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