At the conclusion of a debate on the presentation of a book about the Bicesse agreement, which marks the end of the Angolan civil war, the then Secretary of State who led the Portuguese mediation between the Angolan government at the time and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), remarked that the moment signifies Portugal’s reconciliation with its history and is a source of pride.
“It was the reconciliation of Portugal with its history, after colonization and decolonization, which was not easy, for Portugal to be called to play a mediating role in a civil war like Angola’s, to be accepted by the parties, and the agreement that resulted is proof that we reconciled not only with Angola but with our own history,” stated José Manuel Durão Barroso.
“Without arrogance, which is always a form of stupidity, we have the right and duty to be proud of what we did for peace in Angola,” added the former Prime Minister, who was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in Cavaco Silva’s government when the agreement ending the civil war in the former Portuguese colony was signed in Lisbon.
The book “Bicesse – The Path to Peace,” coordinated by Sónia Neto, compiles the testimonies of 22 participants in the lengthy negotiation round that, for the first time, brought together representatives of the Angolan government (led by the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, MPLA, then a single party) and UNITA, under the mediation of Portugal and with the United States and the Soviet Union as observers.
The book launch took place in the same room (at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) where then Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos and UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi (both now deceased) signed, on May 31, 1991, under the watchful eye of then Portuguese Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva, the agreements that silenced the guns and paved the way for constitutional revisions ending the one-party regime and allowing the first free elections in the country (in September 1992).
