For the Catholic bishops, who last week gathered at the I Plenary Assembly, in the province of Benguela, the social framework in Angola is also marked by the void of dialogue between parties and civil society and high levels of intolerance.
"It takes a lot of thought and dialogue and everything must be done so that the parties are not more important than the nation", appeal the bishops, according to the press release, read by the spokesman of CEAST and bishop of the diocese of Cabinda, Belmiro Tchissengueti, at the end of the meeting.
The bishops reiterated that the situation of drought and hunger in many regions of the country, especially in the south, requires the declaration of a state of emergency, in order to provide international aid.
At the press conference, Bishop Belmiro Tchissengueti said that Angola is part of the international community and honors its international commitments, with the payment of quotas.
"Precisely with this participation in these organizations, which are multilateral, in times of difficulty, we can make use of such organizations, but of course, in order to have access to the resources of these international organizations, there must be a declaration of a specific State of Emergency and in the case concrete we are seeing that hunger is in fact very accentuated", he said.
Belmiro Tchissengueti stressed that the south of the country has been experiencing a severe drought in the last three years, therefore, he considered, "the environment is created to declare a state of emergency" and to enable the international aid that the Angolans need.
According to the prelate, it would not be the first time that the country would benefit from aid, but it takes humility and recognition that the country needs support.
"So that human lives can be saved and new breath of hope can be given to the people", said the bishop, stressing that aid must be made in two dimensions.
"On the one hand, emergency to meet emergency situations, but also help so that we can learn to produce what we consume. We have a great country and blessed by great rivers, arable land and abundant wealth, which should, with a little more effort, being also an exporter to other countries and not just a consumer of what you receive", he stressed.
To politicians, Belmiro Tchissengueti underlines that aid must be made without political use.
The bishop stressed that democracy contributes to the good of the nation, and leaders and citizens should have a high sense of responsibility, calling for an investment in civic education of citizens, avoiding absenteeism, and being guided by honesty, transparency and fairness in the entire process.
"The electoral campaign will be better if there is mutual respect without fanaticism, we must be builders of bridges and not of walls", he appealed.
