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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gao seng who wrote (230290)	2/23/2002 1:14:10 PM
From: gao seng	Respond to of 769667

Officials confirm Savimbi death Date: Saturday, February 23, 2002 12:49:04 PM EST LUANDA, Angola, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- A reporter for Portuguese state television RTP said he saw Saturday the body of Jonas Savimbi in the first independent account of the Angolan rebel leader's death. Reporter Alves Fernandes said Savimbi's body "sustained 15 bullet wounds, two in his head and the rest spread through his upper body and legs." Fernandes said there is "no doubt" about Savimbi's death. Officials in the capital, Luanda, said they would put Savimbi's remains on display, but they had not done so by late Saturday. Evarist Jose, a spokesman for the Angolan Embassy in Washington, said Savimbi was killed around 3 p.m. local time (10 a.m. EST). Jose said the rebel leader's National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or UNITA, had been losing ground in its ongoing struggle with Angolan government and he predicted the remaining rebels would surrender to the government. "We don't think there is any other way," said Jose. "The Angola government was saying all along there is no reason for the fighting ... it's time to rebuild the country through peaceful means." The U.S. State Department said it could not independently verify claims of Savimbi's death. In an official statement released Friday, the Angolan government condemned Savimbi, saying he was responsible for the death of innocent civilians and appealed to his followers to hand in their weapons and end the conflict. "The government reiterates its intention to implement the Lusaka Protocol ... appeals to all Angolans to keep calm and respect the country's law and order," the statement said. The 1999 Lusaka Protocol, signed by Angola's ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, or MPLA, and UNITA, "aims at fostering true reconciliation among the Angolan people, to be translated into unity, democracy and reconstruction and development for the country." The MPLA and UNITA rebels have been embroiled in a bitter rivalry since before the country's independence from Portugal in 1975. Born in 1934, Savimbi created UNITA in 1966 in an effort to fight Portuguese colonialism, though some of his detractors said he was a stooge for Lisbon. Savimbi was a flamboyant leader whose base was the Ovinbundu tribe in Angola's central and southern plateau. The United States and South Africa supported him in his battle against his communist-backed rivals. The MPLA was supported by Cuban ground forces and received military equipment from the former Soviet Union. When the southern city of Nova Lisboa was about to fall to the MPLA in the autumn of 1975, Savimbi took time from his duties to travel to the local airport to personally thank and shake the hands of departing Portuguese colonial troops. Following independence from Portugal after 500 years of colonial rule, UNITA and MPLA forces engaged in 16 years of fierce conflict that killed up to 300,000 people. The fighting ended temporarily with a 1992 peace deal that was supposed to lead to elections. However, Savimbi and UNITA rejected the election results and the fighting resumed. A 1994 peace accord resulted in the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers to Angola. Nonetheless, the fighting continued and in 1999 the peacekeepers withdrew. Grover Norquist, who helped Savimbi write a series of articles for "Policy Review" during the Reagan administration, condemned the reported killing of Savimbi and compared it to the assassination of Afghan Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Masoud prior to the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington. Masoud was a prominent anti-Taliban leader. "The government there has never shared power with the majority of the population," he said. "And unfortunately, Angola's opportunity to develop into an open and democratic society is a lot weaker today when the government decided to kill Savimbi rather than negotiate with him. "I think there was a real chance for democracy in Angola if Savimbi had come to power or they negotiated a coalition government ... this will heighten the government belief that they can govern with a gun," Norquist added. (With reporting by Carmen Gentile in Washington) newsalert.com.