THE WASHINGTON OFFICE ON AFRICA 110 M ARYLA ND A VENUE , N . E . WASH I NGTON , D .C. 20002 PHONE (202 ) 546 - 7 96 1 FA X ( 202 ) 546- 1545

February 10, 1993

Dear Friend,

The situation in Angola is dire. Having lost the September elections, Jonas Savimbi and his UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) forces plunged the country back into full-scale war. As a result of UNIT A's latest round of attacks, over 16,000 people have been killed, thousands have fled UNITA-held areas, and over 1.4 million people currently face starvation. For almost two weeks now, UNITA has cut off the water supply to Luanda, the capital.

On 31 January 1993, the United Nations extended its mandate in Angola until April. However, the UN is considering a scale-down of its already modest force to below 100, which would leave Angolans at the mercy of UNIT A forces currently poised to take military control over the country. UNIT A has already seized 75 percent of the country, including much of the northern oil and diamond rich areas which has placed a stranglehold on the Angolan economy.

As indicated in the enclosed articles, UNIT A's current military offensive is being heavily assisted by South Africans and Zairians as well as white mercenaries. The Frontline States called an emergency meeting in December to protest South African destabilization tactics, and Namibian authorities recently seized three South African planes attempting to ferry supplies to UNIT A from the northern Namibian town of Rundu.

The Clinton administration has failed to recognize and shore up the newly-elected multiparty government. During his confirmation hearings, the new Secretary of State Warren Christopher agreed to take a cautious "wait and see" attitude towards diplomatic recognition of the elected government.

In an effort to respond to the current crisis in Angola, we urge you to write the new Secretary of State Warren Christopher requesting the Clinton administration to:

* immediately recognize the recently elected Angolan government and establish full diplomatic relations, (continued on next page)

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* isolate Savimbi and UNIT A until there is a definitive renunciation of violence and a commitment to peaceful political competition,

* support funding for a continued and expanded United Nations presence in Angola, adequate to facilitate full implementation of the peace process and runoff elections,

* investigate South African and Zairian intervention, and

* appropriate aid to the Angolan government for economic reconstruction.

You should address your letter to:

Warren Christopher Secretary of State U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20520 and please send WOA a blind copy of your letter.

We also suggest that you call the Department of State comment line to register your recommendations. The phone number is: (202) 647-6575.

Sincerely,

Imani Countess Executive Director

Enclosures: "The Angolan Imperative", Guardian: 21 January 1993 "Angolan Appeals to U.S.", Washington Post: 26 January 1993 "Rebels Sow Path of Terror and Despair Across Angola", Guardian: 2 February 1993 "Time, at Last, to Recognize Angola", Washington Post: 10 February 1993

angolaIkeyplus .293 As war returns to the southern African state, Victoria Brittain puts the case for UN action The Guard; an The Angolan 21 January 1993 imperative

