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Angolan Envoy Delivers Special Message to Zimbabwean President
Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos Wednesday sent a special message to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, expressing solidarity between the two countries.
Angolan Defense Minister Kundi Paihama, who delivered the message to Mugabe, told reporters after meeting the Zimbabwean president that he believed the message reflected solidarity between Zimbabwe and Angola.
The Angolan minister said the message might include dos Santos' apologies for failing to attend the Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state fact-finding mission about the land issue in Zimbabwe.
Paihama represented Angola during the two-day meeting in Harare on Monday and Tuesday when Mugabe and other regional leaders gathered views of interest groups on the land issue.
He said the meeting was a success as he managed to get first hand information about the land issue in Zimbabwe.
"I now have a better understanding of the situation as the foreign media is not reflecting the actual situation on the ground about the land issue in Zimbabwe," he said.
Paihama said he hoped the land issue would be resolved positively.
Zimbabwe, he said, had to safeguard its interests on the land issue as there could be some Zimbabweans being used by outside elements to interfere with the land reform process.
The SADC leaders who attended the meeting in Harare expressed concern about the negative projection of Zimbabwe on the land issue and appealed to the international community to be objective in their portrayal of events in the country.
The land meeting was attended by the presidents of Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique and representatives from Angola and Tanzania.
On the civil war in Angola, Paihama said the situation was now relatively calm though there were still difficulties being faced on the economic, social and political fronts.
"We feel we are capable of solving the crisis because right now the government is in control of the situation," he said.
He said he hoped peace would be achieved soon in Angola where National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebels led by Jonas Savimbi had been embroiled in a war with the government for many years.
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