MPLA denies enticement of UNITA militants

"This is part of the money that UNITA [National Union for the Total Independence of Angola] made available to entice troublemakers and which was not made available because we denounced it in advance", reads a note sent to Lusa by the bureau's Information secretary MPLA politician Rui Falcão.

According to the note from the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, UNITA "does not indicate the name of who will have delivered the said amount, much less who received it". As such, the text states, "only those who do not want to see the truth believe in it".

UNITA announced last Friday that it will file a criminal complaint with the Attorney General's Office (PGR) "against the MPLA", after withholding 22 million kwanza resulting, supposedly, from a "gathering campaign" to the its militants.

The information was given at a press conference by UNITA's secretary general, Álvaro Chikuamanga, who accuses the ruling party of "being behind" the campaign.

At least 22 million kwanzas were presented to the press by UNITA's provincial secretariat in Luanda, allegedly stemming from a scheme aimed at "enticing militants of this party to demonstrate against the party's president, Adalberto Costa Júnior".

According to UNITA provincial secretary of Luanda, Nelito Ekuikui, one of the campaign's promoters is a former secretary of urban mobilization for his party in the capital, who is supposed to be working with the MPLA's "Luanda provincial committee".

Nelito Ekuikui noted that the enticement of his party's militants had been going on for three months, accusing some of the UNITA dissenters in Luanda of being acting on behalf of the Luanda provincial secretary of the MPLA and having handed over the amounts for which, in exchange, more than 100 UNITA militants marched against their leader.

MPLA, on the other hand, considers that UNITA, "at least so far, has not denied the text that is circulating on social networks and, on the contrary, victimizes itself by saying that its structures are infiltrated by agents of different origins" .

"As always, UNITA is hostage to itself and unable to modernize and overcome what they have always done wrong. They have serious internal problems that stem from the deep problems of conscience that its main leaders carry", it adds in the text sent to Lusa.