Word: silva
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...even more serious obstacle to M.P.L.A. rule is the sad state of Angolan civil administration. In southern cities like Huambo and Bié (formerly Silva Poôrto), white Portuguese held virtually every civil job before independence, all the way down to postal clerks and telephone operators. With many trained people gone into exile or into the bush, the problem of staffing a new government may be insuperable...
...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. full control of the strategic Benguela Railway, which spans Angola from the Atlantic to the Zaïre border. The M.P.L.A. then drove eastward to take Silva Porto (now renamed Bie), site of UNlTA's military headquarters. Mean while, M.P.L.A. units in the north easily defeated a motley force of mercenaries (see following story) and F.N.L.A. troops at the Congo River port of Santo Antonio do Zaïre. They were also closing...
...M.P.L.A., led by Cubans and backed by Soviet tanks and advisers, launched a three-pronged assault in southern Angola. Last week the attack force was reported within 100 miles or less of its objectives: Lobito, Angola's biggest port; Huambo, provisional capital of the F.N.L.A.-UNITA government; and Silva Pôrto, UNlTA's headquarters...
UNITA is getting other help as well. American advisers have been seen discreetly circulating around Silva Pôrto. About 1,000 mercenaries, recruited in the U.S., Britain, Portugal and France, also landed in Zaïre last week to report for duty. Even Michael ("Mad Mike") Hoare, legendary leader of the Congo mercenaries in the mid-1960s, appeared to be gearing up for action. From Johannesburg, he sent an "alert notice" to members of the Wild Geese Club, composed of Congo veterans. Hoare said he was offering his services to Zaïre's President Mobutu Sese Seko...
...open fields some 60 km. south of Silva Porto, Savimbi's troops are training. They are a young, green lot, dressed in ragged, tattered civilian clothing supplemented by an equally tattered assortment of military jackets and pants...