afrol News, 23 October - A bilateral cooperation commission between Angola and its ex-colonial power Portugal ended its work earlier this week in Luanda, signing new agreements of military assistance. Portugal is to assist post-war Angola to reform its military forces.

According to information from the Angolan news agency Angop, Angola and Portugal on Tuesday signed "several military cooperation agreements" in Luanda.

The military cooperation accords signed in particular focus on military engineering, de-mining training, training of local Angolan staff in Portugal and construction and reconstruction of military infrastructures, which to a large degree were destroyed during the civil war.

Portugal has entered into close military cooperation with many of its ex-colonies, though not following the "French model" of interventions. The military cooperation with Angola has been very low grade due to the war and the communist oriented government in Luanda.

With peace assured in Angola, Portuguese cooperation has been enhanced. The bilateral commission had been led by Angolan Deputy Defence Minister, Admiral Gaspar Rufino and the Director-General for Defence Policy of Portugal's Defence Ministry, General Jose Ramalho.

They had also met with the Angolan Defence Minister and the Chief of Staff of Angolan Armed Force to negotiate the accords. These two high ranking officers further had signed the military agreements on behalf of their countries.

The Portuguese delegation today is heading towards Cabinda, a troubled Angolan exclave north of Congo Kinshasa (DRC). Angola earlier has accused Portugal of supporting the secessionist movement in Cabinda, which still is conducting a low-scale military uprising in the province.

The Portuguese government however strongly has denied it has any sympathies for the Cabinda rebels and has offered its assistance in finding a negotiated solution to the conflict.

Neither from Portugal nor from Angola has there been given any indications of General Ramalho's agenda in Cabinda. There are however speculations that the Portuguese specialist in defence policy may be planning a diplomatic offensive to start negotiations over Cabinda's future status.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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