Filomeno Vieira Lopes, who was speaking at the end of a meeting with the general secretary of the Council of Christian Churches in Angola (CICA), considered that the peace, achieved on April 4, 2002, "was the war trophy of some to be able to then exercise a power in which they put the primitive accumulation of capital at the forefront".
"The current power is very much based on corruption and this has not brought what is the other peace, which is the so-called peace of social justice, which is the peace that allows us all to rest assured that this country will not have the disturbances that already had in the past and that we can consider war never again", he stressed.
Speaking about the celebrations of 22 years of peace and national reconciliation, which will be marked on Thursday, he welcomed the military peace achieved, pointing, however, to the need for social justice in the face of hunger, poverty and discrimination that persist in the country.
"Only with social justice can this happen and today we have a country with a lot of social discrimination, a country in which citizens are not considered and militants are considered, this is the extension of this discrimination", he highlighted.
The BD leader pointed to hunger, the lack of economic justice, lack of opportunities for the majority of citizens and the lack of credibility and trust in State institutions and the judiciary as factors that create "major imbalances".
"These are the issues that concern us and that make the 4th (April) a day of deep reflection so that we can consolidate this peace, as well as a peace of social justice", concluded the economist and deputy coordinator of the political platform Frente Patriótica Unida, which also integrates the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the largest opposition party, and the political project PRA JA Servir Angola.
The official celebrations of 22 years of peace will take place on Thursday, in Huambo province, and will be presided over by the Minister of State and head of the Military House of the President of the Republic, Francisco Pereira Furtado.
On April 4th, a national holiday, CICA, the Angolan Evangelical Alliance and the Angola Christian Forum hold an ecumenical service in Luanda to mark the date.
"It will be a moment of thanksgiving to God for 22 years, but, at the same time, we will have a moment of intercession for the country, for forgiveness, for reconciliation, for national unity and we will also pray for the unity of the church, for the country's rulers and for the political parties", said the general secretary of CICA, Deolinda Dorcas Teca.
According to the person responsible, "peace is not just about the silence of weapons, peace is well-being, it is tranquility, it is the reduction of so many evils" that Angola still experiences.
"April 4 – Together for the Inclusive Growth of the Country" is the motto of the celebrations of 22 years of peace in Angola, which results from the agreement signed on April 4, 2002 between the military leadership of the Angolan Armed Forces and the extinct Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola, former armed wing of UNITA, which definitively sealed the peace process.
