BY ZKARAIS WOLDEMARIAM
The South Western African country, Angola has celebrated 46th anniversary of independence from Portuguese colonial rule. Unfortunately the country has suffered one of the longest and bloody civil wars in the continent due to the consequences of the cold war. The civil war had caused the death, disability and exile of many Angolans in addition to destruction of property.
After the leaders of the country took committed action for peace and reconciliation, Angola started the path to dynamic political, economic and social development since 2002. Now it is working strongly to share its rich experience of conflict prevention and resolution to fellow African countries that are undergoing similar circumstances. Accordingly it has made fruitful peace deal in Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.
In his interview with the Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA) in connection with the country’s 46th anniversary of independence, Angolan Ambassador to Ethiopia, African Union and UN Economic Commission for Africa, Francisco Jose Da Cruz has elaborated on how Africans should maintain independence, sovereignty and national interest as well as his country’s initiative to share its conflict prevention and resolution mechanism to African countries through the mechanism of AU. Congratulating the people and government of Angola on the Independence Day, The Ethiopian Herald Presents the full interview with Ambassador Da Cruz as follows. Have a nice read!
Could you tell us about the course of the liberation struggle?
On Thursday we celebrated 46 anniversary of our national independence. We became independent after 14 years of military struggle against the Portuguese colonial power. As a nation, we achieved independence under difficult circumstances due to the cold war. We were a very much divided nation. And it took us until 2002 to achieve peace, stability and national reconciliation in the country. Since then we have been a very united country. Every Angolan has a Space, different political parties interact for the benefit of the whole country in a very democratic environment.
During the time of anti-colonial struggle African countries have been supporting each other. How do you see the collaboration between the countries in this regard?
We became independent thanks to the support of other African countries. And once we became independent we were very instrumental in assisting other countries for the liberation of Southern Africa. Angola was highly engaged in providing support for the independence of Namibia, Zimbabwe, and the political change in Southern Africa which led to the black majority in South Africa and the end of apartheid. So most African countries became independent thanks to the solidarity and that is the reason why in 1963 the African leaders of the time decided to set up the OAU which led to the African Union we have today.
How do you think does this collaboration between African countries prop up the principle “African Solutions to African Problems”?
These countries achieved independence because of the resolve and determination of our people and our leaders. Today we continue to face challenges in terms of peace and stability, development, the wellbeing of the population and we can only achieve sustainable solutions if they are based on our reality. And that is why the AU is pursuing the strategic objective of identifying African solutions to African problems we face today. This has to become at the continental level or our individual countries agenda. Because we know what problems we face and solutions have to be based on our facts, our realities so that we can come up with very pragmatic solutions to which people can buy into, they become part of those solutions to be sustainable.
Angola has passed through a lengthy civil war after its independence. How did it settle this civil war and what does the country now share with other countries as an experience?
We became independent under difficult circumstances because of the cold war and we were victims of the cold war and for many years we could not achieve national reconciliation. Our leaders had always said that once we had put aside the external influence Angolans would be able to reach a political settlement and that is what very much we were able to do. The process was difficult to implement the peace agreement. But the determination of the government, the leadership of the country was so committed to reconciling the whole nation that in 2002 we were able to achieve that. In this regard, the country has been involved in a much unified way.
We continued to pay attention to development around others and nations to make sure that we continue to defend our sovereignty that we have the ownership of our destiny and that decisions we make are based on what we think to be the best for our country, for our people so these decisions can be sustainable and the leadership to be accountable to the people who elected them. But what we have learned with our history is that we need to have the national interest always as a priority and as a responsibility of every single citizen.
How is the current status of the bilateral relations between Angola and Ethiopia?
We have a very good and historical relation with Ethiopia. We have been cooperating since 1978. The first major agreement was in aviation services. And we continue to benefit from technical support from EAL. Our pilots come to Addis Ababa for training, capacity building. Our aircraft come here for maintenance. So we benefit from your expertise in terms of aviation.
EAL before the pandemic used to fly 5 days a week to Angola. We are planning to increase that to seven. Now we are down to two flights a week. In December 2019 we hand an important meeting in Luanda the capital of Angola to identify areas we feel are important to strengthen our cooperation. We have three legal instruments ready to sign under this context. One is a general cooperation agreement, the second one is for political consultation between both MOFA. The third one is for visa exemption for diplomatic and service passports. We have also identified areas in which we can benefit from each countries experience, we are talking about agriculture, mining and tourism as some of the areas we thought could benefit from each other.
As a member of AU, how is Angola playing a role in the major continental Agenda?
