Angolan Armed Forces in maximum readiness to “avoid incidents”

According to the Sept. 3 order signed by the Chief of Staff of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), General Egídio de Sousa Santos, all FAA units, facilities, and organs will be placed in a state of high combat readiness to avoid incidents that “disturb public order and tranquility.”

During this period, security measures for critical economic and strategic targets and government facilities will be strengthened, the movement of military columns will be controlled, and the departure of military aircraft will be restricted,

Guard and garrison duty will also be stepped up, and measures to control weapons and ammunition will be “rigorously enforced.”

The document also indicates that the military police, in cooperation with the national police, will increase car and foot patrols in urban and suburban centers to recall military personnel and vehicles violating the decree’s provisions.

COURT RULING

The Constitutional Court is expected to issue a ruling in the coming days on the electoral challenge requested by opposition parties UNITA and CASA CE, which do not recognize the election results announced by the National Electoral Commission before the inauguration.

On Monday, the Angolan National Electoral Commission (CNE) announced the final results, which gave the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) an absolute majority with 51.17 percent of the vote compared to 43.95 percent for the National Union for the Complete Independence of Angola (UNITA).

The two parties’ leaders made the following comments on their social media accounts today.

João Lourenço, leader of the MPLA, who is running for a new term as president of Angola, said that the party had taken to the streets “to celebrate the victory of the Penta” (the MPLA has won all five general elections in Angola), but that he was “waiting with serenity for the decision of the Constitutional Court.”

“Then we will organize the second celebration, the inauguration ceremony, and the acts that follow. Angolans, we are together,” he wrote on his account on the social network Twitter.

Earlier, his rival and president of UNITA, Angola’s largest opposition party, spoke about the issue on the same network.

Adalberto da Costa Júnior said he hopes the Constitutional Court (TC) will accept the injunction filed by the party “so that the truth prevails over the votes and shows the Angolan people that the MPLA did not win the elections.