ANGOLA UNITA threatens peace process Suffering from a substantial reduction in direct South African support as a result of the tripartite agreement between South Africa, Cuba and Angola, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) has been further weakened by revelations of abuses and atrocities carried out by its leadership.
Continuing UNITA military activities have threatened the implementation of the tripartite peace accord. In the first three months of 1989, the joint commission set up to patrol the Angola-Namibia border and ensure the cessation of hostilities was unable to function in UNITA-controlled eastern areas and UNITA continued military operations in Angola. However, a 'general offensive' announced in early February was abandoned after five days, and Angolan forces reported substantial victories against UNITA.
Angolan government sources said that on 8 and 9 February South African troops crossed into Angola in support of UNITA. The incursion was repulsed and 40 South African troops were killed.
Although UNITA was not party to the tripartite agreement, signed in December last year, South Africa undertook to stop supporting it militarily. However, UNITA continued to rely on rear bases in the eastern Kavango and western Caprivi regions of South African-occupied Namibia. The United States also continued to support UNITA, channelling supplies through Zaire. However, there were reports that UNITA was facing military difficulties, and that it feared that US support would not compensate for the loss of South African military and logistical back-up when the South African forces pulled out of Namibia.
These setbacks for UNITA led to increasing disarray in its ranks. According to the Angolan government, large numbers of UNITA members handed themselves over to government forces under a new amnesty law which took effect in February. Angolan officials met with UNITA personnel to explain the amnesty, but discounted reports that they were preparing to negotiate with UNITA.
Atrocities Backed by South Africa and the United States, UNITA has been presented as a force fighting for 'democracy' and its leader, Jonas Savimbi, has enjoyed access to Western leaders, including President Reagan. Its activities in Angola have given it a reputation for brutality and barbarism as a result of its indiscriminate attacks and ruthless intimidation of local people. Rape, torture, kidnapping and forced labour have been used by UNITA as methods of controlling the local population.
This year UNITA's image has been further impaired by disclosures by ex-members of the group. In February it was revealed that Tito Chingunji, UNITA's 'foreign secretary', had been detained and tortured at UNITA headquarters in southern Angola for disagreeing with Savimbi. It was also disclosed that one of his predecessors had been executed.
More damaging information was revealed in March by Fred Bridgland, Savimbi's biographer, and until then one of his strongest supporters in Britain. Bridgland gave details of people being burnt alive at UNITA headquarters and the detention and torture of senior officials. Two ex-UNITA members also spoke out, detailing further executions and public burnings of dissidents. The US State Department said that it would 'investigate the allegations' but indicated that military aid to UNITA would continue.
UNITA has also been responsible for atrocities in Namibia. Last year, members were involved in cattle rustling, killings and kidnappings.
Tool of Pretoria UNITA, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, was formed by Jonas Savimbi in 1966 when he broke away from other organisations fighting Portuguese colonialism in Angola. Savimbi made a secret deal with the Portuguese authorities whereby they agreed to leave UNITA alone as long as it actively opposed the MPLA liberation movement.
When Portuguese colonial rule collapsed in 1975, UNITA allied itself with a South African invading force and tried to capture Angola's capital city, Luanda. The attempt failed — South African troops withdrew to Namibia and UNITA disintegrated into roving bands which resorted to pillage.
The group was resuscitated by the South African Defence Force, which trained and equipped it, and UNITA became a tool of the South African destabilisation campaign. Operating from headquarters in the remote, underpopulated Kuando Kubango province, and supplied from across the Namibian border, UNITA bands fanned out over eastern, central and later northern Angola, attacking villages, agricultural and industrial enterprises and transport networks, and indiscriminately laying landmines.
