Adalberto Costa Júnior considered that it makes no sense for Angola to reach 50 years of independence, to be celebrated on 11 November 2025, and for everyone to applaud in unison the "champion of peace" – an allusion to the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, distinguished as "Champion of Peace and Reconciliation in Africa" in May 2022 – when there are "deep problems to be resolved".
"We do not want hypocrisy and we are here precisely to contribute and correct this distorted, exclusive, partisan vision of a country that, on its way to 50 years, has not completed national reconciliation", he stated this Wednesday, at a press conference in Luanda.
The leader also considered that Angola does not treat former combatants well, "it does not even treat heroes well, it treats their memory badly, it has no historical memory, it treats its historical memory badly", stressing that the country "is not reconciled with itself".
"We are going to go on parties, spend a lot, hold conferences, that is what we have been observing, in a country that has profound problems to solve, and we want to be positive contributors to making Angola better", he told Lusa.
On the other hand, he argued that Angola's 50 years of independence should be celebrated, above all, "without deaths from hunger, with inclusion, without a repressive State, but in freedom".
"It makes no sense for Angola to celebrate 50 years and for some living testimonies of independence fighters to witness young people being imprisoned for crimes of opinion, because they criticised the President of the Republic, because the majority party is approving laws that repress freedoms", he criticised.
The President of the Republic said in August that "there are several reasons to celebrate in style" the country's 50 years of independence, after several decades of war, stressing that the country has achieved peace and is "building a homeland of reconciled brothers who have known how to forgive each other".
In his speech, Costa Júnior lamented the "constant violations" of the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens in Angola, stating that the right to life is violated "normally", when censorship in the media and the systematic violation of the freedoms of assembly and demonstration persist.
"If the Constitution prohibits the death penalty, the ease of using the trigger [by defence and security agents] against the population is also prohibited. The right to life is inviolable and we must put an end to these violations", he pointed out, citing reports of "constant deaths" of young people and citizens, allegedly by the forces of law and order.
The official criticised what he called the "state of abandonment" to which thousands of former combatants are subjected in the 18 provinces, stating that the State "continues to manage this process in a partisan manner, which contributes to their despair and deaths".
For the UNITA leader, the current "expenditure on public finances, with direct adjustments by the President of the Republic in the millions of dollars, is worrying", stating that the country is in extreme poverty due to "undemocratic leaders who violate laws and regulations".
The UNITA president also said that his party does not follow the "tear-down" policy, arguing that it intervenes with positive approaches to a better Angola.
"Without dialogue, we will not get anywhere, alone we will not get anywhere, a State that does not respect freedoms will not develop", he stated.
He also assured that the much-touted third term of the President of the Republic – the country's Constitution only stipulates two terms – will not happen because UNITA "will not give any approval to the violation of the Constitution".
