Word: unita
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...moderate socialist National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), headed by Jonas Savimbi, 40, which has been backed by Portuguese business interests...
...F.N.L.A. and UNITA are in uneasy alliance against M.P.L.A. The three longstanding Angolan liberation movements have been so violently divided that no one has been able to form a new national government to accept independence. The Organization of African Unity, under the prod of Uganda's Idi Amin, claimed that last-minute efforts had forced a coalition, but no one believed the hollow boast...
Given the gloomy realities in Angola, that did not seem irrational. At least 10,000 people have died in the past year of fighting-more than the total for the entire 13-year guerrilla war for independence. Last week combined F.N.L.A.-UNITA units were closing in on Luanda. To the south, a 1,200-man F.N.L.A.-UNITA force under the command of M.P.L.A. Defector Daniel Chipenda and spearheaded by 150 Portuguese, South African and Rhodesian mercenaries captured the tactically critical towns of Benguela and Lobito. Though the mechanized troops are still 400 miles from Luanda, there were few obstacles left...
...France and China. Roberto, the most Western-oriented of the Angolan liberation leaders, has also reportedly received CIA backing; it is believed that the Administration's request to Congress for a $35 million increase in military aid to Zaïre is mostly ticketed for the F.N.L.A. Until UNITA's military alliance with the F.N.L.A. three months ago, it had the weakest international connections, and its 10,000 troops were poorly armed. Since the alliance, however, Zaïre has been flying in guns and armored vehicles in its U.S.-built C-130 transport planes...
Despite the current advances made by the F.N.L.A. and UNITA troops, it seems unlikely that any force can win control of the country in the near future. The three movements, each of which has specific links to Angola's major tribes, have too little in common for any political alliance to survive long. Earlier agreements sealed with hugs and pledges dissolved into warfare within days. UNITA's Savimbi recently predicted "three years of all-out armed struggle before there is a meaningful outcome...