for integration into the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) or National Police. The remainder were decommissioned on August 2. The demobilization process has gone smoothly, and effective reintegration over the long-term must include the assistance of local Angolan NGOs and the international community.
This current success is due to the strong political will of both the Angolan Government and UNITA to finally bring the conflict to a definitive end. Angolans on both sides are tired of fighting and of the destruction that has characterized the country since its independence. The genuine desire to find a lasting peace and begin the process of national reconciliation was stated when President Bush met with President dos Santos on February 26 for the Southern Africa Mini-Summit and evident during Secretary Powell’s September visit. For the first time, ordinary Angolans and politicians on both sides sincerely believe that peace has arrived to stay.
Angola, in concert with the international community, must now find ways to consolidate this peace, achieve genuine democracy, protect the rights of its citizens, and better the lives of the Angolan people. This process has begun through the reconstitution of the Lusaka Protocol’s Joint Commission under the chair of the UN Secretary General’s new Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari. As a member of the Joint Commission’s troika, the United States will play an active role in ensuring that the Joint Commission lives up to its Security Council mandate, a commitment highlighted by Secretary Powell in Luanda in September. We view the Joint Commission as a vital vehicle to help create the political framework that will enable the advent of multi-party democracy in Angola.
To that end, any attempts to place artificial time limits or restrictions on the body’s work must be avoided. The Joint Commission’s efforts must produce a comprehensive political framework that benefits all Angolans, not just UNITA and the governing Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).
The United States intends to remain engaged to help Angola achieve this peace. As a troika member, we continue to exert diplomatic pressure on the United Nations, UNITA, and the MPLA, stressing the need for the Joint Commission’s work to develop a comprehensive, inclusive political framework for the country. We continue to train civil society actors, so as to strengthen their ability to influence Angolan Government policy and to represent the needs of their constituents. We will assist Angolans to successfully make the often painful transition from a closed one party state to an open democracy, in training them on the role of political parties in a democracy, encouraging them to engage with local civil society organizations, and holding public hearings on proposed legislation. We also plan to train political parties, including UNITA to transform it from an armed rebel movement to a constructive opposition political party. And, we will work in concert with other donors to fund electoral preparations and ensure that free and fair multi-party elections occur.
Strengthened protection of human rights is critically important to establishing long-term peace. During the civil war, grave human rights violations by the police, the FAA, and UNITA forces occurred. With the advent of peace, it is imperative for the international community to work with the police, the military and ordinary Angolans to improve understanding of international human rights norms and standards. Such efforts under the leadership of the United Nations have begun. Through our Democracy and Human Rights Fund, the United States supports human rights education and training programs for ordinary Angolans and supports indigenous non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in their efforts to educate Angolans on human rights and pressure the government to improve its human rights records. Similarly, human rights remain a key component of our on-going dialogue with the government. Equally, the Angolan judicial system must be reformed to ensure its independence and accessibility to all. We continue to pressure the government to include judicial reform as a critical component of its democratic transformation and to provide adequate resources for the court system to function effectively.
The role of the Angolan Armed Forces, the FAA, will have to be carefully considered. Our engagement with the FAA will need to increase, primarily through increased diplomatic contacts with FAA leadership. With manpower strength of around 100,000, the government will need to define for the FAA a new mission in a post-conflict Angola that supports the political and economic development process. The FAA can also contribute to regional peacekeeping. The United States European Command (EUCOM) will invite General Cruz Neto and a delegation to visit the EUCOM Headquarters to receive briefings. The goal is to build a rapport to allow U.S. DOD officials and military personnel access and influence with Angolan civilian and military officials to help them to develop an apolitical and transparent institution. Training in civil-military relations, defense budgeting, and human rights are priorities in our new engagement with the FAA, an engagement that could benefit from a small carefully crafted expanded International Military Education and Training (E-IMET) program for Angola.
