Posted on 03/30/2002 2:16:22 PM PST by GeneD
JOHANNESBURG, March 30 — Top military commanders from the Angolan government and the nation's Unita rebel movement signed a preliminary cease-fire agreement this afternoon, moving the country an important step closer to ending a civil war that defied many previous attempts at peace.
The agreement, which is expected be formally endorsed in the coming week in the Angolan capital, Luanda, comes barely a month after Jonas Savimbi, the longtime leader of the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or Unita, was killed in an ambush by government commandos.
After initially continuing its offensive, the government unexpectedly halted operations on March 13, and since then, military chiefs from the two sides have been meeting in Luena, a small town in eastern Angola, hundreds of miles from the capital.
The talks apparently intensified in recent days. Early today, representatives of the United Nations, the United States, Russia and Portugal were flown to Luena to observe the culmination of the talks, which have been swathed in secrecy.
This afternoon, with the diplomats looking on, Gen. Geraldo Nunda, the Angolan Army's deputy chief of staff, and Gen. Abreu Kamorteiro, Unita's military commander, initialed the agreement, said Mussagy Jeichande, the United Nations secretary general's envoy to Angola.
"Both sides were completely happy," Mr. Jeichande said in a telephone interview tonight after returning to Luanda from the signing. "We left with the conviction that this time, that this time things will go right." The agreement will now go to the capital.
It is a remarkable turn of events for Angola, a lush country rich in oil and diamonds, and it will be all the more remarkable if the peace actually takes hold.
A Portuguese colony for decades until 1975, the country quickly became a cold war battleground, with the United States and South Africa backing Unita's insurgency against the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, which was backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba.
The conclusion of the cold war, however, did not bring an end to Angola's civil war. The country's first multiparty elections in 1992 ended in bloodshed in the capital and a resumption of combat. An accord signed in 1994 in Lusaka, Zambia, was the closest the country has come to peace since the elections, but the agreement never took firm hold, and all-out war resumed in 1998.
The fighting has devastated the country, driving almost a third of its 13 million people from their homes and inflicting hunger and disease on a scale seen in few other places in the world. Over the past few years, the government, aided by international sanctions against Unita, has made significant military gains against the rebels. Once in control of many towns, Unita has been relegated to guerrilla tactics. And now, without Mr. Savimbi, who was a ruthless and charismatic commander, the rebels have been weakened further.
The fighting has gone on non-stop for 27 years, with estimates of one to two million deaths.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.