Duisburg-Essen University

Institute for Political Science

The United Nations and Conflicts in Asia and Africa
Christian Göbel, MA and Dr. Kerstin Lukner

Angola, the Third Committee of the General

Assembly and its Role in it

Carsten Kaefert
Dellplatz 7
47051 Duisburg
0172 – 788 57 36
carsten.kaefert@stud.uni-due.de

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Contents:
Angola, the Third Committee of the General Assembly and its Role in it.................................1
License information:..............................................................................................................2
You are free:......................................................................................................................2
Under the following conditions:.......................................................................................2
1) Angola................................................................................................................................4
1.1) Geography and Statistics...........................................................................................4
1.1.1) Administrative division......................................................................................5
1.1.2) Climate...............................................................................................................5
1.1.3) Economy............................................................................................................6
1.1.4) Population..........................................................................................................6
1.2) History.......................................................................................................................6
1.2.1) Colonial era and struggle for independence.......................................................6
1.2.2) Civil war.............................................................................................................7
1.3) Current Situation........................................................................................................9
2) The Third Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations..........................10
2.1) Introduction to the Third Committee of the GA: Social, Humanitarian and Cultural
.........................................................................................................................................10
2.3) The Third Committee's Issues at NMUN 08...........................................................12
3) Angolas role in the General Assembly Third Committee................................................12

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1) Angola

1.1) Geography and Statistics

R epublic of Angola is located in southern Africa. Its western border is formed by the At-
lantic Ocean. Its direct neighbors are clockwise Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Zambia and Namibia. The Angolan
exclave of Cabinda is located
between the firstmentioned and the
Republic of the Congo. Angola cov-
ers an area of 1246700km² and has
an overall population of sligtly more
than twelve million, which results in
Graphic 2: Angolas location on the globe (map: rei- an average population density of just
artur, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Rei-
artur) about nine inhabitants per square
kilometer (CIA World Factbook,
2007). Notable geographic land-
marks in the country are its with
2619m highest mountain, Môco, and
river Zambezi in the east.

O f the country's landmass, just

2.88 per cent are used for ag-
ricultural production. It features a
broad variety of landscapes, ranging
from tropical rain forest in Cabinda
and the northern part of the country
to a strip of desert along the Namibi-
an border. The largest area is taken
by wet highlands and savanna.

Graphic 1: Map of Angola

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 1 Bengo 10 Huila
2 Benguela 11 Luanda
3 Bié 12 Lunda Norte
4 Cabinda 13 Lunda Sul
5 Cuando Cubango 14 Malanje
6 Cuanza Norte 15 Moxico
7 Cuanza Sul 16 Namibe
8 Cunene 17 Uíge
9 Huambo 18 Zaire

Table 1: Provinces of Angola

1.1.1) Administrative division

A ngola consists of 18 provinces and 163

Graphic 3: Administrative division of Angola
(map license: GnuFDL)
municipalities (see Table 1). The coun-
tries capital city, Luanda, is also the by far
largest city with almost 2.8 million inhabitants
as of 2005 and the second largest city,
Huambo, just having about 203000 inhabit-
ants. Luanda is in the northwestern part of the
country on the Atlantic shore.

1.1.2) Climate

T he country has quite diverse climate

conditions. It features a damp, tropical
climate in the northern region from Cabinda to
Ambriz, giving way for a moderate tropical
climate a little north of Luanda. This climate
zone expands eastwards to Malanje province
and the eastern strip. South of Namibe damp

Graphic 4: Map of Ethnicities in Angola conditions prevail again, whilst the central Bié
plateau features a dry climate. Between the Namibian border and the plateau desert climate
prevails. The Benguela Current keeps the climate in the coastal region semi-arid to arid. Hav-
ing an annual average temperature of 20°C, the country has two seasons, a dry, cool one from

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June to September and a hot, humid one in the rest of the year.