While the Angolan civil war is over, it leaves numerous humanitarian challenges behind that if not adequately addressed could result in renewed societal conflict. 4.3 million Angolans are internally displaced as a result of the fighting, and 1.9 million receive ongoing humanitarian assistance. The end of the war has opened previously inaccessible areas to humanitarian organizations, and an additional 800,000 people there may require assistance by year’s end. Compounding these concerns are the 80,000 former UNITA combatants and 300,000 family members that remain in 35 quartering areas and are dependent on assistance. The United States has been supporting WFP feeding efforts in quartering areas through on-going donations of food commodities by the USAID Office of Food for Peace. In addition, the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance arranged three airlifts and two sealifts of emergency non-food items, including blankets, plastic sheeting, water containers, soap, kitchen sets, and health kits to the quartering areas valued at over $2 million.
The United States has been at the forefront of responding to the humanitarian crisis with over $750 million in aid since 1990. Over half of our 2002 humanitarian assistance to Angola is food aid for vulnerable populations. Provided by the USAID Office of Food for Peace and USDA, it is valued at nearly $70 million. In addition, the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance is providing over $20 million in emergency support, including over $2 million for the quartering areas. The State Department’s Bureau of Population, Migration, and Refugee Affairs is providing $9.9 million in earmarked funding to UNHCR to assist nearly 465,000 Angolan refugees in neighboring countries.
Resettlement and reintegration of demobilized UNITA combatants and family members, internally displaced persons, and refugees are necessary to begin the country’s economic recovery and lay the groundwork for elections. Success is dependent upon adequate support to enable Angolans to start over when they return home. In response, over $3 million in the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance’s budget will be used to procure tools and seeds for some of the 500,000 internally displaced that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates will begin to return home this year. The USAID Office of Food for Peace, through its contribution to WFP, is supporting resettlement activities estimated at $23 million in FY 02. Additionally, the Office of Food for Peace is working to develop a resettlement program with a consortium of private voluntary organizations for FY 03. The Department of State’s Humanitarian Demining Program is contributing $6.8 million this year to ensure the safety of returnees and other vulnerable groups.
This is not to suggest that humanitarian assistance does not continue without challenges, particularly in the quartering areas. The Angolan Government failed to deliver much of its promised assistance, necessitating rapid international intervention to ameliorate deteriorating conditions. While donor aid has been provided, bureaucratic delays, lack or transparency, and a lack of adequate Angolan logistical support have delayed shipments and led to worsening conditions in a number of the quartering areas. We are pressuring the Angolan Government to meet its commitments and ensure that assistance reaches intended recipients in a timely fashion.
Consolidating peace in Angola requires not only addressing the humanitarian crisis, but also immediate, serious consideration of the long-term economic development of the country. A nation rich in both oil and diamonds, Angola has the resources needed to greatly improve the lives of its people. Angola has the potential to develop far stronger commercial ties with the United States and our companies, and to become in Africa and internationally a substantial and reliable supplier of energy. But the government must firmly eschew its statist past and embrace a free-market system led by private sector investment. And vast natural resources can be a magnate for problems of transparency and revenue use. Angola must begin now to tackle the problem of corruption at all levels and improve accountability. We will continue to encourage the Angolan Government to implement and enforce anti-corruption measures. Training of indigenous NGOs, financing for Voice of America’s Angola programs, and planned support to the independent print media are important strategies to strengthen our partners in this fight.
International donors, NGOs, and the international financial institutions remain seriously concerned by the large amounts of off-budget government revenue and expenditures in Angola. The Angolan Government must work with the international community to bring such financial transactions on budget and to negotiate a new program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In addition, the Angolan Government must begin to increase its investment in the well-being of its people and the country’s infrastructure to ensure that Angolans receive the peace dividend that they deserve. We continue to underscore to the Angolan Government that both actions are necessary precursors to any significant international reconstruction efforts.
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, the Angolan civil war is at an end. Our policy now must focus on the significant challenges associated with consolidating the peace and effecting true national reconciliation. We will press forward, in partnership with all elements of Angolan society and the international community to build democracy, protect human rights, end the humanitarian crisis, and set Angola on the path towards development and economic growth. In this way, we can begin to strengthen both the Angolan state and the Angolan people. The Administration looks forward to working with Congress to that end.
