In a statement, the Standing Committee of UNITA's Political Commission said it had examined this Monday in an extraordinary meeting, extended to members of the Presidential Council, the developments in Cafunfo, where more than a dozen people will have died in a demonstration on 30 January, according to opposition political parties and local civil society.
In the communiqué, UNITA states that its leader Adalberto Costa Júnior renounced Portuguese nationality, rejecting the qualification of "foreigner" used by the MPLA's Political Bureau.
"UNITA cannot accept the attacks of xenophobia and racism coming from the ruling party's Political Bureau. (...) The current UNITA President, the son of Angolans, born in Angola, was like many, if not most, of the leaders who have governed this country since 1975, acquired Portuguese nationality, but renounced it, as is already in the public domain," the communiqué states.
"The communiqué from the governing party's Political Bureau has done nothing but distill hatred, sow discord, diverting the attention of national and international public opinion (and) reflects some nervousness resulting from the extreme exposure caused by the inability to meet the aspirations of citizens and the massacre in Cafunfo carried out by the defense and security forces, whose orders came from members sitting in that Political Bureau," UNITA said.
In the police version of the events of January 30, some 300 people linked to the Portuguese Protectorate Movement Lunda Tchokwe (MPPLT), which for years has defended the autonomy of that region rich in mineral resources, tried to invade a police station and in defense the forces of order and security mortally struck six people.
In the last few days, five UNITA deputies have tried to reach Cafunfo, but they claim to have been stopped by the authorities and have retreated to the village of Cuango. In the communiqué issued this Monday, UNITA states that "the ban on the entry of the mission of the MPs and the civic activist (Laura Macedo) in the village of Cafunfo and all the humiliation and privations to which they were subjected are the most unequivocal and definitive confirmation of the massacre perpetrated by the defense and security forces against demonstrators.
UNITA reiterates the demand for an independent inquiry into the incidents of late January and also deplores the "lack of solidarity" shown by the President of the National Assembly who "abandoned the five UNITA deputies to their fate, detained, imprisoned and prevented from feeding themselves, killing their thirst and even their personal hygiene for several days".
"The posture of the President of the National Assembly, once again, proves the condition of subordination and lack of dignity of the National Assembly, aggravated by the loss of its administrative and financial autonomy, which sends the organs of the house of laws into a condition of mere instrumentality" of the president, he adds.
He also expresses concern over "the abusive use of the media under the control of the Executive, which have invariably assumed the role of judges, condemning the demonstrators in Cafunfo, on the sole basis of partial statements by the Minister of the Interior and the General Commander of the Police, as well as the low propaganda and unreasonable and lying attacks that are carried out against UNITA and its management, particularly its President, Adalberto Costa Júnior, forgetting the principle of the contradictory".
"UNITA does not accept being turned into a scapegoat for the regime's misgovernment problems, nor for the congregating incapacity of the President of the Republic, João Lourenço," he said.
In the communiqué, UNITA welcomes the "mobilization of the Church of Angola and Civil Society which, assuming a posture of moral and ethical elevation, without any reservations, condemned the barbarity that occurred in Cafunfo" and asks them to continue to exercise with the organs of defense and security of the country, "a pedagogical action and appeal, with a view to promoting and protecting the dignity of the human person, in all circumstances.
