Angolan opposition party concedes election

An Angolan opposition party recently accepted its landslide defeat in the country’s parliamentary elections last weekend, reports The Associated Press. The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), a former rebel group led by Isaias Samakuva (above) that turned to violence against the government when it lost in elections 16 years ago, made the announcement at a news conference on Monday. The results were not even close, with President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’ party (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) receiving 80 percent of the vote. His party has ruled Angola since the country gained independence from Portugal in 1975. The nation last held elections in 1992; UNITA did not accept its loss in that election and turned to fighting, resulting in a civil war that ended in 2002. This weekend’s elections were criticized earlier in the week by European observers for being disorganized, but voting itself was generally peaceful.

U.N. threatens to stop aid to Darfur

Violence in Sudan’s Darfur region is too out of control for the United Nation’s World Food Program, reports the BBC. It’s so bad that the group has threatened to stop sending aid to parts of the region if the security doesn’t get better. “It has become too dangerous for our drivers to continue doing their jobs,” said Rachid Jaafar, a group spokesman. Just this year, 43 drivers and 69 trucks went missing after being attacked by armed rebels, he said. This is a critical time for needy families in the region who have been suffering over five years of a notoriously violent civil war that has resulted in the deaths of 300,000 people and more than 2 million being displaced. September is the month when food collected last year runs out ahead of this year’s harvest. The almost 10,000 joint U.N. and African Union peacekeeping troops do help the World Food Program by providing security, but they don’t have enough troops to secure all food convoys, Jaafar said. Black Africans revolted against the mostly Arab government in 2003 alleging discrimination.