VZCZCXYZ0022
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLU #1236/01 3331705
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 291705Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY LUANDA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3506
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY

UNCLAS LUANDA 001236 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USDOC FOR CLDP 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
¶E. O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SOCI PINR AO
SUBJECT: ANGOLA - NOVEMBER POLITICAL ROUNDUP 
 
Refs: (A)Luanda 1209 (B) Luanda 1235 
  (C)Luanda 1197 
 
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¶1. (U) SUMMARY 
-------------- 
---Voter Registration Campaign Update 
---Supreme Court Host Conference on Penal System 
---Independence Day Inaugurations, Honors and Celebrations 
---Ambrosio de Lemos Appointed as New Chief of Police 
 
----------------------------------- 
Voter Registration Campaign Update 
----------------------------------- 
¶2. (U) After nearly two weeks of voter registration, numbers 
registered have exceeded government expectations.  In Luanda 
province more than 62,000 eligible voters have successfully 
registered.  In Huila Province, more than 15,000 have received their 
cards and in Uige Province, more than 12,000, despite the small 
number of centers open in each capital city.  CIPE Coordinator 
Virgilio Fontes Pereira visited Lubango, Huila, on Tuesday, November 
28, 2006, where he encouraged Angolan citizens to register.  At the 
same time, he chastised illegal immigrants for trying to register 
following the apprehension of five Congolese citizens who were 
stopped during the registration process when they presented 
suspicious statements from personal witnesses.  More extensive 
reporting on Elections/Voter Registration Campaign can be found in 
Reftels A (First Day of Registration) and B (Electoral Process 
November Update). 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Supreme Court Hosts Conference on Penal System 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶3. (U) Supreme Court Judges, all provincial and municipal judges, 
public attorneys and prosecutors as well as Ministry of Justice 
senior staff met between November 7-10, 2006 to brainstorm on how to 
improve Angola's penal system. Minister Manuel Aragao chastised 
judges and public prosecutors for holding detainees in custody 
beyond the 135 days maximum number which is allowed by law.  He 
noted that in Luanda over two-thirds of the prison population are 
detainees awaiting trial.  Minister Aragao urged judges to expedite 
cases brought before the courts.  The president of the Supreme Court 
Cristiano Andre called on judges to take their vocation more 
seriously.  However, he admitted that the court system was wholly 
under staffed at all levels, thereby causing the excessive backlog 
of cases.  The final communiqu called for the recruitment of judges 
and qualified court staffers and the creation of municipal courts in 
every municipality of Angola to help expedite justice and uphold the 
rule of law.  Angola has 164 municipalities, but only 24 have 
functioning municipal courts.  In September 2006 the Supreme Court 
swore-in 34 new municipal judges in an effort to get the municipal 
court system working.  Currently there are 9574 prison inmates in 
Angola of which 4,900 are detainees. 
 
¶4. (U) The USDOC through its Commercial Law Development Program 
(CLDP) has worked with the Ministry of Justice to implement a case 
management system to improve judicial case tracking and random 
assignment of judges to cases.  CLDP has implemented this system and 
trained court officials in Luanda, Cabinda, Benguela, and Huila 
provinces. In FY06 CLDP will continue the "train the trainer" 
training in order to build capacity within the Angolan Ministry of 
Justice. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
Independence Day Inaugurations, Honors and Celebrations 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶5. (U) President Dos Santos inaugurated the new fleet of five Boeing 
airplanes bought by TAAG Angola Airlines as the key Independence Day 
Event (Reftel C).  During the ceremony, numerous GRA ministers 
reiterated to Ambassador Efird the GRA's interest in maintaining 
strong commercial ties with the US, expressing their appreciation 
for US-made products and services, and the importance of good 
bi-lateral relations. Otherwise, Angola's National Day celebrations 
were relatively low-key with the "official GRA ceremony" occurring 
in remote Cunene province, and presided over by Labor Minister Pitra 
Neto.  The theme of all the celebrations was "infrastructure 
rebuilding."  In all provinces, governors inaugurated social 
infrastructures projects, in particular schools, health centers, 
bridges and electric generating stations. Dos Santos also 
inaugurated the new communal markets system by visiting "Asa 
Branca," one of the new community markets in a Luandan suburb built 
by the Chinese under the Chinese-Angola bilateral credit line. 
 
