Global Policy Forum

UNITA Faces UN Clampdown

Print

BBC News Online
February 19, 1999
Angola's Unita rebels face tougher sanctions under a new proposal supported by United Nations Security Council members. In a report to the Security Council, the council's committee on sanctions against Angola proposes:
  • investigating and criminalising the violation of sanctions against Unita.
  • enlisting the help of banks and diamond traders to track the flow of funds to Unita.
  • monitoring the supply of military equipment to the rebels.
  • considering restrictions on telecommunications links.

    Council members have expressed support for the proposals. The Security Council blames recent fighting in Angola on Unita, which has refused to disarm and withdraw from territory in accordance with a 1994 peace agreement.

    Fighting flared in December after five years of fragile peace.

    UN reconsiders withdrawal

    Meanwhile, the UN is looking at ways of keeping a presence in Angola after its mandate there expires later this month. The remaining 1,000 UN peacekeepers are due to leave the country by March 20, and President Jose Eduardo dos Santos called last week for all but UN humanitarian staff to leave. But UN diplomats fear that a pull-out would cause the situation in Angola to get even worse.

    The president said that the UN mission could no longer continue because of the rejection of the peace accords by rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, who had initiated "a full-scale war in almost all of national territory" in December.

    The UN special representative for Angola, Issa Diallo, said he had suggested to the Angolan government that it "leave the door open" on a continuing UN presence which would include a political and possibly a military component.

    Angolan government minister Higino Carneiro is due to meet the Security Council on Friday, and UN diplomats hope he may be persuaded to accept such a plan.


  •  

    FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.