Word: savimbi
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Outside observers, nurtured on Soviet propaganda that UNITA did not exist and that its head, Jonas Savimbi, was actually selling fish in a Zambian market, were stunned at the levels of relative popularity for the three movements--at such great variance to the propaganda campaign of the more substantially foreign-backed parties. Inside Angola however, that reality could be more readily comprehended. Both MPLA and FNLA had launched their guerrilla struggle in the early 1960's against the Portuguese from military bases in neighboring countries, MPLA in Zambia, FNLA in Zaire. The tactic of occasional forays across the border into...
From his mobile headquarters in southern Angola's arid wastelands, UNITA Leader Jonas Savimbi sent out a recorded message of defiance. "We are to continue our struggle," said Savimbi, "because we cannot accept a minority regime imposed on our people by Cuban troops and Russian tanks." Aided by hidden arms caches, Savimbi's guerrillas last week ambushed several Soviet trucks and troop carriers. With seemingly solid support from the 2 million-strong southern Ovimbundu tribe (out of a total Angolan population estimated to be 5.5 million), Savimbi has the potential to thwart M.P.L.A. control over nearly half...
Crucial Exports. To dilute support for Savimbi, the Luanda government last week made friendly overtures to its opponents' key backers. In private messages sent to Zambia and ZaïreĤ, Neto said that in exchange for recognition, he would allow his two neighbors to resume transport of their crucial copper exports over the Benguela Railway...
Defeat Conceded. Neither Savimbi nor Roberto had any response to Neto's victory claims. But UNITA Foreign Affairs Secretary Jorge Sangumba, in a statement from the Zambian capital of Lusaka, acknowledged that UNITA had been defeated on the field of battle. He vowed to fight on, however, and said that UNITA was already organizing guerrilla-warfare cells throughout southern Angola. But barring a direct confrontation of the M.P.L.A. and its battle-hardened Cubans with some 5,000 South African regulars dug in around the Cunene River hydroelectric complex just inside Angola, large-scale fighting appeared to be over...
...rout began early last week when M.P.L.A. units overran Huambo (pop. 65,000), Angola's second largest city and the provisional capital of the F.N.L.A.-UNITA government. Despite UNITA claims that it had mounted a tough fight, Savimbi's forces had actually evacuated the city several hours before the M.P.L.A. entered it, possibly to avoid civilian casualties in an armed confrontation. A day later, Luanda radio announced the "glorious capture" of the key Atlantic ports of Lobito and Benguela, which with the capture of the east central Angolan town of Luso late in the week gave the M.P.L.A...