Angola.

• Position: Peacewatch - Safety of personnel of UN Observer Mission in Angola

On 4 December, the President of the Security Council, Jassin Mohammad Buallay of Bahrain, in a statement to the press, expressed the Council's grave concern for the safety and security in Andulo and Bailundo of the personnel of the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA). Two days later, the 14 military and police observers were withdrawn from Andulo. The Council took note of ah earlier statement by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in which he stated that the leadership of the Uniao Nacional Para la Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA) in Bailundo has refused to provide the necessary clearance for United Nations aircraft to land in Andulo and Bailundo to evacuate these personnel. The Council demanded that UNITA permit the immediate and unconditional departure of the MONUA personnel and held the President of UNITA, Jonas Savimbi, personally responsible for their safety, security and freedom of movement.

In its statement, the Council again deplored the deterioration of the situation in Angola and urged that there be no further escalation of hostilities. It reiterated that the primary responsibility for the deterioration in the peace process lay with the leadership of UNITA in Bailundo. It called on UNITA, as well as the Government of Angola, to exercise the utmost restraint so as not to endanger the lives of MONUA personnel as well as civilians.

The day before that statement, the Council had unanimously adopted resolution 1213 (1998), by which it extended MONUA's mandate to 26 February 1999. It had also called on UNITA to cooperate immediately in the withdrawal of MONUA personnel from Andulo and Bailundo. In light of deteriorating security conditions, the Council asked the Secretary-General to report by 15 January on the status of the peace process, the future role and mandate of the United Nations in Angola, and the force structure of the Mission.

The Council demanded that UNITA comply immediately and unconditionally with its obligations under the 1994 Lusaka Protocol, particularly with regard to demilitarization and the extension of State administration throughout the country. It also demanded that UNITA withdraw immediately from territories which it had occupied by military or other action.

Addressing the Council, the representative of Angola, noting that the UNITA militarist wing had taken 14 MONUA members hostage and refused to allow United Nations planes to land and evacuate them, said the present situation had not been...