Demobilization: Lusaka Protocol

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Demobilization: Lusaka Protocol

Implementations

Demobilization – 1994

Several days after the Lusaka Accord, Portuguese television reported that government troops and UNITA rebels were still fighting. UNITA claimed that after the ceasefire, the government attacked rebel positions throughout the country; the claim was denied by President Dos Santos.1

  1. “Fighting Continues in Angola Despite Ceasefire,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur, November 17, 1994.

Demobilization – 1995

Selection sites for the quartering of troops were being selected with help from the Demobilization and Reintegration Office of UCAH. In a March U.N. Angola Verification Mission-3 (UNAVEM-III) report, demobilization progress was considered high in some areas and completely lacking in others.1

In November of 1995, one full year after the Lusaka Accord, “the phased billeting of government and UNITA troops to 15 UN-built quartering areas (now in the process of completion) has not yet begun.” The plan, coming from the Lusaka Accord, was for 200,000 troops to be merged into a national army, with around half of that number to be later demobilized after a period of on-the-job training.2

Fifteen quartering areas for UNITA troops were under construction and the sites had been approved by the parties. The labor had come from within the UNAVEM military component. The quartering of UNITA troops began with 363 people at Vila Nova. The government claimed that the majority were children with non-working weapons.3

  1. “First Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III),” U.N. Security Council (S/1995/177), March 5, 1995.
  2. “Angola’s Peace Grows More Tense by the Day,” Guardian Weekly, November 5, 1995.
  3. “Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III),” U.N. Security Council (S/1995/1012), December 7, 1995.

Demobilization – 1996

The Secretary-General stated: “It is disturbing that, more than one year after the signing of the Lusaka Protocol (which ended the war in November 1994), the quartering of UNITA troops — one of the central elements in the peace process — has not made any significant progress.”1

Little progress was reported on the quartering of UNITA troops. “As of 29 March, 18,595 UNITA soldiers had registered in the first five quartering areas and had handed over a total of 15,169 weapons, an alarmingly small increase over the 16,699 soldiers and 13,728 weaponsÉ reported a month ago. Moreover, 1,163 of the soldiers had subsequently deserted the areas.”2

UNAVEM-3 announced that 20,039 UNITA troops and 16,837 weapons were confined to Vila Nova, Londuimbali, Negage, Quibaxe, Ngove, Ntuco, and Quibala.3

U.N. workers and aid workers said it was estimated that 50 percent of the 35,000 UNITA soldiers that registered at the 11 U.N. quartering areas were not UNITA troops.4

From November 1994 to 27 September 1996, UNITA sent 63,189 declared fighters to the U.N. guarded cantonments to be disarmed and demobilized. Many were civilians who were told by UNITA that the camps were giving out food. When UNAVEM troops asked them to disassemble a weapon, many could not perform the task.5

As of October 1996, the FAA completed 61 verified troop withdrawals. The number of UNITA troops registered in the 15 quartering camps was 63,189 with 11,500 desertions.6

UNAVEM announced that the demobilization of approximately 8,000 under-age soldiers would begin in September 1996. It was estimated that 100,000 soldiers remained to be demobilized and that only 27.4 percent of the demobilization and reintegration program costs were covered in the UNAVEM budget.7

Alioune Blondin Beye, the special U.N. envoy to Angola, reported that the peace process in Angola was badly stalled, with both sides still deployed and engaging each other. “Two years? This is beginning to look like a very long time,” conceded Mr. Beye.8

  1. “Angola: U.N. Voices Frustration with UNITA,” Inter Press Service (IPS), February 2, 1996.
  2. “Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III),” U.N. Security Council (S/1996/248), April 4, 1996.
  3. “Angola: UN Mission Says Confined UNITA Troops Total 20,039,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, April 18, 1996.
  4. “Angola Army Aims to End UN Peace Role,” Guardian Weekly, June 16, 1996.
  5. “Angola: U.N. Officials Worry as UNITA Edges Away From Peace,” Inter Press Service, October 8, 1996.
  6. “Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III),” U.N. Security Council (S/1996/827), October 4, 1996
  7. Ibid.
  8. “Angola: U.N. Officials Worry as UNITA Edges Away From Peace,” Inter Press Service, October 8, 1996.

Demobilization – 1997

The U.N. reported that “only 2,100 under-aged UNITA soldiers had been demobilized” as of August (IPS, 1997). Another 7,800 rebel soldiers had been integrated into the joint national army and roughly 18,900 UNITA troops had abandoned the process. It was estimated that UNITA still had 35,000 troops deployed. The U.N. gave UNITA one month to comply with its orders or face sanctions.1

“As of 1 June, a total of 10,321 former UNITA combatants of various categories had been formally demobilized throughout the country,” however, “the number of deserters and absentees exceeded 35 per cent of all the personnel quartered.”2

By the end of 1997, all 15 UNITA quartering areas and demobilization sites were closed. The total number of demobilized UNITA forces was 45,706.3

  1. “Angola: U.N.: Last Chance for UNITA,” Inter Press Service, August 26, 1997.
  2. “Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III),” U.N. Security Council (S/1997/438), June 5, 1997.
  3. “Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA),” U.N. Security Council (S/1997/959), December 4, 1997.

Demobilization – 1998

The UN Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA), the Angolan government, and UNITA set a new revised “final” timetable for demobilization, which was to be completed by 28 February. None of the elements in the timetable were met. On 11 March, they set a new timetable of 1 April.1

On 6 March, Savimbi declared that UNITA had fully demobilized its troops, a claim which was met with skepticism. Expelled UNITA General Manuvakola, who signed the Lusaka Peace Accord, told reporters that Savimbi’s attitude was “ridiculous”. Among observer bodies, there seemed to be near unanimous acceptance that UNITA had maintained its core fighting units as well as almost all its artillery and weapons.2

In June, Major-General Phillip Sibanda of the Zimbabwean army, the former commander of the United Nations observer force in Angola, stated that his view of local conditions indicated that the FAA and UNITA were engaged in a military build-up to possibly resume war.3

In July, over 200 people were killed in the massacre of a small village (Mussuku), as surrounding troops shelled the homes. The government stated that UNITA was responsible for the attack and declared that it would retaliate against UNITA. “The government cannot cross its arms when UNITA is kidnapping young people and forcing them into military training, acquiring military equipment, sabotaging the country’s infrastructure and attacking and occupying strategic places.”4

Local media reports stated that the Angolan countryside was at war.5

The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) coded the conflict between the Angolan government and UNITA as reaching the threshold of “war” in 1998 with over 1000 total deaths in that year.6

MONUA personnel, under phase IV of their security plan, were withdrawn from all provinces.7

  1. “Angola Peace Monitor,” Africa News 4, no. 7 (March 1998).
  2. Ibid.
  3. “UN Military Commander Says War Build-Up Underway in Angola,” Deutsche Presse-Agentur, June 2, 1998.
  4. “Angola Nears Civil War Outbreak: After Four Years, Peace Talks End Amid Massacre,” The Ottawa Citizen, July 26, 1998.
  5. “UNITA: Back to the Path of War,” Africa News, August 5, 1998.
  6. “UCDP Conflict Encyclopedia,” Uppsala Conflict Data Program, accessed February 22, 2013, www.ucdp.uu.se/database.
  7. “Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA),” U.N. Security Council (S/1998/1110), November 23, 1998.