As a country, we have part of our diplomatic agenda to be very active in conflict resolution. In this context currently, we share the international conference on the great lakes region and we have been very involved in assisting the Central African Republic to achieve peace and stability. We feel that as a country we were going through a difficult time and then we were able to achieve peace and stability. We have an experience that we want to put at service of the African continent as part of our conflict prevention and resolution strategy.
In this context, we have been very active in the AU. And we were members of the Peace and Security Council until March last year. During our mandate of two years, we were highly involved in some African issues in terms of peace and security. We feel that as a country we have a role to play to support the AU strategic objective of silencing the gun in the continent. In that sense, we have been ready to assist countries undergoing difficult times by providing not only diplomatic assistance but also material assistance when it’s needed and we can do so.
How are the efforts of your country being received and realized in collaboration with AU?
As a member state of the AU, we have a responsibility to play an active role in the fulfilment of Agenda 2063 which one of the main points is to have an African peaceful, prosperous and where Africans can take great ownership of the destiny of the continent. We have been very active as I said as a member of the pace and Security Council last time we were there was 2018-20.
We have been engaged in AU leadership in the 2020 heads of state and government summit President Joao Lourenco because of the situation in the continent concerning the challenges of terrorism and he suggested that we should hold this extraordinary summit to address these issues which received the support of AU. And we have been working with the AUC to see if such a summit can take place in February on the sidelines of the next heads of state and government assembly which is expected to take place in February 2022.
We have this ongoing engagement with AU providing support to AU’s initiatives to peace and security in the country and providing also our ideas and input to that. Despite our sub-regional initiative we have been doing that in close coordination with AU so that Angola held a summit in Luanda in September to discuss the issue on the Central African Republic and the AU was represented by the chairperson.
Countries’ of the region were part of this discussion except the Central African Republic (CAR) to support that African country to achieve peace and stability. As a result of that summit, the government of CAR has decided to have a unilateral ceasefire to engage in inclusive dialogue with rebel forces. It is important to achieve peace and stability in any country that to have the willingness to discuss, the willingness to compromise has been taking into account the national interest must be at the top of any other agenda that the parties involved may have.
How do you see the place of Ethiopia in Pan Africanism?
Ethiopia is a very important country and it has been always associated with pan Africanism, the creation of AU. The efforts as member states we have been making so that Africa can be more assertive in the international arena. So it has been an important example even in terms of resisting colonialism, striving to make sure that sovereignty is respected and the freedom of people is respected. Therefore in the African context it has been an example to follow.
Given the peace and stability in the continent how do you think can African countries realize AUs agenda 2063?
We think that for AU peace and stability in the continent is important for us to achieve progress. Therefore it is always a matter of concern when peace and stability are challenged in any member state. As a whole, we think that it is important to make an effort to silence the gun in the continent because will be the only way we will fulfill the agenda 2063, will be able to provide conditions for our people. The world is becoming more competitive and we need to be united to be able to defend our interest in this international environment in which everything is becoming more competitive.
How do you think should countries fight against attempts of neocolonialism?
Any country should be ready to defend its sovereignty every day. It is something that a country’s government has to strive for every single day. We need to be able to defend our interest and when we engage with international partners we try to press upon another side when it is only important and valid to us when the benefits are mutual when at the end of the day, both sides would benefit from cooperation or from the relationship we are establishing.
It is important to have in mind that the liberation struggle was one phase to achieve national independence for our sovereignty to be recognized; but remains a process where every day we need to make sure that the independence remains very much alive that the sovereignty is respected, the territorial integrity is intact. That is why every year we celebrate national Independence Day it is a moment we reflect on the long road up to that point. The sacrifice we needed to achieve and to mobilize the nation to remain vigilant to be committed to those principles which led us to be an independent nation.
Do you have any messages on the occasion of the national day?
As a country independence days are very important occasions to reflect on our evolution as a nation and the importance of peace and stability and special national unity. Every single citizen is committed to the wellbeing and common good of the country. We value the relationship with other countries to enhance cooperation which can be beneficiary for … was involved and that as members of the AU we should ask every country to be committed to the strategic objective of Agenda 2063 so we can contribute to a better position of the African continent in the international arena.
We remain committed to the objective of the AU member countries in need of our support and experience in terms of conflict prevention and resolution based on our own experience and how we have achieved that important historical milestone and handling a very destructive civil war and achieving an environment of profound unity, a very dynamic democratic environment where all political parties have space to contribute to the wellbeing of the country and common god of the country.
Thank you very much your Excellency!
You are welcome
The Ethiopian Herald November 13/2021