1.1.3) Economy

A ngola's soil is rich in natural resources, as oil, diamonds, iron ore, phosphates, copper,
feldspar, gold, bauxite and uranium can be found. Also vast areas are coveres by
forests and woodlands providing wood and other materials. These resources play a crucial
part in the countries economy with the export of oil being its most important source of reven-
ue. The country produces 1.7 million barrels of crude oil per day with a rising tendency. Since
it joined the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) the production has been capped
to 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd), although it has been expected to rise up to 2.0 bpd later
this year. Export of crude oil is responsible for for 51.7 per cent of the gross national product
and amounts to 95 per cent of overall exports. Furthermore, 80% of the governments revenue
are generated in this field. Production and export of diamonds is responsible for most of An-
gola's remaining exports (US Department of State, 2008).

1.1.4) Population

B antu ethnicities make up the largest part of the Angolan population. 63 per cent of the
population either belong to the Ovimbundu (30 per cent), Kimbundu (21 per cent) or
Ganguela (12 per cent), each of which have their own language. The rest of the nation is di-
vided in several smaller tribes, of which the largest, Nhaneca-Humbe, amounts to seven per
cent of the overall population. The largest non-Angolan minority are the Portuguese with ap-
proximately 30 000 people. Although Portuguese is the countries official language, Umbundu
is the most spoken one. This language of the Ovimbundu is used by about 37 per cent of the
overall population. Altogether 41 languages are spoken in Angola.

1.2) History

1.2.1) Colonial era and struggle for independence

D iogo Cão was the first European to set his foot on what today is known as Angola in
1482. He commanded an expedition, of which plenty should follow. Close ties
between Portugal and the Kingdom of the Congo, which ruled the area in these times. Less

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than hundred years later, in 1575, the Portuguese colony Angola was founded, which in the
following decades expanded vastly. It became more and more important for Portugal as it's
main source of slaves, which where needed for development the colony Brazil.

F rom 1764 onwards the economy changed from a merely slave-based one to a more pro-
duction-based one. When slave trade came to an end in 1836, the colony's economy fi-
nalised the transition to the export of mainly palm and peanut oil, wax, copal, timber, ivory,
cotton, coffee, and cocoa. Being highly successful at this and having opened it's ports to for-
eign ships in 1844, Luanda became one of the richest cities within the Portuguese empire. In
this wealth a relatively stable situation evolved which should hold till the mid of the 20 th cen-
tury, when first national movements came up and conflicts arose. Associated Press described
the outbreak of the independence war in 1961 as follows:

“Portugal's wars against independence fighters in its 500-year-old African empire

erupted in 1961 in Angola. In surprise attacks, rebels butchered Portuguese
settlers, including women and children, on remote Angolan plantations. In
revenge, Portuguese militias and troops carried out a vicious campaign of
repression, despite pressure from the United States and United Nations to pull out
of Africa.”

V iolence should remain an issue in Angola from these very days on till the later civil
war ended in 2002. The struggle for independence didn't end before Portuguese dictat-
orship was overthrown by a coup d'etat in 1975.

1.2.2) Civil war

T he Angolan civil war, which should devastate the country for the coming 27 years,
broke out in 1975, immediately before the country gained its independence, which led
to one war giving way for another. The civil war arose from clashes between the countries
first independence movement, the socialist-communist MPLA (Movimento Popular de Liber-
tação de Angola), UNITA (União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola) and FNLE
(Frente Nacional da Libertação de Angola). The MPLA under Agostinho Neto recruited most
of its members from the Kimbundu ethnicity and was based mainly in Luanda. It had built up
ties with eastern block states already during the sixties. UNITA, founded by Jonas Savimbi,

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on the other hand received support from various countries, most prominently the USA and
South Africa. Members of the Ovimbundu ethnicity made up the majority of its members and
it was based in the central plateau. The third conflict party, FNLE, was founded in 1954 and
received initial support from the USA, but lost its importance during the 1970s.

T he three organizations weren't willing to negotiate on the terms of the shift of power
from the Portuguese, even less agreeing on a solution. Talks together with the Por-
tuguese brought up a contract, but this was far away from a solid basis for the country's inde-
pendence. The greatest concern was the question of presidency until the presidential elections
put forward in the contract would take place, as the leaders of all three organizations deman-
ded this position for themselves. To reach this aim each of them built up his own army and
tried to conquer Luanda. The rationale was that whoever controlled the capital on independ-
ence day would most likely be accepted as the legitimate government by the international
community.

