Luanda - The president of Angola’s largest opposition party UNITA, Adalberto Costa Júnior, announced on Thursday the definitive withdrawal of his organization from the Commission for Reconciliation in Memory of the Victims of Political Conflicts in Angola (CIVICOP).
Speaking at a press conference, Adalberto Costa Júnior explained that his party decided to leave CIVICOP because he believed there were deviations from the objectives, methods and principles that should guide the commission's work.
Speaking at a press conference, Adalberto Costa Júnior explained that his party decided to leave CIVICOP because he believed there were deviations from the objectives, methods and principles that should guide the commission's work.
According to the UNITA leader, such deviations were publicly denounced "in a timely manner" and it was requested through the appropriate channels that the institution resumed its normal course.
Recently, the UNITA party announced that it was considering suspending its participation in the Commission due to alleged "disregard for the CIVICOP regulations and the objectives that were the basis for its creation".
At the time, it stated that the Angolan government was consenting to what he called "violations of the spirit of peace and national reconciliation".
Therefore, Adalberto Júnior's political party defended the need to create a truth and reconciliation commission, so that Angolans have the courage to address, with shared responsibility, all their liabilities.
Adalberto Costa Júnior defended the creation of a plural platform similar to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, "so that forgiveness is genuine and lasting in Angola"
CIVICOP was created in 2019, under the guidance of the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, with a view to developing a general plan to pay homage to the victims of the political conflicts that occurred in Angola between November 11, 1975 (Independence Day) and April 4, 2002 (end of the civil war).
The Reconciliation Plan in memory of the victims of Political Conflicts provides, among other issues, the issuance of a death certificate and the construction of a single memorial for all victims of the country' conflicts. SL/MDS/IZ/CF/jmc
