Twenty-seven years of life in the bush came to a violent end last month. Long-time Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi was ambushed and killed by troops of Angola's MPLA government. This edition of examines the impact Savimbi's death may have on ending nearly three decades of civil war.
Since Angola's independence from Portugal in 1975, Jonas Savimbi, the charismatic leader of the UNITA movement, waged war against the government in Luanda. His fight for one cause or another attracted major international supportfrom China for his anti-colonialism ? and from the United States and the white minority regime in South Africa for his anti-communism. As a testament to his popularity with conservative elements in the United States, Savimbi was received at the Reagan White House in a manner befitting a head of state.
However, when the Cold War ended, analysts explained that the ideological struggle between the then Marxist MPLA and anti-Communist UNITA, degenerated into a brutal fight over Angola's vast oil and diamond wealth. Over the last decade, Savimbi consistently rejected all peaceful attempts to end the conflict whether by UN-supervised elections in 1992 or the Lusaka peace process, initiated in 1994. Meantime, more than half a million Angolans have died and millions have been displaced.
According to Gerald Bender, Angola expert and professor of international relations at the University of Southern California, Savimbi had no one but himself to blame for his demise. Mr. Bender said, "Savimbi's ambition to be president of Angola at all costs, not only hurt the country, but hurt his party, hurt his people the Ovimbundo, and ultimately himself."
Jardo Muekalia is the former UNITA representative in Washington. While deeply saddened by Savimbi's death, Mr. Muekalia acknowledged a unique opportunity exists for peace. At the same time, Mr. Muekalia deplores what he says is the government's continued military pursuit of UNITA leadership in the field.
"Now that he's not here," Mr. Muekalia said, "we'd certainly like to see the government changing its tone, changing its attitude and rise to the level of being a government for all Angolans. If that is done, I believe indeed that this can be an opportunity for peace. But, if on the other hand, the witch-hunt continues, then we are in for trouble. This will have been a wasted opportunity because what will happen is that all the regional commanders will be afraid to show up anywhere because the policy is simply to kill everybody. So, in that situation I do not think that this may represent a new beginning."
News of Jonas Savimbi's death coincided with a previously scheduled visit to the White House last month by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. President dos Santos told President Bush and other senior officials that Angola wanted a mutual cessation of hostilities, but he stopped short of declaring a unilateral cease-fire.
He reiterated this position in an interview with VOA's Portuguese-to-Africa service. "A government NEVER declares a unilateral cease-fire ? the government has constitutional responsibilities and obligations to maintain order and protect its citizens," he said. "So, as long as there are armed men who are taking military actions, how can the government declare a unilateral cease-fire? I think it would be absurd."
However, while the White House and State Department did not insist on a unilateral cease-fire, they did press President Dos Santos to give the UNITA military and political leadership a chance to lay down their arms without fear of being attacked.
U.S. Ambassador to Angola, Christopher Dell, said the onus is on the Angolan government to create conditions conducive for UNITA's re-integration into the Angolan political process. Mr Dell said, "The government has said that it would welcome all the UNITA elements to return to the Lusaka peace process to put an end to the war once and for all. I think that beyond that, it's an obligation on the part of the government to do more than just welcome them but actually facilitate the conditions which the remaining UNITA forces operating in the field have the conditions so they can lay down their arms and come home as it were. It's very important that the government actually give them the space that they can pull themselves together and create the conditions for putting a definitive end to the war. We're not calling for a unilateral cease-fire or anything like that on the side of the government, simply not to be aggressively hunting them down."