Speaking on the "Discurso Direto" program on Rádio Ecclesia, a national Catholic broadcaster, Boaventura Cardoso Tati stressed that the presence of soldiers from the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) in Cabinda contradicts the official versions, which deny the conflict.
"When it is said that there is nothing in Cabinda it is a pure lie, [because] if there was nothing in Cabinda, why is there a military presence in Cabinda? There are a lot of troops in the Maiombe forest, leaving from Dimuca to Buco Zau, at along the entire road we will find military positions", said Boaventura Cardoso Tati, who says he is a field commander and not a "cabinet".
According to this commander of the Armed Forces of Cabinda (FAC), the armed wing of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC), Angolan forces are positioned along Angola's border with the Republic of Congo and also with the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDCongo).
"If there were no war in Cabinda, there would not be a massive presence of Angolan troops in Cabinda", he commented, highlighting that the fighting is carried out according to logistical conditions.
According to Boaventura Cardoso Tati, the organization receives food aid from the local population and military support from abroad, without revealing the origin, which passes through official Angolan transport channels.
"We only have two countries that support the war in Cabinda, the first is Angola itself, because the military material we use comes from the port of Luanda, passes through the 4 de Fevereiro airport to Cabinda, passes through the port of Lobito and, secondly, , our logistics come from the people of Cabinda themselves, (from) whom we feed", he said.
"We don't have military cooperation with Russia, [but] we use AKM, we use 'rockets', where do they come from?", he asked, denying support from the two Congos, Angola's neighbors.
Since 1963, when FLEC was founded, "the project to free the people of Cabinda was created and it continues", stated Boaventura Cardoso Tati, who considers the class of intellectuals in the province "the greatest disgrace that the people of Cabinda has it."
As an example, he pointed to the case of former priest Raul Tati: "Sometimes he is Mpalabanda [former civic and human rights organization in Cabinda], sometimes he is a priest and today he is the prime minister of the shadow government", he criticized.
Boaventura Cardoso Tati defended that the solution to the conflicts in Cabinda involves the territory's independence, highlighting that the oil province is experiencing a war of liberation and not a civil war.
The province's riches should benefit the local population and "that doesn't happen in Cabinda", continued the commander - who was last in the city of Cabinda in 2008 -, devaluing the investments made by the Government in recent years in that portion of the territory.
"Riches cannot divide us, we have to share the same riches, I have to give bread to others and that doesn't happen in Cabinda", he said, highlighting that if Angolan politicians recognized "that Cabinda is not part of Angola (.. .) understanding can be created.”
The commander admitted that any conflict resolution involves dialogue, expressing openness to "a frank and open dialogue", but with a new generation of the MPLA, the party in power, refusing to discuss the case with the current governor of the province, Mara Chiosa.
"She does not have the capacity to solve the Cabinda case, the Cabinda case is there in the upper city [Presidência] and there in Futungo, in the MPLA complex, these are the two houses where the key to Cabinda is", she highlighted.