Confusion surrounds the dino. to policemen, local admin­ EANWHILE a 10,000- N THE last week, under the Zaireans now fighting, as the istrators and, this week, army man Unlta army is on impotent gaze of a UN m~ni · Zaire army is itself split in the officers gunned down in two se­ Mthe outskirts oi the Cen­ toring force, Jonas Savlm· country's power-struggle be­ perate incidents on the streets tral Highlands town of Huambo Ibi's Unlta movement, aided tween Savimbi's old ally Presi­ of the capital. where the government last by white mercenaries and ele· dent Mobutu Sese Seko and the A Unita military force of tens week succeeded in ousting Sa­ ments of the South African and emerging new institutions of of thousands has been un­ vimbl from his headquarters Zairean armies, has seized the democracy, and it is unclear leashed_ Far from having been known as The White House. Un­ keys to Angola's economy - di­ whose payroll supports those demobilised under the watchful ila has brought up to Huambo amonds and oil - and taken now fighting in Angola. eye of the UN over the months units from the coastal towns of I the strategic airport of Cuito Meanwhile the dying days of ahead of the election, Unita Benguela and Loblto where , Cuanavale. the Bush administration have retained its full capacity and, as there was house-to-house fight­ For Angolans It Is a sickening provided Unlta with a shameful Its own most senlor military ing before Unita's attacks were repeat of the history which level of moral support, includ­ dissidents warned publicly last repulsed, and is blasting the launched the country into a ing the withholding of diplo­ February when they broke with city with tanks and heavy artil­ war which has devastated matic recognition from the Savimbl, in addition trained a lery. Even the city's hospital every province, brought hun­ elected multi-party government 20,OOO-man secret army In has been abandoned and the dreds of thousands of deaths, In Luanda_ This US policy, Zaire. population has fled . more amputees and mass which is largely responsible for The UN was blind to these Faced with a war on this flights of a destitute population_ the wholesale destruction military preparations which scale, which the Secretary Gen­ For President Clinton it is yet wreaked by Unita in recent allowed the current catastro­ eral's special representative, another foreign policy crisis weeks, has Its roots in George phe, and Western ambassadors Margaret Anstee, failed to pre­ looming under a deadline next Bush's job as director of the in Luanda denled every report dict and is now too discredited week for the UN to admit defeat CIA in 1976 when the US covert of the army in waiting over the to diffuse, the UN Is In a very and quit, or renew Its now action against Angola was at a border, though It is inconceiv­ awkward position. Miss Anstee hopeless mandate. crucial stage. able that US satellite monltor­ has said that. for the UN moni­ Nearly 20 years ago thou­ An undeclared war began in ing did not detect them. toring mission mandate to be sands of South African and Angola within days of the UN's . In the last few weeks Unlta renewed at the end of the Zalrean soldiers, aided by a declaration that tile September has seized most of Angola's month the two sides must have group of British and American election, won by the MPLA, northern diamond mining begun peace talks. This now mercenaries, fought their way was free and fair. Unita's gener­ areas, and yesterday, In a seri­ seems impossible as the fight­ across Angola on behalf of two als pulled out of the new ous psychological blow to the ing escalates. CIA-backed movements, Unita natiorial army and went on the government, took the oil town But a pull-out by the UN will and FNLA, in an attempt to pre­ radio threatening to reduce the of Soyo, although the govern­ mark Boutros Boutros Ghali vent the MPLA taking power at country to rubbie and to turn it ment units regrouped and fight­ with a stamp of unforgettable independence from Portugal. into another Somalia. Immedi­ ing is still going on_ failure and will have serious Today Unlta is strong enough ately thereafter the creeping Oil accounts for 90 per cent of repercussions for the UN role to do most of its own fighting takeover of towns and munici­ Angola's revenue, with one In South Africa's thanks to two decades of US, palities began. third of it coming from Soyo. transformation_ Israeli, Moroccan and South In parallel came the assassi­ Dozens of foreigners linked to , The case for a major UN African military training ami nation of MPLA officials rang­ three big oil companies - Tex­ . peace-keeping mission for equipment. But some of the Ing from well-known white in­ aco Elf and Fina - were evacu­ Angola has not been made by movement's old patrons in tellectuals such as Fernando ated to boats and offshore oil any of the Western powers, South Africa are providing lo­ Marcelino and David Bernar- platforms in the last few days though given the direct respon­ gistical . support and supplies and 17 were captured by Unita_ sibility they bear, with the UN, with trucks coming in from Na­ The economic and political for the daily death and horror mibia's Capri vi Strip, and damage is immense. in Angola today, it should be. dozens of flights have been made illegally into Unlta's con­ trol areas since Savimbl's deci­ sion to reject the September election. TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1993 Angolan State Department officials in Washington confirmed the letter was relayed to them by Angola's Appeals diplomatic missjon in the U.S. cap­ ital, but they declined comment on its contents. U.S.-based company. "I come with To U.S. "The military actions of UNIT A instructions from Washington to say have acquired a terrorist nature," our message is clear: These are our . dos Santos told the Christian Sci­ people and hands off Cabinda, Dr. President Requests ence Monitor. "Terrorism is con­ Savimbi," De Jarnette was quoted demned by the international com­ by Reuter. .Full Diplomatic Ties munity and by the U.N. It's a crime The United Nations is currently ' against humanity. Why don't they trying to arrange cease-fire talks in .;declare the radical military wing [of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Both sides By Paul Taylor . UNITAl as a terrorist organiza­ have agreed in principle to a truce, Washington Post Foreign Service , tion?" but it has proven impossible in re­ PRETORIA, South Africa, Jan. In the interview, dos Santos de­ cent months to actually get them to 25-Angolan President Jose ~:fended his government's practice of the negotiating table. Eduardo dos Santos has called on :distributing weapons to civilians, Today in Pretoria, an Angolan the United States to normalize re­ ":'saying the resumption of armed envoy who was here to meet with lations with his war-torn country :~ hostilities had caught his army with- South African officials released a and asked that the United Nations two-page document that is reputed brand the UNIT A rebel movement to be a. two-month-old UNIT A a terrorist organization. strategy memo. It spells out the In a letter last week intended military and diplomatic steps for President Bill Clinton, dos San­ needed to create a new independent tos said he believed the failure of nation of Southern Angola, which the Bush administration to grant would be made up largely of Ovim­ full diplomatic recognition to his bundu, the tribe from which UNIT A government following Angola's draws most of its support. The new national election last September nation would include the southern may have emboldened the National half of the country, plus a small Union for the Total Independence piece of the northern province of Lunda North, where UNITA forces of Angola (UNIT A) to restart the currently control the diamond civil war. mines. "To maintain a position which A UNITA spokesman in Wash­ does not recognize Angola means to ington, Jardo Muekalia, said today favor UNITA," dos Santos told the he knows of no such document and Christian Science Monitor in an in­ that UNIT A does not favor a par­ terview published today. tition arrangement. The appeal, part of the formerly The United States chose not to Marxist government's effort to iso­ PRESIDENT DOS SANTOS establish full diplomatic relations late UNITA diplomatically, comes ... seeks normal relations with U.S. with Angola after it won its inde­ at a time when the rebel movement pendence from Portugal in 1975 be­ has been gaining ground militarily. out sufficient troop strength and co­ cause the communist, anti-colonial '. UNITA now controls 70 percent of hesion to defend itself. party that seized power without the Angola countryside, more than Meanwhile, the head of the U.S. holding a promised election-dos it did at any stage of the civil war, Liaison Office in Angola, Edmund Santos's Popular Movement for the which raged from 1975 through De Jarnette, flew to the oil-rich Liberation of Angola (MPLA)-was 1991. The rebels have cut off the northern province of Cabinda over backed by Soviet money and Cuban water supply to Luanda, the An- the weekend, where he reportedly troops. . golan capital; seized the oil-produc­ warned UNITA leader Jonas ' ing city of So yo; and stood Its Savimbi not to attack the oil fields, ground against government bomb­ the largest of which is operated by ing attacks aimed at expelltng It the Cabinda Gulf Oil Co . Inc., a from Huambo, the county's second . most populous city. TheGuardian Tuesday February 2 1993 Rebels sow swath of terror and despair across Angola

