"We know very well the problems in Cafunfo. How many candidates arrived here by car?", asked Adalberto da Costa Júnior, alluding to the difficulties in accessing that locality, about 700 kilometers from Luanda, due to the poor state of the roads.
"It gives the idea that the Lundas are in another country, they are not part of Angola", continued the leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, criticizing that the population does not benefit from the region's wealth.
Adalberto da Costa Júnior asked for a minute of silence for the "heroes of Cafunfo", evoking the events of January 30, 2021, and took the opportunity to hurl barbs at his opponent, the president of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and re-candidate for the João Lourenço, also President of Angola.
"When there are deaths in large numbers, presidents go there, did he come here?" he asked his supporters, who returned a resounding "no".
The UNITA leader highlighted the "basic structural problems" and "serious security problems" that are experienced in Cafunfo, located in the province of Lunda Norte, where "killers are easily killed" and "those responsible never appear".
On January 30, 2021, in the mining town of Cafunfo, a protest by the Portuguese Lunda Tchokwe Protectorate Movement (MPPLT) ended in clashes with the police and an undetermined number of deaths (less than ten, according to the authorities, more than 20 , according to opposition parties and civil society organizations).
According to the police, six people who were part of a group of 400 elements linked to the Movement were killed following an alleged "act of rebellion" when they tried to invade a police station in Cafunfo, while in the MPPLT's view it was a "barbaric act perpetrated by agents of the defense and security forces, against defenseless populations".
"We know that most security problems are related to diamond mining", criticized the leader of the Galo Negro party, the main opposition force, who is betting on a list of members from various political and civil society sectors to try to defeat the MPLA, which has governed Angola since independence.
Adalberto da Costa Júnior pointed out other problems associated with the exploitation of diamonds in that region, such as land expropriation and environmental destruction, concluding that "diamond exploration does not bring wealth or benefit to the people".
He also insisted on the strengths of his program, such as the constitutional revision and the municipalities, so that "Luanda no longer decides everything" and did not spare attacks on the "intolerance" of the government supported by the MPLA that "thinks that Angola is the backyard from your family".
He also spoke about the processes that UNITA brought in court pointing out "violations of the electoral process", calling again for the removal of the dead from the electoral roll, and mobilizing voters to "not let them steal the vote".
