In a note sent to the press, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) congratulates the Angolan people on the 49th anniversary of national independence, remembering that the date was agreed by the leaders of the national liberation movements - Álvaro Holden Roberto for the National Front of Liberation of Angola (FNLA), António Agostinho Neto for the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), and Jonas Malheiro Savimbi for UNITA - in the Alvor Accords.
"It was a hard conquest of blood and countless sacrifices consented to in the struggles of several generations of noble sons of Angola, of all national liberation movements and beyond, so that freedom, democracy and development benefit all Angolan families, guaranteeing that the country's riches serve its populations, which, 49 years later, remains a mirage", says the note.
Corruption, ultra-partisanship of State institutions and non-implementation of local authorities, are, according to the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, the obstacles that "impede the dignity of the Angolan citizen" and impede the country's development.
UNITA withdrew its appeal for the defense of the rule of law, freedoms, combating poverty and national reconciliation, reaffirming the continuity of dialogue with all the country's living forces and appealed to Angolans to honor the memory of the fathers of Independence (Holden Roberto, Agostinho Neto and Jonas Savimbi) paying tribute to the "heroes and martyrs of the liberation struggle".
