Luanda - Non-governmental agencies in Angola called on Tuesday for the government to disarm civilians to ensure lasting peace in the country, just emerging from 27 years of war.
The president of the Forum of Angolan NGOs (Fonga), Alberto Tunga, told a meeting that "the collection of weapons which are in the hands of civilians is just one gesture that will guarantee a stable peace" in Angola.
The Angolan government signed a peace accord on April 4 with the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) movement, ending Africa's longest war.
Fonga's appeal came as 79 800 former Unita fighters were awaiting disarmament in special regroupment camps set up around the south-western African country as part of the peace process.
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A former Unita officer said on Angolan television on Tuesday that many of the still-armed former rebels were fleeing camps in Kwanza-South, 300km south of Luanda, where serious food shortages have been reported.
Many of the ex-rebels have returned to their villages to join their families, Altibiace Chindombe said, adding: "Each one still has his weapon."
"They are fleeing to go look for food," Chindombe said.
Around 11 000 former Unita fighters were housed at camps in Kwanza-South, according to state-run television.
Former rebels were blamed for attacks and looting at the weekend in several villages in Bie province, 700km south of Luanda, according to Roman Catholic Radio Ecclesia.
The weekend attacks were the first since the ceasefire was signed.
Two previous peace accords, signed in 1991 and 1994, had also called for civilians to be disarmed, but neither was implemented, as the war in Angola continued to rage until Unita leader Jonas Savimbi was killed in combat in February of this year.
Angola's civil war, which came on the heels of a 14-year fight for independence from Portugal, left at least half a million people dead and forced some four million civilians to flee their homes and seek refuge either abroad or elsewhere in the country.
Fonga said that civilians across the country still possess weapons. - Sapa-AFP
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