Angola criticised the international community's attitude towards the war-shattered southern African country, saying there was no reason why a donors' conference on its reconstruction has not yet been held.

"We don't understand; the conflict is dragging on in Iraq, yet that country had had a conference, and money; the conflict is continuing in Burundi, but that country has also had a conference and money," Norberto dos Santos a top official from Angola's ruling party, said at the weekend.

"What is happening with Angola?" asked Dos Santos, who is information secretary with the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).

For Angola, which has been at peace since April 4, 2002, "there are always good excuses not to organise an international donors' conference," he said.

Such a conference was called for by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos following the signature of a peace agreement between the army and the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita).

To critics of the lack of democracy and transparency in the management of public funds in Angola, the MPLA information secretary replied: "Nobody can say that democratisation is not a fact and that press freedom is not a fact. President Dos Santos is constantly criticised".

"Transparency? We understand the speeches on good governance and the necessity to create the conditions and mechanisms of transparency, which must not be applied only in Angola," he said.

In spite of the reluctance of the international community to organise a donors' conference, "we shall continue to demand one", declared Norberto dos Santos, because "our country has been completely destroyed ... bridges, roads, towns, schools, hospitals, railway, not to mention the dead".

"No country in the world can act alone in successful reconstruction" after a war, Dos Santos added, recalling that after World War II, "Europe had the Marshall Plan".

The death of former Unita leader Jonas Savimbi in battle in February 2002 signalled the end of Angola's 27-year civil war, which officially came to an end in April that year after claiming some 500 000 lives. – Sapa-AFP.