João Lourenço assumes, this Thursday, as president of Angola, in what will be his second term. Luanda is, at this point, practically under siege, with police, military and tanks in the streets of the city. In addition, the security forces have been controlling the population to prevent any type of protest and several activists have been arrested.
heard in TSF, Mihaella Webba, leader of UNITA, revealed that the atmosphere in Luanda is one of “terror”. On Wednesday alone, 20 people were arrested.
“Unfortunately there is an atmosphere of terror, because yesterday 20 civil society activists were arrested. The criminal investigation service went to their homes, kidnapped them and arrested them for not holding the demonstration they had called for today. Apart from that, UNITA has already declared that it is not going to the inauguration of a president that we consider is not legitimate”, he added.
UNITA had already revealed that it would not be at João Lourenço’s inauguration. However, the black rooster party guaranteed that the 90 deputies will occupy the seats in parliament. Mihaella Webba underlines that this decision aims to prevent any seizure of power by João Lourenço, through the modification of the constitution.
“One of the reasons UNITA was forced to take the seats was precisely to block the possibility that João Lourenço could change the constitution,” the leader said, stressing that the Angolan constitution “can be changed with two thirds of the deputies in effect of the functions”.
“If UNITA did not take over, there would be 130 effective deputies and therefore two-thirds of 130 could change the constitution and allow João Lourenço to have a third term, or four, or change the constitution as he did, for example. , Hugo Chavez, in Venezuela”, he adds.
Unlike UNITA, the other opposition parties have guaranteed that they will participate in João Lourenço’s inauguration ceremony, which is attended by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The Portuguese president will be the only non-African head of state to attend the event.
Source: TSF
