Word: unita
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Despite such successes, the M.P.L.A. was far less sure of achieving genuine control of the country. The Western-backed factions that had been outgunned in conventional warfare-the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (F.N.L.A.)-were regrouping into guerrilla bands...
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...
...UNITA was said to be carrying out a desperate contingency plan-tearing up the Benguela rails and burying them in order to delay the M.P.L.A. from putting the railroad back in operation. That scheme would not only hamper Angola's economic recovery but also inflict more punishment on Zambia and Zaïre. Both countries have been strong UNITA supporters and depend heavily on the railroad for copper exports...
...rout of UNITA raised the ominous prospect of a border war between the combined M.P.L.A.-Cuban forces and the South Africans, who have now withdrawn to a 1,000-mile-long strip stretching up to 35 miles deep inside Angola. British Foreign Secretary James Callaghan warned late last week that the world faces the prospect of a "terrible war in southern Africa" unless urgent action is taken to prevent it. The most acute danger, he indicated, would be "hot pursuit" by the Cubans into South West Africa, following a successful firefight with the South African troops in the border area...
...Britain, France, Portugal, South Africa and the U.S. have signed on to serve with the pro-Western forces. As of last week, perhaps 300 mercenaries were fighting with the hard-pressed F.N.L.A. forces in northern Angola, and an estimated 1,000 more, plus 2,500 Portuguese-Angolan volunteers, with UNITA troops in the south. But the romantic dream of glory that many of them had before going to Angola is not reality-at least according to the bitter tales told by British "meres" who have escaped from this singularly unglamorous war. "The whole thing is a gigantic con trick," complained...