National and international opinion is currently being conditioned for imminent conflict between President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’ MPLA government and the UNITA movement of Dr. Jonas Savimbi. Blame is already cast on UNITA and its intransigence towards Angola’s peace agreement. The current problems have their rest in a cocktail of mistrust, access to wealth and personal ambition mixed in with three decades of civil war. The progress made towards disarmament, demobilisation and peace has been slow and inefficient. Although it was claimed that UNITA combatants had been demobilised a total of 27291 soldiers had deserted from camps and reports indicate that as many as 300 mercenaries had joined UNITA. Thus the peace process has been halted and can only be achieved if both parties come to an agreement.
