Luanda – The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, returned Friday to Luanda from New York (USA), where he attended the United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR).
At the 4 de Fevereiro International Airport, Joao Lourenço received a warm welcome from the Speaker of the National Assembly, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, members of the Government and senior officials of his cabinet.
During his speech Wednesday at the UN Security Council meeting, the Angolan statesman defended the lifting of the arms embargo imposed on the government of the Central African Republic by the UN Security Council, calling for justice in the handling of the issue.
He also asked for international support to the CAR Government to equip its armed forces and create conditions to ensure internal stability, after the withdrawal of the UN peacekeeping forces.
On the occasion, the Head of State gave an update on what has been done, under Angola’s leadership, in the collective effort to seek peace and security in CAR.
The President of the Republic stated that all States have the inalienable right to create their own capacities to defend themselves from internal and external threats, providing their armed forces with men, arms and equipment that match their needs, unless there are strong objective reasons that lead the international community, through the Security Council, to eliminate this right,
He stressed that the arms embargo prevented the building up of real armed forces equal to the challenges facing the country and the troubled region, in a context in which international terrorism had moved its epicentre from the Middle East to Africa.
President Joao Lourenço said that the strategic plan of the Angolan presidency during its two-year term at the ICGLR is based on the stability and development of the Great Lakes region, and is guided by the principles of the UN Charter and the African Union.
Angola has held the rotating chairmanship of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region since November 2020.
Source: Angola Press News Agency