Luanda – Angola’s minister of National Defence and Homeland Veterans João Ernesto dos Santos on Wednesday described the celebration of the Southern Africa Liberation Day (March 23) as a fair tribute to all those who gave their lives for the Motherland.
Addressing a March 23 event, the day that marks the end of one of the fiercest conventional battles at Cuito Cuanavale in the southern Angola, the minister stressed the importance of the new generation in Angola and in the continent to learn and appreciate the date.
He also highlighted the role of those who participated in the Cuito Cuanavale Battle for the preservation of the national independence, peace and national reconciliation and the multiparty democracy in force in Southern Africa.
The National Defence minister said the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale was a matter of "life or death" and turned the course of the South African racist forces, which intended to perpetuate and expand their influence throughout the region.
He also stressed the November 15, 1987 - March 23, 1988 battle, waged in Samaria (Cuito Cuanavale), according to various scholars, as the largest and longest military confrontation of the war in Angola and the African continent, after World War II.
The battle opposed the extinct Popular Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA), backed by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, against the South African Defence Forces (SADF), which invaded Angola in support for UNITA forces.
João Ernesto dos Santos said that "wars are always phenomena that we remember with the feeling that we could have avoided them, because of the consequences in terms of loss of human life and the destruction of infrastructure that cost the state many resources.
However, he added, "there are wars whose raison for being, especially when they aim to defend principles and values underlying sovereignty and national interest, are non-negotiable, as they are essential to our existence in the concert of the nations."
"Cuito Cuanavale battle is within this context," the minister said, highlighting the fact of the date to coincide this year with other major events in Angola, such as the general elections and the celebration of 100th anniversary of birth of Angola's first president, Antonio Agostinho Neto.
The celebrations of the Southern Africa Liberation Day took place under the motto "Honour and glory to the Memory of the Brave Liberators of Southern Africa.
