ANGOLA - UNITA THREATENS TO PULL OUT OF THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L LUANDA 000160 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/17/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR AO SUBJECT: ANGOLA - UNITA THREATENS TO PULL OUT OF THE GOVERNMENT REF: LUANDA 00150 Classified By: AMBASSADOR CYNTHIA EFIRD FOR REASONS 1.4 B AND D ¶1. (U) On February 15, 2006, the President of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA),Isaias Samakuva, announced that if the substitution of UNITA's sixteen parliamentarians is not allowed (detailed reftel), UNITA, Angola's largest opposition party, may pull out of the Angolan Government of Unity and National Reconciliation (GURN) and the National Assembly. In an interview with the VOA, Samakuva said that UNITA's participation in the GURN was to further "the consolidation of peace and reconciliation," but participation should not create internal strife in UNITA. Members of other opposition parties and civil society have started to share their concerns in the local media and to EmbOffs about UNITA's threat, but there has not yet been public comment from the ruling MPLA. ¶2. (C) Comment: The threat to pull out of the GURN is Samakuva's last ditch attempt to force the MPLA to allow the substitution of the sixteen deputies. Pulling out of the GURN would remove UNITA from the coalition government created by the Lusaka Protocol of 1994, and first constituted in ¶1998. UNITA's twelve cabinet positions and seventy members of parliament would then have to resign from their positions in support of UNITA, form a new political party, or become independent and, in the case of the Cabinet members, face possible replacement by President dos Santos. Samakuva's decision to publicly state his final bargaining position makes for some high-stakes political poker. End Comment. EFIRD