Republic of Angola, based on its experience, has sought to help sister countries to overcome the conflicts that affect them, through dialogue and search for peace, said on Tuesday in Luanda the Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço.
The Angolan Head of State said so at the opening ceremony of the 9th Expanded Consultative Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which heads of diplomatic and consular missions participate.
President Loiurenço, advocated that with peace and stability, the countries in latent conflicts will start dedicating all the available energies and resources to the exclusive service of the economic and social development of the population.
"The Great Lakes region, which covers a considerable number of countries, is very rich in mineral, water, forest and arable land resources, the development of which has been postponed for decades due to the almost permanent instability that reigns there," the Angolan President said in a reference to the political and military situation in some African countries.
According to João Lourenço, the populations of those countries are not benefiting from the great existing potential, whether from the economic, social or commercial point of view.
He also said that although several groups are operating in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a window of opportunity has opened today for the cantonment, disarming and reintegration of the elements of the armed group M23.
Regarding the ceasefire in force for about a month in the east of the DRC, President Lourenço said that "everything should be done for the implementation, in fact, of the necessary steps, with the urgency that the case requires in order not to lose the window of opportunity that has opened up.
He recalled that Angola was the victim of the invasion and occupation of part of its territory by the army of the former Apartheid regime in South Africa.
JoãoLourenço stressed that, Angolans fought on the ground and won the successive battles that culminated in the battle of Cuito Cuanavale, but that definitive peace for Angola, the Independence of Namibia, the release of Nelson Mandela and the fall of the Apartheid regime might not have been achieved, "if we had not negotiated and signed the New York Accords.
"That is why, the Angolan diplomacy defends the negotiated and peaceful resolution of conflicts, whatever their size and scope and on any continent," he said.
Conflicts in Europe and the Middle East
João Lourenço acknowledged that the world is following with great concern the eruption of war between Russia and Ukraine and the annexation of territories of an independent country, "a situation that Angola condemns".
In this sense, the Angolan Head of State called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, in order to create the environment for the beginning of negotiations, with a view to establishing a lasting peace and avoiding the escalation of a war that has already caused the biggest humanitarian, food and energy crisis that the world has known since the end of World War II in 1945.
In his speech, joão Lourenço said the war between Russia and Ukraine represents the greatest threat to world peace and security, due to the direct and indirect involvement of the major international powers.
He also said that, a world without rules is extremely dangerous for everyone, even for those who consider themselves the strongest and most invincible.
He stressed that all recent events in the international arena highlight the urgent need to restructure the United Nations Security Council, ensuring the presence, as permanent members, of regions of the planet that are currently excluded, such as Africa and Latin and South America, whose voice cannot be neglected because it may be determinant in the decision making on key issues such as peace and security, food security, environmental defence, public health and others that have to do with the survival of all at global level.
“Safe and lasting solutions have not yet been found to situations of dangerous and protracted conflicts such as the Korean peninsula and the Israeli-Palestinian one, whose Security Council resolutions are being disregarded and ignored," he said
Source: Angola Press News Agency