W ith the expansion of the fighting, the Angolan civil war became more and more of a
war by proxy for the Cold War superpowers: Having just withdrawn from Vietnam,
the United States could not accept another state falling towards socialism, so they supported
FNLE with arms, money and training. As a marxist-socialist government in its direct neigh-
bourhood could not be in its interest, the apartheid regime in South Africa decided to inter-
vene as well. With US-American support it invaded Angola October, 23rd, 1975 in order to
support FNLE. In the course of this invasion, South Africa joined forces with UNITA, of ex-
istence of which it was hitherto unaware. Despite getting Soviet arms supply, a defeat of the
MPLA was foreseeable.

C uba's intervention in November 1975 completely changed the game: The Caribbean
state decided to engage openly (in contrast to it's earlier guerilla tactics) and sent 35
000 troops. Cuban ruler Fidel Castro explained that he had to prevent apartheid from spread-
ing to one more country. The new situation came to a showdown in the battle of Kifangondo,
which the MPLA thanks to superior equipment and the heavy support from Cuba won. On
November 11th 1975 Angola was independent from Portugal for the first time in 400 years,
but this should not put an end to the fighting.

M ost of the foreign forces were withdrawn after the battle of Kifangondo, but due to
its better material support from outside, MPLA could stay in control of most parts of

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the country, with the FNLE having lost almost all their importance and UNITA controlling
some regions in the south. MPLA-president Neto was never accepted as Angolan president by
the USA. He died in 1979 and José Eduardo dos Santos became his predecessor. With the
USA on the one hand supplying UNITA with modern weaponry and Cuba and the Soviet Uni-
on on the other heavily supporting MPLA the civil war went on.

1 988 should bring another culmination point in the long and bloody run of the conflict:
The battle of Cuito Cuanavale, in which a coalition of South African and UNITA troops
had a stand-off with MPLA and an army of almost 40 000 Cuban troops, which was the
largest battle to take place on African soil since World War II. It took about 20 000 lifes. It's
undecisive outcome weakened the South Africa and UNITA enough to find the way back to
negotiations. In talks between the USA, Cuba and South Africa a treaty could be reached
which de facto legitimized MPLA government and included a ceasefire between MPLA and
UNITA as well as complete withdrawal of Cuban troops.

A lthough MPLA turned its back to socialism after the fall of the Soviet Union and es-
tablished a multi-party-system in the 1990s, the fighting did not come to an end. The
1988 ceasefire was broken only after a short while and what was a war between two militant
groups before now had become a war between the MPLA government and UNITA rebels. But
in the 1990s international peace efforts gained momentum, as for example the Security Coun-
cil passed several resolutions on the issue and installed the surveillance missions UNAVEM I
– III. Although several other attempts at peace were made in the subsequent years, they were
not successful. It was not before another big offensive, during which MPLA could kill
UNITA leader Savimbi on February 22, 2002, that one side could decide the struggle for it-
self. Militarily already weakened, UNITA and MPLA could agree on a ceasefire and eventu-
ally a peace treaty, integrating most of UNITAs armed forces into the legit
Angolan army. The civil war had cost at least 500 000 lives and left the coun-
try devastated for years to come.

1.3) Current Situation

T he 27 year long civil war wreaked havoc in almost all parts of the
country and society, so rebuilding efforts make up of various kindsGraphic 5:
José Eduardo
make up the majority of the governments nowadays issues. President dosdos Santos

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Santos has been in power since Netos death, but seems to be committed to a peaceful and
democratic development of the country. Still, living conditions in Angola remain inadequate
with medical care far away from being available and apt for everyone, schools lacking mater-
ial and public employees being unskilled on a wide scale. Furthermore the country is one of
the worst plagued by landmines in the world with uncounted mines, probably in the millions.
421 people died through mine explosions in 2006 and several thousand were maimed and mu-
tilated.

