Word: za
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Luanda radio announced the "glorious capture" of the key Atlantic ports of 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...
...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...
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...
Suicidal Move. For its part, the M.P.L.A. pledged to stop at the Zaïre border, hoping to deter Zaïre's President Mobutu Sese Seko-a strong supporter of the F.N.L.A.-from making a retaliatory move against the oil-rich northern enclave of Cabinda. In any case, the M.P.L.A. has stationed 2,000 of its best troops in Cabinda, helped by some Cubans and armed with Soviet T-54 tanks. Thus it is unlikely that Mobutu could overrun Cabinda even if he tried...
Such a deal would probably have the support of moderate leaders like Zambia's Kenneth Kaunda and perhaps even Zaïre's Mobutu, who are worried that an outright M.P.L.A. victory would give the Soviet Union too much influence in Angola and the rest of central Africa. A compromise would also, of course, spare the country more violence and bloodshed. At week's end some estimates of the death toll in the civil war had risen to as high as 100,000-a devastatingly large figure for a country with only 5.5 million people...