THOUSANDS OF Angola’s war veterans who have gathered in the country’s capital Luanda to protest against non-payment of pensions have warned the government that they will block August’s general election if their demands are not met.
The war veterans, who have been protesting since June, claim the authorities promised to give them pensions and help reintegrate the soldiers into society as part of the peace deal signed when the civil war ended a decade ago.
However, the former combatants have received nothing from President José Eduardo dos Santos’s government to date, they say, even though the country is one of the biggest oil producers in Africa and there are numerous massive infrastructure projects under way.
In addition to a lump-sum demobilisation bonuses of about €450, the former fighters also want a monthly retirement stipend, a benefit only given to senior officers to date.
“We are frustrated and tired of waiting,” war veteran Afonso Henriques Fula (52) said. “If the government does not act before the elections, we will prevent them from taking place.”
Angola’s veterans fought for independence from Portugal between 1961 and 1975, then fought each other in a civil war that only ended in 2002.
The government says officially 40,000 people in the three liberation movements – MPLA, Unita and FNLA – qualify as ex-combatants, but the war veterans say their real number is much higher.
Mr dos Santos, the MPLA leader who has ruled Angola for 33 years, is again seeking re-election as the country’s president, but there is growing public dissent against his desire to stay in power.
Last month soldiers and riot police dispersed war veterans marching peacefully to protest outside the presidential palace, using water cannons and dogs. Human Rights Watch has accused the authorities of cracking down on opposition voices, saying their actions against the war veterans showed “Angola’s government will not tolerate peaceful dissent”.
