Adalberto Costa Júnior, who is running alone for the leadership of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), spoke in statements to Lusa, at the end of the opening ceremony of the XIII Ordinary Congress of the party, which the Constitutional Court ordered to repeat, after annulling what had been accomplished in 2019 and in which he was elected president of the political force.
Urged to comment on the recent suspension of some party members, Adalberto Costa Júnior stressed that the parties have norms, rules and statutes, which must be complied with by everyone.
"Anyone, from the smallest to the tallest, from the right and the left, must respect the statutes. At this level there are no complementary words, respect for the statutes is an obligation, respecting the statutes, dialogue is an absolute guarantee ", he creased.
According to Adalberto Costa Júnior, internal cohesion requires "very big, enormous challenges", but he is open to dialogue: "We are people of dialogue and we will continue to be people of dialogue".
About the conclave that started under the motto "Unity and Citizenship for Alternation" and ends on Saturday with the election of the new party leader, Adalberto Costa Júnior expressed satisfaction with the number of people present, namely representatives of the diplomatic corps, political parties, society civil and church, highlighting the enthusiasm of the 1150 delegates from all over the country and abroad.
"We have here the full, practically, of all the delegates, from all the provinces, also a number, despite the covid, of a reasonable number of delegates from abroad, so I can only say that I am satisfied," he said.
Adalberto Costa Júnior recalled that it is a congress that is being repeated, due to a need to take over the decision of the Constitutional Court (TC).
"I'm here to say that I'm sure the work will go well. The challenges are great, mainly because the whole country is looking to the UNITA congress. It is no longer a congress that attracts the attention of party members", considered.
For Adalberto Costa Júnior, "today the past acts brought all the attention, all the expectations", due to the annulment of the congress.
"The annulment of the UNITA congress has disturbed society, this reality is visible, so I hope that the institutions take a step towards restoring their credibility. We will do everything to help create dialogue and stability and, therefore, we certainly hope a future that can strengthen the foundations of the rule of law and democracy," he stressed.
The outgoing leader of the party, Isaías Samakuva, who was responsible for the opening speech of the congress, with a message very focused on internal cohesion, considered to Lusa that the recent suspensions of party members do not represent any fragmentation.
"I won't say so much that there is fragmentation, where there are two men, there are two people, there are always some disagreements and when that happens it is necessary that the people present or even the people themselves try to resolve and quickly overcome these disagreements", he referred.
According to Isaías Samakuva, even in the village, "the older ones, in these cases, have to draw people's attention and see if they can avoid worse situations".
"So that, in such a delicate phase of the party, when we really need to move forward, we can only move forward if we are truly united. Moments of this nature call for us to worry about situations like this and call out the necessary attention showing the way," he added.
Isaias Samakuva, who led the party for 16 years, taking office after the death of UNITA's founding leader, Jonas Savimbi, in 2002, underlined that these "are issues that happen, sometimes misunderstandings, sometimes misreading should be done".
"So they are simple things, but they sometimes cause these misunderstandings, which I believe will be overcome," he said, expressing confidence in the smooth progress of the work.
Regarding the external interference that the party has been suffering, Isaías Samakuva said that it is notorious in Angola, that "above all the political parties in the opposition" suffer these interferences, which ends up harming the good march of the political forces.
"It is important that the State is really a good person, who looks after the well-being and harmony of all. The State, after all, is managed by men, we mention these situations in the search for a better understanding, of find correction of what is wrong, I think it is timely", he advanced.
"[The congress] started well, I have no reason to think that anything strange will happen at the congress," he said.
