III. BACKGROUND

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on April 4, 2002, between the government of Angola and UNITA has brought an end to decades of fighting on the mainland of Angola. A struggle for independence from Portugal which began in the 1960s pitted three nationalist groups against each other for control of the country. With the departure of Portugal in 1975, one of these groups, the Movement for the Popular Liberation of Angola (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, MPLA), took control of the capital. The two remaining groups joined in the fight against the MPLA government and the ensuing conflict between the MPLA and UNITA spanned some twenty-seven years. Support for the MPLA came from Cuba and the Soviet Union while the apartheid government of South Africa and the United States provided assistance to UNITA.

From 1975 until 2002, several efforts to cease hostilities were negotiated but ultimately fell apart. Following a first failed attempt in 1989, the Bicesse Accords signed in May 1991 brought peace to the country for over one year. During this time period, national elections were held with President dos Santos of the MPLA winning against UNITA candidate Jonas Savimbi. UNITA rejected the electoral results and the country returned to warfare in October 1992. UNITA territorial losses in the countryside during 1994 prompted further negotiations between the two sides which culminated in the signing of the Lusaka Protocol in November 1994.

The Lusaka Protocol, which brought an uneasy truce for four years, was marred by sporadic fighting and violations by the two sides. Both the government and UNITA continued to prepare for war during this time, procuring weapons through the sale of oil and diamonds, respectively. Although the United Nations established a Human Rights Division following the Lusaka Protocol, a lack of transparency and public reporting on violators of the agreement hampered the effectiveness of the division. Parties were rarely held accountable for human rights violations. Full scale fighting between the government and UNITA resumed in 1998.⁶

The final period of fighting between 1998 and 2002 was marked by widespread human rights violations by both sides. Government and UNITA fighters forcibly displaced civilians in an attempt to remove support to the opposition. Both groups targeted the civilian population, indiscriminately shelling civilian areas and mining the countryside. The government estimates that the number of displaced civilians doubled in this period to more than four million people, with an additional 435,000 refugees in neighboring countries. During these last four yeas of conflict, UNITA forces swept through villages abducting children and adults and pressing them into service. Government forces also staged recruitment drives where underage soldiers were conscripted.⁷

Despite the failures of past agreements, there is much promise that the current peace will last. The death of Jonas Savimbi in February 2002 prompted UNITA to return to the negotiating table and his death removed one of the largest obstacles to peace. Since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in April 2002, there have been no outbreaks of fighting between the two groups, and the two sides, together with the population, appear committed to peace. UNITA officials have been incorporated into ministerial and ambassadorial posts. The demobilization process has gone forward with UNITA soldiers surrendering their arms and moving into camps. The absence of child soldiers, however, undermines the legitimacy of the demobilization program and may have some serious implications for future stability and public order.

Following the Lusaka Protocol of 1994, the demobilization commission enacted a formal program for children, registering 9,133 soldiers under the age of eighteen. Of those registered, 5,171 were demobilized. Boy soldiers were placed in quartering areas, given a monetary subsidy, a return kit of food and clothing, and transported to their areas of origin within a targeted six-month period. A national tracing program for these and other children separated in the war was established to reunite children with their families or nearest relatives.⁸

The past process for child demobilization had problems in its implementation, structure, and ability to successfully reintegrate the participants. Many of the children stayed much longer in the camps than the intended six-month period, languishing for over one year. Difficulties with the establishment of the program, engaging qualified personnel, and political manipulation account for some of the delays. Of those children registered, just over half were officially demobilized, with 4,811 coming from the UNITA side and 360 from the FAA. Delays in providing benefits and fears that children would be recruited once more into UNITA as renewed warfare loomed, led many registered children to simply abandon the centers without undergoing formal reintegration. The lack of separation between adult and child soldiers in the centers meant that UNITA commanders had effective control over these children, a factor identified in post-conflict studies as a hindrance to their rehabilitation. Finally, access to the program was initially limited to those who could produce a weapon, prohibiting many former child soldiers from registration.⁹

One glaring omission from the demobilization process was provision for girls and disabled children. Although the use of girls in the fighting was well documented, they were ignored in the design and running of the program. Children who were separated as military war disabled also did not receive benefits. Current plans, which focus on family and community rehabilitation and include no specific programs for former child soldiers, run the risk that these two groups will be forgotten once again. In other post-conflict situations, lack of attention to rehabilitation for girls has meant that girls with no family or supportive community are forced to provide for themselves. The example of Sierra Leone, where former girl fighters have been forced to live on the streets or engage in commercial sex work, warns of the hazards of excluding girls from demobilization programs. ¹⁰

⁶ For a comprehensive analysis of the Lusaka Peace Process see Human Rights Watch, Angola Unravels The Rise and Fall of the Lusaka Peace Process, (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1999).

⁷ See Human Rights Watch, United Nations: Protect the Displaced in Angola, Human Rights Watch Press Release, March 5, 2002. See also Médecins sans Frontières, Angola: Sacrifice of a People, October 2002.

⁸ Christian Children's Fund, Let Us Light a New Fire, (Luanda, Angola: Editora Humbi, 1998), pp. 55-60.

⁹ Ibid. See also Verhey, Beth, Child Soldiers: Preventing, Demobilizing and Reintegration, November 2001, Africa Region Working Paper Series No. 23, UN Press Release, SC/6830, March 23, 2000.

¹⁰ Verhey, Child Soldiers, p. 7, Human Rights Watch interviews, Luanda, November 20 and 26, 2002, Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, Precious Resources: Adolescents in the Reconstruction of Sierra Leone, (New York: Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, 2002), pp. 42-50.