ANGOLA: ANGOLAN PRESIDENT JOSE EDUARDO DOS SANTOS REPALCES HIS DEFENCE MINISTER WITH A GENERAL IN A CABINET RESHUFFLE

Record ID: 168522

  • Title: ANGOLA: ANGOLAN PRESIDENT JOSE EDUARDO DOS SANTOS REPALCES HIS DEFENCE MINISTER WITH A GENERAL IN A CABINET RESHUFFLE
  • Date: 31st January 1999
  • Summary: LUANDA, ANGOLA (JANUARY 30, 1999) (RTN - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV EXTERIOR OF PRESIDENTIAL HOUSE/ MINISTERS AND DIGNATORIES ARRIVING (2 SHOTS) 0.11 2. LV CEREMONY OF NEW DEFENCE MINISTER GENERAL KUNDY PAYAMA BEING PRESENTED 96 SHOTS) 0.27 3. MCU (Portuguese) ANGOLAN PRESIDENT EDUARDO DOS SANTOS SAYING THE GOVERNMENT WILL FULFILL ALL ITS RESPONSIBILIT
  • Embargoed: 15th February 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LUANA, ANGOLA
  • Country: Angola
  • Reuters ID: LVAXSUK279ID2CUVQI3JEC769IM
  • Story Text: Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has replaced
    his defence minister with a tough-talking general in a cabinet
    reshuffle designed to bolster the battle against UNITA rebels
    - but the rebels have responded defiantly.

    "It does not make sense for him to say he can
    eliminate UNITA.Who can eliminate 33 years of fighting, 33
    years of history, and 33 years of experience? It is
    impossible," UNITA Secretary-General Paulo Lukamba Gato told
    Reuters by satellite phone from rebel headquarters in the
    central highlands town of Andulo.

    Dos Santos earlier said of the reshuffle:"Our first
    priority is the final fight for peace.In other words: we must
    make war in order to have the conquest of peace."
    He was addressing the newly appointed 28-member cabinet
    during a ceremony at the presidential compound near the
    capital Luanda.

    As part of the shake-up, Pedro Sebastiao was removed from
    the post of defence minister and replaced by General Kundy
    Payama, the former minister for internal security and a close
    aide and adviser to the president.

    The move was seen by observers as a clear sign that dos
    Santos wants to adopt a "total onslaught" approach in the
    latest battle with Jonas Savimbi and his National Union for
    the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebels.

    Reinforcing that stance, dos Santos on Friday dismissed
    Prime Minister Franca van Dunem from his post and abolished
    the position, making himself head of state, government and of
    the armed forces.

    He said this would be "for as long as the current
    exceptional situation in the country continues".

    The UNITA rebels appear to have had some successes in
    recent weeks, seizing three government-held towns and surging
    towards the north and west of the oil and diamond-rich
    country.

    On Saturday, Angolan-based aid agencies reported that the
    shelling of Malange, about 300 km (187 miles) east of the
    capital Luanda, had restarted after almost two weeks since
    government forces had pushed back UNITA.

    On Wednesday, UNITA took the provincial capital of
    Mbanza-Congo, opening the way for the movement to advance on
    the oil town of Soyo, in the far northwest near the border
    with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where several
    international oil companies have a strategic and logistic
    base.

    Payama said he felt he was chosen to replace Sebastiao
    because of his experience in the field and his good relations
    with Chief of Staff Joao de Matos.

    Payama said his task was clear -- to wage all-out war
    against UNITA and Savimbi.

    The government and UNITA have been fighting for more than
    two decades since Angola won independence from Portugal in
    1975, a freedom which itself came only after a 14-year
    struggle.

    In 1994 the warring parties signed a peace accord known as
    the Lusaka Protocol which promised UNITA seats in a government
    of national unity in return for demobilising and disarming.

    The agreement lasted for nearly four years, but mutual
    distrust slowly eroded it and fighting broke out again on
    December 5, when the government decided to attack rebel
    strongholds in the central highlands of the country.


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