Word: unita
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...quite a reception for a little-known African rebel leader who has been unable to achieve power in ten years of fighting. Nonetheless, Jonas Savimbi, head of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), has become a test case for hard-line conservatives on the Administration's commitment to the so-called Reagan Doctrine. The President affirmed that policy a year ago in his State of the Union address. "We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives on every continent, from Afghanistan to Nicaragua, to defy Soviet-supported aggression," Reagan stated. "Support...
...commit himself to a specific offer of aid. For his part, Shultz noted the difficulty of devising a formula for Angola that would be "effective." Nonetheless, word leaked out last week that the Administration was prepared to send covert aid to Savimbi. Various Congressmen have also proposed several UNITA aid bills, including one calling for $27 million in overt military assistance and another for $41 million...
...began to change after UNITA, backed by CIA funding, lost a power struggle to the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (M.P.L.A.), a Marxist party that continues to run Angola with the help of some 30,000 Cuban troops and 1,500 Soviet military advisers. From his base in the southeastern third of the country, Savimbi turned from a Maoist into what he called "a New Testament socialist." Recently, he has portrayed himself in terms that U.S. conservatives find even more appealing. "The American people are again interested in helping those who are fighting for freedom," Savimbi told TIME...
Savimbi also argues that U.S. aid of another sort helps bolster the current Angolan regime. The M.P.L.A. government earns $2 billion a year in oil revenues from Chevron Corp. through Chevron's subsidiary Gulf Corp., which owns a 49% interest in Angola's Cabinda Gulf Oil Co. Says one UNITA leader: "Gulf Oil has been subsidizing the Soviet and Cuban occupation of Angola." Although the U.S. has long supported and encouraged the American industrial presence in Angola, Crocker last week issued a warning to U.S. companies: "They are in the middle of a war zone. They should be thinking about...
Covert American aid to the anti-Communist rebels in Afghanistan, which amounts to a reported $470 million this year, has little opposition in Congress. But there is much resistance to getting the U.S. involved in Angola, where a Marxist government is being opposed by the UNITA troops of Jonas Savimbi. He is expected to get a warm reception at a visit to the White House this week. The State Department, as well as many Congressmen, remains opposed to any open U.S. aid to the rebels. The drawbacks: it could link the U.S. to the government of South Africa, which...