"We are talking about the largest economic power, the largest democracy in the world, and a visit by an American President could be a cause for great anticipation, not only from me, but from all the Angolan people (...). But citizens are realizing that we are not going to have a visit by an American President to Angola, we are going to have a visit to some mining interests that use Angola as their main gateway", stated Adalberto Costa Júnior.
In an interview with Lusa, the leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) considered that Joe Biden's visit to Angola, scheduled for October 13-15, "will not be plural" and that he will be in a country "where there is no democracy".
According to the president of UNITA, Biden had said that he would not visit countries close to a dictatorship, with a lack of democracy, alluding to reports from the United States government (USA), according to which Angola "is not a democracy".
"We are in a country where there is censorship of the media, where the opposition leader does not have access to public media, where we have young people who are prisoners of conscience for crimes of opinion, where constitutional rights are not respected, where active corruption is promoted by the President of the Republic, where hiring is not done through competitive examinations", he criticised.
"In a scenario like this, a visit by a President who does not come to engage in plural dialogue is not very good", he noted, fuelling the belief in Biden's "common sense" and that his administration's reports correspond to his actions.
Because "the Biden administration says that Angola is not a democracy, this administration cites human rights violations, cites violations of the rights to plurality, cites corruption issues, so what is going on? Doesn't the President (of the US) know the reports of his own administration?", he asked.
Costa Júnior, who spoke to Lusa on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 5th Congress of the Angolan Women's League (LIMA), the women's branch of UNITA, which began on Friday in Viana, pointed to the need for Biden to make a pluralistic visit out of respect for institutions, such as parliament. He argued that the National Assembly (parliament) has representation from political parties with seats in parliament and that a visit there "would already be a sign of respect for this plurality and would be satisfactory". Adalberto Costa Júnior also said that Joe Biden will be received in Angola "by a President (João Lourenço) who does not know and rejects pluralistic democracy", insisting on the importance of the outgoing US statesman making a "pluralistic visit to receive applause". "However, we still hope that President Joe Biden will visit Angola and pay attention to the plurality of the State, so there may still be corrections", he stressed, recalling that the United Patriotic Front, a political platform in the opposition, made a public statement on this subject. He also praised the first visit by a US President to Angola, stating that although he is nearing the end of his term and is not a candidate for the next elections, "he is still an American President."
"Therefore, we must not fail to recognise that this is an extremely important and unique visit, but it lacks some components. If he had maintained his candidacy and if he were coming in a circumstance of continuity, it would also represent a little more," he stressed.
For the president of UNITA, also a member of the National Assembly, Biden's visit will bring the Presidents of neighbouring countries to Angola: "This visit is (for the) Lobito Corridor, this visit is about the minerals of the (Democratic) Congo. I do not know if in the final assessment what will actually be left for Angola," he concluded.
According to the Presidency, the Lobito Corridor, with its full development and expansion, was one of the main priorities in the talks between the presidential delegations of Angola and the US.
The Lobito Corridor connects the southern regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and northwestern Zambia by rail to regional and global trade markets via the port of Lobito in Angola, across whose territory it runs for 1,300 kilometres, and is supported by the United States and the European Union.
