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To: VAUGHN who wrote (2297)	12/18/1998 4:32:00 PM
From: Gord Bolton	Respond to of 7235

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.

To: VAUGHN who wrote (2297)	12/22/1998 10:52:00 PM
From: Gord Bolton	Respond to of 7235

Angola's Rival Factions Back at War By Casimiro Siona Associated Press Writer Monday, December 21, 1998; 4:14 a.m. EST LUANDA, Angola (AP) -- When the government lost patience with the delayed Angolan peace process two weeks ago, it sent the army to storm the UNITA rebel group's strongholds -- and made a costly mistake. Army generals boasted that the air and ground offensive would crush the rebels within 48 hours. Instead, the army was caught in a lethal crossfire and retreated with heavy losses. Equally damaging, the attack has enabled UNITA to portray itself as a victim of a war-hungry government, despite its refusal to comply with the country's 1994 peace agreement. The result could be another protracted war in a country that has enjoyed only brief periods of peace since it began fighting Portuguese colonial rule in 1961. The mineral-rich country in southwestern Africa gained independence in 1975. But it quickly plunged into a two-decade civil war between UNITA -- backed by the United States and South Africa -- and the Soviet- and Cuban-backed government. A peace deal in 1991 collapsed the following year when UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi refused to accept his defeat in the country's first elections and returned to war. The United Nations brokered a new peace accord four years ago. But that fragile deal also lies in tatters. ''They can't destroy us,'' UNITA Secretary-General Paulo Lukamba Gato said by satellite telephone. ''They have to deal with us because UNITA is not going away.'' Analysts say the army was startled by UNITA's superior firepower when it moved on Andulo and Bailundo, rural towns about 180 miles southeast of the capital, Luanda. UNITA claimed it had disarmed and demobilized its forces, under U.N. supervision, over the past four years. That proved to be a lie. ''Over the past year UNITA has prepared very well'' for a return to civil war, said Alex Vines, the London-based Angolan desk officer for Human Rights Watch. When the army attacked, it came up against modern tanks, assault vehicles, missile batteries, and sophisticated long-range artillery. UNITA is estimated to have about 30,000 guerilla soldiers hidden in the vast bushland, compared with the government's 100,000-strong army. Despite its smaller size, UNITA, a Portuguese acronym for the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, possesses guerrilla expertise honed during 30 years of hit-and-run war from the bush. The rebels have used their control over more than half the country's diamond trade to amass wealth estimated by the human rights group Global Witness at $3.7 billion. The peace process had been ailing for most of this year as the two sides, driven by personal hatred and rival claims over Angola's oil and diamond wealth, engaged in skirmishes in remote areas. Those clashes have escalated into full-scale warfare, though the fighting has so far remained focused on UNITA's central highland power base. UNITA has kept the army busy in other areas of the country to prevent it from sending reinforcements to the highlands. The army has been further weakened by helping the governments of neighboring Congo and the Republic of Congo, which are fighting their own insurgencies. Still, the rebels are unlikely to win a war. Meanwhile, the United Nations -- which spent $1.3 billion trying to implement the peace deal -- is caught between the two. UNITA blames the United Nations for failing to restrain the government hawks, while army chief Gen. Joao de Matos claims UNITA built up its military force ''under the passive gaze of the United Nations.'' © Copyright 1998 The Associated Press Back to the top