Word: lunda
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THEY ARE CALLED GARIMPEIROS, A Portuguese word for a prospector or trafficker in illegal treasure. Lured by the promise of quick wealth, an estimated 50,000 Angolans, Zairians, South Africans, Belgians and even a few Americans have surged into Angola's remote Lunda Norte province. From the air, they look like a colony of ants tunneling aimlessly into sunbaked moonscape. On the ground, the diggers, shirtless, sometimes laboring with a pistol in one hand and a shovel in the other, are scrambling to get rich...
...easy money. Legislation enacted in November permitting Angolans to trade in uncut diamonds was intended to soak up rough stones that people had illegally hoarded down through the years. Instead, because the move made it vastly easier to unload illegally dug diamonds, it further spurred the stampede to Lunda Norte. Cafunfo, a town of 5,000 on the Cuango River, mushroomed to 50,000 people, who live mainly in corrugated-iron shacks. "It's like the Wild West," says Gallegos, who visited the region recently. "The law of the gun prevails...
...continuing struggle with rival liberation groups (see following story), relations between Luanda and the Shaba rebels remain somewhat uneasy. After last year's invasion, the rebels?who call themselves the Congolese National Liberation Front (F.N.L.C.)?began to recruit new members in refugee camps of Zaïrian-born Lunda tribesmen inside Angola, much to Luanda's annoyance. Understandably alarmed by the growth of this potentially unruly force in a civil war-torn country, Neto's government closed down the F.N.L.C. office in Luanda last January. Apparently with some reluctance, it also allowed some of its Cuban advisers to visit...
Zaïre is a classic example. Almost from the day of its birth in 1960, the country was plunged into a nightmare of mutiny, rebellion and bloodshed. The most dangerous incident was the attempted secession of Katanga, homeland of more than 1.5 million Lunda tribesmen, who also live in northwestern Zambia and eastern Angola. The rebellion was led by Mo'ise Tshombe, whose followers were seeking to preserve their mineral wealth from their enemies, the government in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) and the Bak-ongo tribes of the lower Congo. In those days the secessionists were thought to be rightists...
...According to villagers in the area, at least one refueling vehicle came from Angola packed with jerricans of gasoline. From time to time, cars would stop, allowing passengers to trade loot for food with cheering Zambian villagers; many of the local residents, like the rebels, are members of the Lunda tribe. Impromptu food stands, selling fresh pineapples, corn meal and other staples, sprang up along the line of retreat. Some of the food was given away, but quite a few villagers were seen sporting new T shirts or shoes. There was a holiday air about the retreat. Even the missionaries...