Francisco Queiroz, who was speaking at the end of an evaluation of the work in 2019, mentioned as the most relevant aspects last year the reach of consensus, by Angolan society, on the virtues of the Commission for Reconciliation in Memory of Victims of Political Conflicts.
According to the coordinator, the environment before the beginning of the commission's work and the current one "is very different".
"Before there was no consensus on these matters and today the consensus is visible. It is true that we have not yet reached 100 percent, and I don't even know if we will, but we are bringing the visions, the sensibilities and the truths closer together, because there is not only one truth", said Francisco Queiroz.
The Minister of Justice and Human Rights also stressed that the commission, in addition to telling the truth, must listen to all parties, all tendencies and sensibilities, as well as understand and interpret well the meaning of each of the truths.
"On this basis, promote reconciliation among all. That is the object of this committee's work, and from this perspective the gains are enormous," he said.
He also pointed out as gains, the approval of a bill, which is currently in the National Assembly, for the special allocation of death certificates, for victims who have died and until today without registration of their death.
According to Francisco Queiroz, a technical and scientific group was created this Friday, which will undertake studies, research, analysis, to characterise historically each episode that generated violence, the type of victims generated by these episodes of violence, to define concepts, such as victim and forgiveness, and to assist the work of the commission.
About the usefulness of the commission, whose creation was questioned at the beginning, the need to talk about "a subject that was already being forgotten," is unquestionable today, assured the minister.
"The other consensus is in the sense of the purpose that this commission intends to achieve, which is forgiveness and reconciliation and the means that are being used to achieve that forgiveness and reconciliation. The main means is dialogue, this is exactly what we have been doing throughout the various meetings", he said.
The committee's coordinator stressed that there is also consensus on the lyrics of a song, which is being put to music at the moment, with the intervention of singers of great prestige in the national songbook.
The place where the memorial will be built, on the hillside of Boavista, in Luanda, is also a given, and in today's meeting it was noted that "there are already terms of reference on architecture, which has to obey certain references of a cultural, anthropological, traditional" and "has to reflect the feeling of being Angolan".
Regarding the challenges, Francisco Queiroz admitted that they exist, "as in all processes", the main one being the 27th of May case.
"Because the 27 May case generated two types of victims, those resulting from the attempted coup d'état - because 27 May, in fact, was an attempted coup d'état and generated victims by forces loyal to the government at the time - and also generated victims by the reaction to the attempted coup d'état," he said.
According to the commission's coordinator, the reaction to the attempted coup d'état generated more victims than the government.
The balance between these two types of victims, he continued, "is the great challenge of the commission".
"But the fact that we have reached this point and that we have seen that there are these two sides, these two types of victims, is already a great advance", considered the leader, pointing out that the technical group created today will help to make the management of each side of victims.
The commission was created by presidential decree in April 2019, in honor of the victims of the political conflicts that occurred in Angola between 11 November 1975, the date of the country's independence, and 04 April 2002, the end of the war period.
