Angola's government will go ahead with plans to disarm civilians possessing illegal firearms obtained mostly during the country's 27-year civil war, ANGOP news agency said on Thursday.

The government won approval from the National Disarmament Commission, ANGOP quoted deputy commander of the National Police for Public Order, Paulo de Almeida, as saying.

"The first phase of the process of disarming of civilians in illegal possession of firearms starts and involves awareness, followed by the voluntary surrender of weapons and compulsory disarming," said state-run ANGOP.

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos set up the commission, which ANGOP has said will fight the illegal proliferation of weapons threatening security and national reconciliation after the conflict, which ended in 2002.

Angola is expected to hold a long-delayed parliamentary election on September 5-6 and presidential elections in 2009.

Sub-Saharan Africa's second largest oil producer has not held a national poll since a 1992 presidential race was aborted after the first round, leading to the resumption of the war.

Opposition parties and foreign observers have questioned whether the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) government is willing to risk facing millions of voters who have benefited only marginally from Angola's oil-fuelled economic boom.

There are fears the elections, if delayed again or seen to be illegitimate, could widen the political divide that has existed since the conflict between the MPLA and rebels from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).