Angola Rebels Broaden Offensive
Friday, 18 December 1998
L U A N D A , A N G O L A (AP)
REBEL FORCES shelled a second city in Angola on Friday,
apparently to prevent the government from sending more troops
to defend a city under siege in a neighboring province.
The attack on Malange, 200 miles east of the capital Luanda,
began during the night and continued into the morning, the
private Radio Eclesia reported.
Shells landed less than half a mile from the provincial governor's
palace in the center. Several wounded people, apparently
civilians, were arriving at the city hospital, the radio said.
The attack came as government forces in Malange reportedly
were preparing to move 180 miles south to Bie province to try to
break a rebel siege of the government-held city of Kuito.
Battles have focused on Kuito, Bie's capital, since fighting
between the government and UNITA rebels resumed two weeks
ago, ending a four-year peace agreement in the southwest
African country. Prior to the U.N.-brokered accord, the two sides
had fought for two decades following the country's 1975
independence from Portugal.
Also Friday, attacks were reported in other parts of the country,
suggesting an attempt by UNITA to disrupt army strategy.
UNITA is the Portuguese acronym for the National Union for the
Total Independence of Angola.
In Benguela province, 250 miles south of Luanda, unidentified
gunmen ambushed a bus, killing 11 people and wounding 10
others, state-controlled daily Jornal de Angola reported.
Other areas, including Luena in the east and Uige in the
northwest, also were said to be tense, said Kris Janowski,
spokesman in Geneva for the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees.
The agency estimates 100,000 people have been displaced by the
fighting in the past two weeks.
The U.N. World Food Program on Thursday flew 34 tons of food
into Luena, where there were some 30,000 displaced, adding to
the estimated 100,000 people already there. |