fensive which began after the Cacula town. She does not Disease stalks rebels refused to accept the know who owned it; she arrived results of last September's elec­ at the abandoned building as a Luanda as rebels tions. In towns mostly or com· teenager one day in 1983, after pletely taken over by Unita. walking for two days. cut water mains such as Ndalatando and Caxito, The war had driven her fam· reports of rapes, and of system· Eyewitness i1y from their land. Her father and threaten to atic killings of whites and ...... disappeared, her mother has people of mixed race. nlter since died. Brothers and sisters hit power supply through with each new trickle Chris McGreal have dispersed to the cities, ex· of refugees. cept for a young sister who To add to the misery of every· in southern Angola shares the dwelling. Vlctorla Brittain day life, prices rose sharply yes­ They had seen Unita rebels terday after a drastic devalua­ OSA BONIFACIO'S many times before, at war and daughter never had a ITH a million people fac· tion which cut the kwanza to in the is months of peace. But Wing starvation as war bites about one fourteenth of its roof over her head. She they thought they had seen the lived with her mother deeper across the Angolan value. The government an· R last of the fighting. countryside, the 2.5 million in­ nounced the devaluation on in the comer of a lone rural shop gutted by war and reno When it returned earlier this habitants of the capital, Lu· Sunday, acknowledging the dered almost indistinguishable month, there was no warning. anda, have started their second deep economic damage caused from many of the other con· "There weren't any soldiers week without water, and now by Unita's seizure of first the crete shells for miles around. here, some policemen, but the face a threat from Unita rebels diamond· producing regions and A roof might have saved soldiers had all gone to Lu­ to sabotage electricity supplies then, two weeks ago, by the cap· Mimi, aged three, but there was bango," Rosa sald. "I heard the as weU. ture of part of the oil fields. nothing to stall the mortar that explosions_ I was outside col­ At least 16,000 people have Rebel leaders have vowed to soared silently overhead and lecting water and I put the been killed during the latest ruin the economy and reduce announced its presence as it water down carefully and went Unita attacks according to Angola, potentially one of the stole the child's life. to look for Mimi. I didn't think United Nations sources. Tens of· richest countries in Africa, to thousands of people are in the level of Somalia. Rosa Bonifacio lost her only anything could have happened daughter to Angola's Unita flight from towns taken over by Philippe Borel, head of the to her_ Unita, which the government World Food Programme in rebels. The attack served no 'i'he men that killed her purpose beyond terror and says is now being resupplied Angola, sald ruined infrastruc­ walked into the room_ I was from South Africa and Zaire for ture, danger and lack of permis­ harassment, a single contribu­ covered in Mimi's blood. They tion to the renewed destruction the biggest offensive of its sion to fly over Unita-controlled didn't say anything. I was too history. territory meant he was only de­ of a region of Angola where scared to accuse them. Then there is little left to destroy. Destruction of factories, hos­ livering one-sixth of the aid dis­ they went away." pitals and homes dwarfs the pre­ tributed before fighting wors­ The road from tiny Cacula, The attack. was not a con- south to the Namibian border vious 16 years of South African ened last month. and north to embattled Huam­ certed effort to take the town. and United States-alded war. "More than one million bo, is an almost unbroken The rebels did not even enter iL And the worst is yet to come people - one-tenth of the popu­ chain of ruined buildings. Their k.llling was limited to a according to a government gen­ lation - now face malnutri­ The destruction began as the handful of innocents on the out­ eral, Higino Carneiro, who over tion," he said. South Africans smashed their skirts, easy targets with rela­ the weekend warned Angolans Heavy fighting was reported way through Angola in the tives and friends who will "to prepared themselves for the yesterday from south, central 1970s. It is being continued with spread the word that Unita is worst". Speaking after the fail­ and northern Angola, as Unita a vengeance today by Unita. still around and still to be ure of the latest peace talks in launched new bids for control Past the colonial homes and feared. Addis Ababa, Gen Carneiro of the lowns of Menongue, razed villages, clumps of people sald: "We came prepared to Huambo and Saurimo. cling to their belongings. Some sign a ceasefire immediately, Meanwhile, at the United have just arrived, fleeing the but the Unita delegation .. . Nations in New York, the for­ renewed terror on the land to didn't show the minimum inter­ eign m.inister, Venacio de which they had braved the est in accepting peace." Moura, released documents giv­ mines to return. Others stayed Epidemics threaten :'uanda, ing the registration details of next to the road for years, find­ where people are increasingly three South African planes ing a modicum of comfort in using untreated water sold on seized by the Namibian authcri­ numbers. the streets. Over the weekend ties at the airport in Rundu, Some in the international residents were warned it would near the Angolan border. The community still believe the be another month before the three were among 14· planes rebel leadership favours peace sabotaged pumping station which have been monitored and democracy, although the could be repaired. Twenty-mile participating in the lliegal numbers are diminishing. queues of cars stretch from the resupply of Unita, the minis,d Around Cacula, however, An­ outskirts of the capi tal to the said. Other documents released golans do not doubt the cost Un­ nearest water treatment plant by the minister named 16 SOL: h ita is prepared to inflict in its at Kicuchi. Africans involved in the suppl· blind pursuit of power. The capital is swollen with flights and gave details of ,> Rosa Bonifacio's shop-turned­ refugees from the towns taken ca n om ccr~ . home is set a mile or so from by Unita in the th ree·mom:: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1993

