Luanda – The profile of UNITA’s candidate for the fifth general elections scheduled for 24 August is shown below.
Adalberto da Costa Júnior, born on 8 May 1962, in Tchinjenje (Huambo), is married and has three children.
He graduated in Electrotechnical Engineering at the Higher Institute of Engineering of Porto and in Public Ethics at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
He has held a UNITA militant card since 1975, which he joined due to family influence.
Within this political organisation, he held several leadership positions, among which those of Head of JURA (UNITA’s youth wing) in Porto, Portugal (1991 – 1996), representative of UNITA in Portugal (1996 – 2002) and representative of this same political party in Italy and in the Vatican (2003).
He was also the provincial secretary of this party in Luanda (2003 – 2008), secretary in charge of Communication and Marketing (2003 – 2009), Spokesperson (2009 – 2011), national secretary for Assets (2012 – 2016), First Vice-President of the Parliamentary Group (2012-2015) and President of the Parliamentary Group (2015-2019).
On November 15, 2019, with the holding of UNITA’s 13th Ordinary Congress, Adalberto Costa Júnior, the until then leader of the Parliamentary bench was elected as President of this political party, thus replacing Isaías Samakuva, who left the party leadership after 16 years.
Vice-President Candidate
Abel Epalanga Chivukuvuku was born on 11 November 1957, in Luvemba, Bailundo, Huambo province.
Son of Pedro Sanjando Chivukuvuku and Margarida Chilombo Chivukuvuku, he is married and has three children.
In 1975, he attended secondary school at Liceu Norton de Matos, in Huambo. In 1986, he graduated in military telecommunications and military intelligence service in Germany. In 1988, he graduated in English Language at Cambridge University in the UK.
In 2001, he graduated in International Relations at the University of South Africa (UNISA), and three years later, in 2003, he specialised in Development Administration and Communication at the same university.
In 2006, he also did a Master’s degree in International Relations at the University of South Africa (UNISA).
He joined UNITA in 1974, where for over 30 years he held key positions, including Deputy Head of Military Intelligence (1982-1986).
With the rank of Brigadier, between 1989 and 1991, he was UNITA’s representative at UN and to the Eastern European countries, and later deputy head of its delegation at the Joint Political-Military Commission (CCPM).
In 1992, he was named secretary for External Relations and representative of the party for the elections, held in the same year.
He was also UNITA’s member of National Assembly from 2004 to 2008.
In 2012, he clashed with the UNITA leadership and left the party to found the Broad Convergence for the Salvation of Angola (CASA-CE), where he became its first President.
He remained a member of this political party, to which he was also elected as a member of Parliament, until 2019, when he also clashed with his peers.
Since then he has tried to form a new political party which has not had legal backing.
UNITA’s History
Luanda – The National Union for Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) is the main Angolan opposition party.
It was founded on March 13th 1966, by dissidents of the FNLA and of the GRAE (Government of Resistance of Angola in Exile), of which Jonas Savimbi, founder of UNITA, was Minister of Foreign Affairs.
According to data, Jonas Savimbi and António da Costa Fernandes founded the then guerrilla movement, in Muangai, Moxico province, in the presence of other 200 delegates.
It is the second largest party in Angola, and the main opposition political party in the country. In the elections held in 2012, the party, also known by the acronym of “Galo Negro” (Black Cock), won 32 of the 220 seats in the National Assembly. The name Black Cock comes in reference to the figure of a rooster on its flag.
With the end of the country’s civil war in 2002, following the death of its leader (Jonas Savimbi), UNITA abandoned the armed struggle, converting itself solely into a political party.
In the early 2000s the party was divided, with a wing of dissidents called “Unita-Renovada”, led at the time by Eugénio Manuvakola, and another wing called “Unita”, whose leadership was in charge of a management committee, coordinated by Paulo Lukamba “Gato”.
The situation led the parties to negotiations (mediated by Jorge Valentim) with a view to reunifying the party, and in June 2003 the ninth congress was held, at which Isaías Samakuva was elected president.
Ideological guidance:
The party currently has no dominant ideology, having previously had left-wing nationalism and humanist socialism. It is considered UNITA as a party which seeks to attract people with diverse points of view.
Participation in elections and percentage won:
In 1992 (34.1% of the vote, electing 70 MPs)
In 2008 (10.4% of the vote, electing 16 MPs)
In 2012 (18.7% of the vote, electing 32 MPs)
In 2017 (26.68% of the vote, electing 51 MPs)
Source: Angola Press News Agency