Raul Araújo: "In Angola there is fear that local authorities may create serious regional problems"

According to Raul Araújo, democracy, with all the characteristics and advantages that it has, also brings some risks, namely "a feeling that in Angola is rarely talked about, for some fear, because it is wrong to talk about these types of issues".

"But it is still common for many people to express fear that, for example, the autarchization of the country will create serious regional and even tribal problems," said Raul Araújo, speaking this Wednesday at a seminar on International Cooperation , Governance and Rule of Law in Angola.

Raul Araújo highlighted that a positive aspect, "which is that of local governance, the need for local governance in a more direct way, for the expression of political will and the sovereignty of the people to express their will, choosing directly who will govern and represent them. in local governance, it can also be seen as a problem that may in the short term create problems of cleavages of a regional or even tribal character".

"In the sense of saying, for example, that this person is not from this region, he is not from this area, and that for this reason he should not run for local elections here or there. We have felt this many times with the nomination of governors, saying that this governor should not be appointed to this province, because he is not a native of this province," he stressed.

"That's just to say, these are problems that we, a developing country, live and that we have to know how to solve. How to solve it is the great challenge that society and particularly the political power and citizens of civil society have, to know how to solve", added.

The also former judge counselor of the Constitutional Court underlined that Angola is a nation under construction, "with many problems, a very large diversity and that, for better or for worse", the long period of civil war that it lived ended up contributing to facilitate the creation of a sense of unity and inclusion.

"Contrary to what happened in other places, I understand that in our case the civil war was a contribution to the creation of a feeling of national unity", he stressed.

Angola had planned to hold the first municipal elections in 2020, however, it did not take place due to lack of conditions, including the covid-19 pandemic, as justified by the Government.