Francisco Queiroz, who was speaking as coordinator of the Commission for the Implementation of the Plan for the Reconciliation of Victims of Conflicts (CIVICOP), spoke at the ceremony that marked the handover to the relatives of the mortal remains of Alicerces Mango and Salupeto Pena, who died in the 1992 conflicts , in Luanda.
"It is time to repair this error, to forgive and to reconcile, without asking who caused the error, whose fault it was", stressed the minister.
In the presidential elections held in September 1992, the first in the country's history, neither the candidate of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), then President José Eduardo dos Santos, nor his opponent, Jonas Savimbi, of the União Nacional para the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), achieved an absolute majority in the presidential elections, but the second round never took place.
At the end of October, with the failure of the electoral process, the capital was the scene of violent clashes between UNITA military and government forces, which led to the resumption of civil war, after a period of peace.
The government official also considered that this is the time to forgive, "without preconditions, those involved in the tragic events that led to the loss of many human lives."
"The time is to honor the memory of those who perished, without looking at the side of the conflict they found themselves in when they lost their lives. The time is also for changing behavior and attitudes. Enough of tragic political mistakes", he said.
The coordinator of CIVICOP also called for the end of "acts of political irresponsibility, which can lead to violence and cause suffering to the people".
"Enough of seeing differences as evils to fight and kill. Enough of disrespecting those who want to live in peace and fulfill their civic and patriotic obligations with freedom. Enough of disrespecting the memory of those who lost their lives victimized by the foolishness of political mistakes ", he stressed.
Francisco Queiroz wished that the people who died victims of political conflicts, known and unknown, identified and anonymous, were not lost in vain, considering that the time is "to learn from mistakes", while there is still time to repair them.
"Our memory must record the tragic political mistakes and remember them. These mistakes cannot be forgotten, because they will constitute a permanent warning to prevent them from happening again. We must remember political mistakes as milestones in our history that we never want to experience." , he said.
The minister informed that the bones of Jeremias Chitunda and Eliseu Chimbili, UNITA leaders, as well as victims resulting from the May 27 conflict, a date known in the country's history as the supposed attempt at a coup d'état, will be handed over in due course. led by MPLA leader Nito Alves, in 1977.
According to Francisco Queiroz, this action has been possible "thanks to the strong investments made in national and foreign specialists, technology, working conditions and logistics".
"We would like to appeal to families to come forward to CIVICOP to collect genetic material for DNA testing," he urged. "This is a process that has great human significance and is a gesture of unequivocal commitment to reconciliation and forgiveness," he added.
CIVICOP was created in 2019 by President João Lourenço, with the aim of giving dignity to all victims of political conflicts in Angola between 1975, the year of independence, and 2002, the end of the civil war in the country, and forgiveness and national reconciliation.
Last year, João Lourenço publicly asked for forgiveness, on behalf of the State, for the "summary executions" recorded in that period, having recorded for the first time, in 44 years, a public tribute to the victims of May 27, 1977 .
