This Saturday, the Foreign Minister visited the Portuguese military plots at the Santa Ana cemetery in Luanda, highlighting Angola’s “true spirit of reconciliation” that allowed it to pay tribute to the soldiers buried there.
Paulo Rangel, who concludes a two-day visit to Angola this Saturday, stressed Portugal’s “endless gratitude” to the Angolan people and their authorities for authorizing and supporting efforts to restore sections of the Santa Ana cemetery where the remains of more than 450 Portuguese soldiers are buried.
“This shows what the true spirit of reconciliation is, which is to honor the memory of these soldiers who died in the service of their country, regardless of whether they fought in a war that was unjust as was later recognized. But it is clear that these soldiers fulfilled their moral and moral demands. gave their lives for their country,” he stressed.
As for the Angolan authorities, he emphasized their desire and generosity to come to terms with history, which will allow them to pay tribute and treat with dignity the Portuguese buried in this cemetery in Luanda.
Stressing that this is “an act of great dignity” and “an example for the whole world,” Paulo Rangel stressed that Angola is considered in the international community as a country that “is a great supporter of peace.”
“As a Portuguese and for all the Portuguese people, this is a gesture from Angola towards us that marks the 50th anniversary of April 25 and the 50th anniversary of Angolan independence. It is in this cycle that this work will be carried out and completed, this is a very sensitive and touching moment for all of us, in particular for the members of the Armed Forces of both countries,” said the head of Portuguese diplomacy.
He also considered that, by celebrating this fiftieth anniversary, Portugal gave a “sign of reconciliation” not only towards Angola, but also towards other countries that were former colonies and with which it currently maintains bilateral relations of “equals”.
He also recalled that April 25 was not the cause, but the consequence of independence: “There was a struggle for independence, which was also the driving force behind April 25. Democracy and freedom in Portugal were also achieved because there were people in Africa who fought for your freedom.”
“I think that over these 50 years we have a duty to pay tribute to all those who have contributed so that we can be here this Saturday in excellent relations and mutual respect,” said the minister, who concluded the visit by mentioning the Portuguese and Angolans . Homeland with the poem “Mother and Son” by Fernando Pessoa.
The Portuguese Ambassador to Angola, Francisco Alegre Duarte, said that the current site of the cemetery “has little in common with what was found in April 2022”, emphasizing that it is a tribute to all those who fell and were “brothers in arms”, those who fought for Portugal and those who fought for Angola.
For Lugerio Pelinganga, President of the Federation of Former Combatants and Veterans of the Country of Angola, a partner of the League of Combatants of Angola, who has been following the retraining work in this context since the beginning, he also considered this tribute to combatants to be important.
“It helps calm the spirit and improve the combatant’s own relationship of peace and conscience,” he said.
The restoration of the sites in the Santa Ana and Alto das Cruzes cemeteries in Luanda, where the remains of Portuguese military personnel are buried, is part of the strategic structuring program “Preserving Memories” of the League of Combatants (LC), known as “Operation Embondeiro”, launched in 2019.
Work is being carried out at the Alto das Cruzes cemetery, where 123 soldiers killed during the Great War are buried, and at the Santa Ana cemetery, where there are 434 graves of soldiers killed during the Overseas War.
These include the restoration of graves that will be located in the last sections of military sites, paving spaces between graves, restoration of existing monuments and ossuaries, and the exhumation of seven graves in the Alto das Cruces cemetery and 398 graves in the Santa Ana cemetery, leading to the liberation these cemeteries.
The remains of the exhumed graves will be placed in ossuaries, which have since been discovered in ongoing work.
The works were awarded through a competition to the Teixeira Duarte company, their budget is 500 thousand euros.
At a later stage, it is planned to exhume several more graves in various places throughout Angola and transfer them to ossuaries in Luanda or to ossuaries that will be built in some cemeteries where there is a large concentration of graves.
In Angola, according to official data, the remains of 1,548 combatants killed in the service of the Portuguese Armed Forces are mentioned, distributed across 187 sites/cemeteries.
During the colonial war, 800,000 soldiers were mobilized in the Angola, Mozambique and Guinea theaters, 30% of whom were recruited locally.
Of the total casualties, approximately 9,000 were killed and 15,000 were injured or disabled.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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