Word: unita
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...Chad, Libya and Niger recognized the M.P.L.A. government; 22 African states-only two short of a majority-have now endorsed the leftist regime headed by Agostinho Neto. So far, no nation has recognized either the F.N.L.A. or its coalition partner, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), which are actively backed by the U.S., South Africa and Zaïre. The current chairman of the O.A.U., Idi Amin of Uganda, as well as such influential African leaders as Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta and Zambia's Kenneth Kaunda, still hope to promote a government of national...
Against this backdrop, there were hints that Neto might be prepared to offer UNlTA's Joseph Savimbi a share in a two-way coalition government. Neto gets along well with Savimbi, and such a move might avoid further bloodshed, since UNITA commands enough tribal support in the south to deny the M.P.L.A. outright victory for some months and possibly longer...
...large, those assessments have been borne out on the battlefield. Al though UNITA troops are given good marks for their fighting ability, Savimbi's administration and logistics are a shambles. UNITA battle claims are of ten embarrassing when not ludicrous. As for the F.N.L.A., its military is so oblivious of civilian suffering that starvation has become widespread. One mercenary who has been to Ambriz, F.N.L.A. Leader Holden Roberto's operations capital of the moment, reported that civilians were evacuated from the town and then simply dumped in the bush and left to their own devices...
Shootout in Huambo. The F.N.L.A.-UNITA coalition is one purely of military necessity - and a tenuous one at that, since the two groups have strong tribal rivalries. The F.N.L.A. is almost to tally Bakongo, UNITA almost totally Ovimbundu. In 1961, at the start of the guerrilla war for independence in north ern Angola, the Bakongo savagely murdered and mutilated hundreds of the Ovimbundu tribe, which has never forgotten or forgiven...
When Roberto's plane was late arriving for ceremonies inaugurating the two groups' joint government in Huambo last month, UNITA airport officials, tired of waiting, turned off the runway lights and went home. A furious Roberto was forced to return to Kinshasa. Recently there have been fistfights, stone-throwing and open fighting between soldiers of the two allies. In one Shootout in Huambo two weeks ago, 25 were killed. Although UNITA and F.N.L.A. commanders meet to plan strategy, there is no joint field command, and no soldier from one movement will take an order from an officer...