The International Monetary Fund and the Angolan government reached an agreement in April 3, 2000 on reforming the Angolan economy. Part of that agreement includes a plan to monitor the government's oil revenues.
Why is this a human rights issue? In the past, the Angolan government has used oil revenues to finance covert arms purchases that undermined the spirit of the Lusaka Peace Accords. The arms are being used to continue a vicious civil war in which hundreds of thousands of civilians have lost their lives over the last decade and nearly 10 percent of the population (about 1 million people) were displaced by the renewed conflict.
These covert arms purchases bypassed the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance and were routed instead through the state oil company (Sonangol) and the Office of the Presidency. For example, to fund some arms purchases during 1998, the government used approximately U.S.$870 million of funds that had been generated from signature bonus payments on oil exploration and offshore concession blocks. Human Rights Watch is also concerned about the use of oil revenues to purchase indiscriminate weapons such as anti-personnel landmines—even after the government signed the Mine Ban Treaty in December 1997.
The IMF's monitoring agreement represents a positive first step in establishing transparency and accountability within the government of Angola. However, the agreement is limited in its scope, and therefore requires certain follow up steps, including:
* The full cooperation of all parties with relevant information about oil revenues, particularly the government and the oil companies operating in country, with the IMF-appointed monitors to ensure that the monitoring program is effective.
* Public disclosure of the scope and scale of the monitoring agreement as well as the government and monitoring program reports detailing the use of oil revenues.
* The negotiation of an agreement between the IMF and the Angolan government to fully audit any discrepancies between expected and real revenues, if such discrepancies emerge during the course of the monitoring agreement. Such agreements should ensure that oil revenues are not used to purchase indiscriminate weapons such as antipersonnel landmines.
