“We see no basis for news that talks about mercenaries, we do not believe it has any basis and, therefore, it is a matter that does not concern us”, said João Gomes Cravinho, on the sidelines of the XVI extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), which Luanda hosted.
At issue is news released in Portugal that reported the sending by Angola of 100 mercenaries to fight in the war between Russia and Ukraine, an issue minimized by Cravinho, who is in Luanda in the framework of the CPLP and said he had not had the opportunity to talk to your counterpart about bilateral matters.
“We have a permanent dialogue, Minister Téte António was in Lisbon a few weeks ago, we are now together at this CPLP meeting in Luanda and we will be together very soon at other meetings”, stressed the Portuguese official, stressing that the two countries have "a dialogue that is permanent", highlighting the "important contribution that Angola is making to resolve the situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo)", he underlined.
The head of Portuguese diplomacy hailed Angola's role in the region, which "now takes shape by sending Angolan military forces to that neighboring country in the process of cantoning rebel groups in eastern Congo".
Recalling that he was formerly Defense Minister, Cravinho stressed that “no country lightly sends its forces to other parts of the world, in particular, where there is a possibility of conflict”. Therefore, "I salute Angola's courage and commitment in helping to solve a problem, which is a very serious problem for the entire African continent and also destabilizing for the rest of the world", he said.
Regarding the news of Angolan mercenaries serving Russia, the head of Angolan diplomacy highlighted the good relations with Portugal, but stressed that Luanda “made a complaint regarding this information and that we dealt with it through the appropriate channels, through our interlocutor, who is the Portuguese Government”.
According to the head of national diplomacy, the complaint was made through diplomatic channels, in the form of a protest note in which Angola made “a complaint regarding false information published by CNN-Portugal, regarding the alleged sending of mercenaries to fight in the war in Ukraine, supposedly agreed during the visit of Minister Lavrov, Minister of the Russian Federation to Luanda”.
"This information is, of course, false and we had to comment on this, so that national and international opinion is not confused with regard to Angola's position, which is widely known", he stressed.
Téte António addressed a letter to António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, on the same subject, recalling that the country has already been the victim of mercenaries and invasion by foreign forces, for which reason it has always condemned these acts with energetic measures, as a way of discourage them.
