The political leadership of the independence movement in Cabinda announced in a statement dated Wednesday that it "welcomed the call for a global ceasefire, launched on October 2, 2020 by UN Secretary General António Guterres, in order to allow an effective fight against a common world enemy, the covid-19 pandemic.
"In response" to the UN Secretary General's appeal, FLEC-FAC announces that it decrees, "for the second time," the "implementation of a ceasefire throughout the territory of Cabinda, reserving the right to self-defense whenever it is the target of attacks, or the population of Cabinda, by the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA).
The movement also says it hopes to "obtain public recognition from the UN Secretary General of the effort and good will always shown by FLEC-FAC" and "requests" António Guterres to reinforce his message to the Angolan presidency and government, so that the Angolan armed forces "effectively fulfill the ceasefire in Cabinda.
The movement says it is willing to cooperate with "all serious initiatives that create the pillars for peace in Cabinda" and, in this sense, reinforces to the UN Secretary General its "total willingness to dialogue with the Angolan presidency and government in the search for a definitive resolution of the conflict in Cabinda".
"The political and military leadership of FLEC-FAC declares that the ceasefire has an immediate effect on the entire territory of Cabinda, and orders all its military to maintain a purely defensive position," the statement concludes.
Cabinda province, where most of the country's oil reserves are concentrated, is not contiguous with the rest of the territory and for many years local leaders have been defending independence, claiming an autonomous colonial history of Luanda.
FLEC, through its "armed arm," the FAC, fights for independence in that province, claiming that the enclave was a Portuguese protectorate, as established in the Treaty of Simulambuco, signed in 1885, and not an integral part of Angolan territory.
Cabinda is bounded to the north by the Republic of Congo, to the east and south by the Democratic Republic of Congo, and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean.
