"Lives and deaths of Abel Chivukuvuku", the biography of the former UNITA leader, will be launched on November 15th, in Luanda, and is written by José Eduardo Agualusa, his friend, fellow countryman and contemporary.
In an interview with the Lusa agency, the politician, who turns 66 on November 11th, Angola's Independence Day, says he wanted to tell "quite extraordinary events" in the history of his country to future generations, and portray some personalities who, in one way or another, they were linked to those moments.
The title of this book, which is the first of others he intends to release in the coming years, was chosen by his "friend Agualusa", who realized that his life also had episodes very close to death.
"Because I fell from a plane twice, I was in a car in [19]92, here in Luanda, where everyone died, I'm the only one who came out alive, including the vice-president of UNITA [União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola], Jeremias Chitunda also died," he said.
According to Abel Chivukuvuku, he also managed to escape a house that was set on fire in time, and his car was attacked in 1998 in Luanda, but he escaped because he was not in the vehicle.
"These are elements that led Agualusa to seek this title", said this prominent opposition figure, who was once a leader of UNITA, leader of the Convergência Ampla de Salvação de Angola – Coligação Eleitoral (CASA-CE), and is the current coordinator of the political project PRA JA - Servir Angola and deputy coordinator of the United Patriotic Front (FPU).
Agualusa was chosen because he is his fellow countryman - from Huambo - because despite being younger, from a generational point of view, he is contemporary and had greater ease in writing these events, and because he liked his writing style, "less heavy, more flowery , much easier to read."
He also pleased his biographer with the "interesting" method that Agualusa found to write, a non-linear narrative, using prolepsis and analepsis.
"For now, I think it's the only one in this model, because biographies are usually told chronologically, they talk about the family, where the person comes from, then where they were born, how they grew up, how they studied, and we don't", he said.
The author preferred to start with the "dramatic" events of 1992, in which several UNITA leaders were killed after the first multi-party elections in Angola, to better capture the reader's attention.
According to the politician, Agualusa sought to establish balances outside of a chronological order and also valued the context, describing the Kingdom of Bailundo, of which he is a part, and also a little of the history of Angola, to which he is linked through several events.
"It's an interesting book, I think it's good, obviously, in a few more years there will be another [book], with other elements of my life that I thought it was not advisable to introduce in this first one", Abel Chivukuvuku told Lusa, reinforcing that " there are things in the story that are a bit heavy" and that each thing must be told "in its due moment".
According to the politician, two other books are in the pipeline, one about his vision of Angola, which he intends to publish in 2026, and another about the elements of his life, which remain untold and which he prefers to talk about when he leaves active political life, at which point he will also dedicate himself to giving lectures at universities, although he already does that.
Asked whether the book will create any political unrest, Abel Chivukuvuku considered that there will "always be some effects, depending on certain things that people, the public, didn't know about".
"The public had no idea, for example, how the negotiations for the vice-presidency of Angola went. People have the idea that Dr. [Jonas] Savimbi (founding leader of UNITA) was the one who denied [accepting the results], when it is the opposite, the MPLA [Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola] is the one that did everything to prevent Dr. Savimbi from accepting it", he said.
The reader will also learn that, according to Abel Chivukuvuku, at one of the peace negotiations meetings, in Franceville, Gabon, President José Eduardo dos Santos vented to Savimbi that he had liquidity problems in the [State] coffers.
"And as UNITA controlled the diamond areas of Lundas, the President asked Dr. Savimbi to hand over part of the territory to him and Dr. Savimbi agreed, he took General Higino [Carneiro] (from the MPLA), General [ Altino Sapalo] "Bock" (from UNITA), they took people from UNITA, people from the Government came and the mine was handed over to President José Eduardo dos Santos, these are things that people don't know, but they all come there mirrored with the maximum lucidity, tranquility", he highlighted.
Another episode that he intends to develop in a second part was when Abel Chivukuvuku asked José Eduardo dos Santos to train him to replace him as President, with the promise that he would protect him later, making him laugh out loud.
"(Everyone was watching, President José Eduardo was not one to laugh heartily and was laughing his head off", he recalled.
