According to the Public Television of Angola (TPA), the politician, who participated on Saturday, in Cabinda, in a rally by UNITA, the largest Angolan opposition party, allegedly violated “aeronautical measures” when boarding a flight of the Angolan airline, TAAG, without the boarding pass.
A fact confirmed to AngoAviação by himself, who, however, guaranteed that the trip was previously agreed with the State protocol services, which would have his boarding pass in his possession.
A protocol officer interviewed by TPA, who said he had been threatened, said that the delegation of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) did not have confirmed tickets, so there would have to be withdrawals, but Abel Chivukuvuku forced entry to the plane and refused to descend.
A TAAG supervisor told Angolan television that the note existed but was dated June 17, describing the situation as “embarrassing”.
To AngoAviação, Abel Chivukuvuku, former leader of UNITA and the CASA-CE coalition (Angolan opposition) who is expected to run in the elections scheduled for August 24 in the UNITA lists, after the Constitutional Court made his new political project PRA-JA unfeasible. Angola, told another version of events.
According to Chivukuvuku, he traveled to Cabinda (northern Angola’s province) on Saturday to participate in a UNITA rally, chaired by the party’s leader, Adalberto da Costa Júnior.
“That same day, I asked my services to deal with the State protocol in order to be able to return to Luanda on the 12th [Sunday], on the afternoon flight,” he said.
On Sunday, the UNITA delegation went to the airport, as he said, around 2:00 pm: “We were installed in the protocol room and they told me that the ticket was with the protocol services and that they would only give me the boarding pass when getting on the minibus”.
Chivukuvuku said that when the bus arrived, it gave priority to the leader of UNITA, hoping to continue on the second trip.
However, “when the bus came back they said the plane was full and we couldn’t board”.
“I demanded to go to the plane and when I got there they asked me for the boarding pass. I said I had the protocol services and decided to go up. I sat down, and when the flight attendant came to talk to me, I told her to request the voucher to protocol services,” he reported, confirming that he did not respond to requests to get off the plane.
The politician also stated that he was the last passenger to board and saw that there were five seats available, questioning the reasons why three other people from his delegation (the chief of staff and two escorts) were prevented from boarding.
“They can do this with other passengers, with Chivukuvuku they will never do it”, he stated.
On the reasons for the incident, he considered that “either there is a lot of disorganization” or the attempt to stop was deliberate.
“Either there is a lot of disorganization or it was politically oriented and they wanted to keep me in Cabinda and that I do not accept that”, stressed Chivukuvuku, adding that he has already asked for a meeting with the Minister of Aviation to ask for explanations about similar situations, in which passengers are prevented to board despite having a ticket and availability of seats.
The air carrier TAAG, questioned by AngoAviação about the alleged disturbances, sent information on the matter for later.
ANGOAVIAÇÃO 