Time, at Last, to Recognize Angola A U.S.-brokered agreement two years ago ap­ Though both sides were brutal, Mr. Savimbi swore peared to promise Angola the peace it deserves up and down that he was the good democrat. after decades of bloody bush war. Yet Washington American conservatives na·ively took him at his has continued to shun diplomatic ties with the word. So did the United Nations, which unwisely formerly Marxist regime in Luanda. It's time to end failed to disarm both sides before it conducted the anomaly. elections, a fact Secretary General Boutros Bou­ Under the agreement, right~wing rebels led by tros-Ghali now-regrets. Jonas Savimbi pledged to surrender their arms if But that does not exonerate Mr. Savimbi, who, the leftist Government submitted to free elections. scenting defeat, would rather kill Angolans than Mr. Savimbi boasted that he could easily beat take his chances in a runoff. Nevertheless, even as President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. But when bal­ rebels seize oil fields and sabotage Luanda's water lots were counted 'last September in what foreign supply, Mr. Boutros-Ghali would set an April 30 observers found to be a fair election, Mr. dos Santos deadline for withdrawing all U.N. forces. led With 49.6 percent, and his ruling party with 58 Only the Angolans themselves can finally settle percent in parliamentary voting. this conflict, but Washington can help level the . Instead · of competing in the required runoff battlefield by recognizing Angola. Cold-war calcula­ when Mr. dos Santos fell short of a majority, Mr. tions aside, there never was much sense in denying , Savimbi cried foul and resumed his rebellion. Since an embassy to an oil-producing country whose . the first-round vote, an estimated 10,000 Angolans major customer was America. Nor does it make have been killed and a million made homeless. sense for the U.N. to walk away from a mess it Granted, there are no . angels on these barri­ helped create. cades. When Portugal abruptly freed Angola in If peace talks fail, as they probably will, the 1975, Mr. dos Santos's party won a bloody scramble U.N. could reasol1ably post monitors along frontiers for power, and Mr. Savimbi - then an ardent to check any arms-smugglin~ to Mr. Savimbi from Maoist - retreated to .his ethnic base. A bad war South Africa. All these steps can betaken without became worse when Moscow and Havana armed enormous costs or major deployments~ By support­ Luanda while Washington joined hands with South ing them, a new American Administration can Africa in gettIng weapons to Mr. Savimbi via Zaire. make plain it has not forgotten Angola's ordeal.