¶6. (U) The President hosted a formal dinner for approximately 200 
guests, including the diplomatic corps, but did not give a speech, 
as was customary in other years.  He bestowed National honors on six 
eminent Angolans: Desiderio Costa; Mendes de Carvalho; Adriano 
Sebastiao; Afonso Mahunda; Aristides Van Dunem, and Jose Manuel 
Lisboa for their contribution to the Nationalist struggle. 
Desiderio Costa was a member of the first MPLA leadership council 
and is currently the Minister for Petroleum; Mendes de Carvalho is 
an outspoken octogenarian Parliamentarian who served a fifteen-year 
jail sentence for denouncing colonial oppression in 1959; Aristides 
Van Dunem was Angola's first Minister for Finance.  The others are 
relatively unknown figures. 
 
¶7. (U) Dos Santos also conveyed Military Honors on Generals Ciel da 
Conceicao "Gato;" Daniel Prata "African;" Santana Andre Pitra 
"Petroff;" Alexandre Rodrigues "Kito;" Mario Cirilo de Sa "Ita;" 
Antonio Jose Maria, and Manuel Helder Vieira Dias "Kopelipa" for 
service to the peace conquest.  General Kopelipa received four 
National Honors in one year, a record in Angola.  General Petroff 
now serves as Special Adviser to the President for Political Affairs 
as well as head of CNIDAH (National Commission for Humanitarian 
Demining).  With exception of Generals Kopelipa, Petroff and Maria, 
who is the head of Military Intelligence, the others are Generals 
who served in the first Republic and are now retired. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Comment: Aside from the purposeful showcasing of the new 
TAAG airplanes, attended by nearly all key GRA government figures, 
GRA commemoration of Angolan National Day was very low key in 
comparison with previous years.  The Government chose to make 
reconstruction its Independence Day theme, inaugurating social 
infrastructure projects, instead of throwing its usual grand 
parties.  This is a likely consequence of the local media criticism 
heaped on the GRA in 2005, which accused the government of spending 
huge amounts of money on celebrations rather than concentrating on 
reconstructing the devastated country.  End Comment. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Ambrosio de Lemos Appointed as New Chief of Police 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶9. (SBU) President Dos Santos appointed Ambrosio de Lemos Freire dos 
Santos to take over from Jose Alfredo "Ekuikui" as Commander General 
of the Police on November 6, 2006.  General Ambrosio de Lemos most 
recently served as Deputy Commander General of the police, and is 
expected to continue his predecessor's effort at modernizing the 
police force, improving professional standards and encouraging 
respect for human rights.  Although, highly respected in the police 
force and by Human Rights activists, General Santos was an 
unexpected choice, since he is due for retirement.  A career police 
officer, General Ambrosio de Lemos knows every officer and every 
aspect of the police force. 
 
¶10. (U) Biographic Information: General Ambrosio de Lemos (three 
stars) was born in Luanda on January 9, 1945.  He left high school 
in 1962, joined the colonial police militia in 1966 and in 1970 
joined the colonial civil service.  In 1974 he joined the MPLA and 
formed part of the first corps constituted of Angolan police 
officers. He was appointed provincial police commander to Luanda and 
in 1975 made police commander to Huila, Cunene and Namibe provinces 
simultaneously.  In 1979, General Ambrosio de Lemos was appointed to 
the Commander General's office as head of planning and analysis and 
head of operation for the police. 1989 General De Lemos took charge 
of the public order division of the police and served in the Joint 
Commissions of both the Bicesse and Lusaka Protocols.  In 1993 he 
was made Chief of Staff to the Commander General of the police and 
in 2002 Deputy Commander General. 
 
Efird.