Posters with the faces of injured militants, following the attack on a caravan of UNITA deputies on April 12 in the Angolan province of Cuando-Cubango, were displayed at the start of the extraordinary plenary meeting this Thursday, a fact that generated a climate of tension in the plenary.

"Peace without political intolerance", "peace without assassinations" and "enough assassinations in times of peace" were some of the slogans printed on the posters that the deputies of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA, the largest opposition party) displayed standing, amidst slogans like "murderers", protesting the attack.

Liberty Chiyaka, president of the UNITA parliamentary group, in his political statement at the start of the plenary, considered the acts of Cuando-Cubango as "yet another attack on freedom, democracy and peace", especially in a month in which the country commemorated 22 years of peace and national reconciliation.

"A premeditated attack on the life and physical integrity of the deputies of the National Assembly without any word of condemnation from the President of the Republic, the President of the National Assembly, the Minister of the Interior and the Commander-General of the National Police", questioned the politician.

For the parliamentary leader of UNITA, the attack on the caravan of deputies and militants of his party was a "frustrated homicide perpetrated by militias of the regime (MPLA) and is part of an agenda against the strengthening and deepening of the democratic and legal state in Angola".

"It was clearly an act of political intolerance that aims to establish, through acts like that of deliberate violence, a climate of instability in Angola (...), a constitutional amendment from which a third term for the current President of the Republic can be instituted", he pointed out.

The police of Cuando Cubango confirmed, at the time, the existence of four injured following the attack on a caravan of UNITA deputies, on April 12, but denied that the party had requested an escort from the authorities.

The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA, in power) distanced itself from these actions, through the voice of its secretary-general, Paulo Pombolo, who denied inciting violence and political intolerance.

The subject was resumed today and generated a few minutes of tension between deputies, an occasion on which the president of the National Assembly, Carolina Cerqueira, even threatened to suspend the session to calm the spirits of the UNITA deputies who were protesting in unison.

Carolina Cerqueira denied any silence from the parliament's leadership, stating that the legislative body's Communication and Press office had issued, at the time, a note of protest against the events in Cuando-Cubango and that she would telephone the parliamentary leader of UNITA expressing solidarity.

Liberty Chiyaka, in response, in an atmosphere of tension in the hemicycle, confirmed having received calls from the president of the parliament and other MPLA deputies, stating, however, that the country was waiting for a "public position" from Carolina Cerqueira.

Regarding the country's current social and economic reality, Chiyaka considered that Angola is experiencing "a serious social and economic crisis".

Hunger has increased, poverty has increased, unemployment has increased, insecurity has increased, corruption has increased", he concluded.

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