"Portugal should review relations with its former colonies. It should review. And the relationship should be fundamentally between States. Between States presupposes relations between peoples", argues the former secretary of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) in Luanda, whose activity during the campaign for the 2022 elections resulted in an unprecedented victory over the party in power since independence, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).
Based on the principle that UNITA "must also maintain good relations with Portugal, with all the political leaders" of the former colonial power, Nelito Ekuikui is of the opinion that Portugal has the sensitivity to understand the needs of Angolans, the "need that the people Angolan people must free themselves from their liberators".
"What it seems to us, as Angolans, is that the former colonies protect a power and protect the power of those who are there, because the relations are more of a commercial, economic scope and not between States. Between States presupposes relationships between peoples, cultures, identities, language. This is what brings us closer to Portugal", he adds.
Drawing on what is happening with the former French colonies, which denounce agreements and move away from Paris, Nelito Ekuikui interprets this situation as the result of relationships based on interest.
"Because the former colonies protected power and maintained secret agreements to maintain a hegemonic group. This is not desirable for Angola, what is desirable for Angola is that the governments of Portugal or, if we want, Portugal, open up more to the issue of Angola", he says.
"When these relationships are put aside, we only go for an interest, an interest that, more time or less time, the new leaders of Angola, of Africa will complain and may break", he anticipates.
"And we cannot move towards rupture, we must move towards dialogue. What is happening now in Senegal, with the election of the new President – who I salute, a young man –, what has now happened in other countries, Mali, just to name one, where new governments arrive and take over agreements that they are throwing away. I think it's not fair to do that", he maintains.
Because, he stresses, "agreements must be respected. They must, however, also be reviewed".
The criticism extends to the international community, which does not question, consider, the way in which MPLA remains in power.
"My question is about everything that Angola is experiencing today. Angola is experiencing unacceptable misery and when we have elections what it seems to us is that the international community protects a power. And Portugal has a fundamental voice in Angola's issues", he highlights.
"Portugal is the center for listening to what will happen in Angola. Let Portugal be the center for listening, but that it listens honestly and gives its opinion based on what is in the interests of the Angolan people, not the economic interests of a small group", he says.
Regarding the change of power in Portugal, as a result of the elections on March 10th, Nelito Ekuikui states that "what is desirable, as is natural, is that UNITA has a good relationship with the new Government", which he congratulates.
"It was a very difficult dispute. But democracies are actually good for that reason. No one wins everything and no one loses everything. Therefore, we have a growing party, on the extreme right we have the PSD and the CDS governing with a very small margin And the PS being in opposition. That's what democracy is all about", he concludes.