2) The Third Committee of the General Assembly of the United

Nations

2.1) Introduction to the Third Committee of the GA: Social,

Humanitarian and Cultural

O ne of the six main bodies of the United Nations General Assembly is its Third Com-
mittee: Social, Humanitarian and Cultural. As it is a part of the General Assembly, all
192 member states are represented within it, having one vote each. Contrary to the Security
Council, there is no veto possible. Instead, most decisions require a simple majority, although
votes on important measures, e.g. matters of peace and security, budgetary issues and the ad-
mission of new members require a two-thirds majority.

C ontrary to the Security Council

the General Assembly and can
only make non-binding recommenda-
Voting Behaviour
Draft res. in the 62nd session of the GA
100%
tions, thus the legitimacy of its decisions
90%
relies highly on their broad support. This 80%

leads to a high percentage of resolutions 70% Abs tain

60% No
being passed without objection – in the Yes
50%
past the numbers ranged between 70 and 40%

80 per cent. Thus the General Assembly 30%

20%
acts as “a center for harmonizing the ac-
10%
tions of of nations in the 0%

attainment” (Marin-Bosch), but at the

Graphic 6: Voting Behaviour of the 3rd Committee
in the 62nd session on its 21 draft resolutions
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same time the longing for consensus tends to slow the decision making process, although the
Charter provides the option of majority decisions. Then secretary-general Kofi Annan ad-
dressed this issue in his 2005 report “In Larger Freedom” as follows:

“ In recent years, the number of General Assembly resolutions approved by

consensus has increased steadily. That would be good if it reflected a genuine
unity of purpose among Member States in responding to global challenges. But
unfortunately, consensus (often interpreted as requiring unanimity) has become an
end in itself. It is sought first within each regional group and then at the level of
the whole. This has not proved an effective way of reconciling the interests of
Member States. Rather, it prompts the Assembly to retreat into generalities,
abandoning any serious effort to take action. Such real debates as there are tend to
focus on process rather than substance and many so-called decisions simply
reflect the lowest common denominator of widely different opinions.”

T he Committees prepare and agree on draft resolutions for the General Assembly plen-
ary to vote on. This again includes a process of channeling different countries interests,
harmonizing them where possible. Nevertheless it is worthwhile mentioning that unanimous
decisions are way less likely to occur in Committees than in the plenary. During the 62 nd ses-
sion of the General Assembly for example there was not a single unanimous decision on a
draft resolution in the Third Committee, as the United States voted “No” each time. Still the
rate of acceptance is overwhelmingly high (compare Graphic 3). The high percentage of draft
resolutions from the Third Committee being adopted by the General Assembly (ranging
between a third and a fourth of all resolutions adopted in the 1990s) likely represents this.

T he third Committee has the mandate to discuss social, humanitarian and cultural issues.
Its legitimacy in this field is fed by two sources: Once Article 13 (1b) of the UN
Charter an on the other hand the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This provides for a
quite strong focus on Human Rights issues, which sets the third Committee apart from the
other five Committees. Protection of of indigenous peoples has been one part wide range of
Human Rights issues that got special attention by the Committee, as did the struggle against
racism and discrimination. Resolutions dealing specifically with the Human Rights situation
in the countries Iran, Belarus and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea gained some

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publicity during the 62nd session.

O n top of the humanitarian issues the Third Commission also works on social and cul-
tural topics, ranging from education to drug trafficking. Addressing the former, the
Committee worked and decided on measures complementing the implementation of the
United Nations literacy decade, searching for exact figures especially from countries with a
high prevalence of illiteracy. Campaigning against drug trafficking has been on the Commit-
tee's agenda since more than 25 years ago, when it discussed the topic in its 37th session in
1982.

2.3) The Third Committee's Issues at NMUN 08

A t the Sheraton venue of NMUN 2008, the General Assembly Third committee will
work on three issues:

– Evaluation and Impementation of the United Nations Literacy Decade

– Cultural Property: Illicit Trafficking and Restitution
– Combating the Spread of Illicit Drugs

3) Angolas role in the General Assembly Third Committee

B urdened with the experience of a 27 year long civil war, Angola developed a focus on
humanitarian issues in it's work within the United Nations. Examples for this work
were several resolutions on the improvement of the situation of women, the fight against ra-
cism and the situation of refugees and displaced people. It is clearly visible that Angola Gen-
eral Assembly Third Committee is committed to protect other countries from the experiences
it has made.

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