Luanda: The Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Media, M¡rio Augusto Oliveira, called on leaders of the Frontline countries to actively engage in the social and economic development of Africa. This call to action was made during his speech at the opening of the International Conference on the Role of Frontline Countries in the Total Liberation of Southern Africa, held in Luanda. Oliveira stressed that such efforts would honor and pay tribute to the heroes of the Southern African liberation struggle.
According to Angola Press News Agency, Minister Oliveira emphasized that while political liberation marked the initial step, new challenges such as economic inequality, development issues, neocolonialism, and fragmentation of African peoples remain to be addressed. He expressed hope that the conference would serve not only as a platform for remembering the past but also as a "lab of ideas" aimed at fostering the growth of a united, sovereign, fair, and developed Africa.
Oliveira underscored the sacrifices made during the liberation struggle, highlighting the loss of lives, destabilized economies, and destroyed infrastructure. Despite these hardships, he noted the collective nature of the struggle and the eventual continental victory, which he described as fair and inevitable.
He also acknowledged the significant contributions of African countries, along with support from the Republic of Cuba and the former Soviet Union, both strategically and through military intervention. The minister viewed the conference as a celebration of the courage demonstrated by the peoples and leaders during the 1970s and 1980s who, through their resistance, scripted a noble chapter in the shared history of the region.
The conference, to be held in a hybrid format, in person and virtually, aims to reflect and analyze the strategic, historical and political role of the Frontline countries in the struggle for the total liberation of Southern Africa, in a meeting with representatives of liberation movements and veterans of the anti-Apartheid struggle, rulers, diplomats, historians, academic researchers.
