Angolan Army-Rebel Clashes Continue
By Casimiro Siona
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, December 29, 1998; 4:40 p.m. EST
LUANDA, Angola (AP) -- The Angolan government army said it drove
back an offensive Tuesday by rebel troops outside the central highlands city
of Kuito, killing 30 rebels and capturing two armored vehicles during a
four-hour battle.
The attack by the UNITA rebel group had targeted Cunhinga, 18 miles
north of Kuito, Brig. Simione Mucume told state radio RNA.
After they were pushed back by government troops, the rebels shelled
outlying suburbs of Kuito with long-range artillery, killing 10 civilians,
including a child, Mucume said.
There was no independent confirmation of the report.
Kuito, which lies 300 miles southeast of the capital Luanda, has been cut off
by a rebel siege since the southwest African country's civil war restarted
Dec. 4, ending a four-year peace process.
The International Red Cross said it could not resume aid flights to Kuito,
where 30,000 displaced people have joined the local population of about
100,000, because the rebels were shelling the airport.
But an aid fight will head to Huambo, the country's second-largest city. It is
80 miles west of Kuito.
Huambo was reportedly quiet, although the army and rebels were said to be
fighting in the surrounding countryside.
The army also said UNITA launched an attack on Cubal, 60 miles west of
Huambo, and that eight local police officers were missing from the battle.
The United Nations is monitoring a 1994 peace accord that ended a
two-decade civil war between UNITA and the government. It has been
unable to stop the resumption of fighting, which it blames on UNITA.
UNITA -- a Portuguese acronym for the National Union for the Total
Independence of Angola -- has refused to yield control of areas under its
control and has maintained a hidden army, according to the United Nations.
© Copyright 1998 The Associated Press |
