Mr. Camara,
Thank you for this one. A couple of weeks ago i watched Fidel Castro's
speech after Cuito Cuanavale. Even though the man is seen as a dictator by
the West, i believe they respect him. For if there is a leader who cherishes
the ideals of a liberated world, he goes by the name Fidel Castro. If there
is anyone who truly upholds the worth and equality of ordinary people(abhors
white supremacy) he is Fidel. American corporate-media calling Jonas Savimbi
a " charismatic" leader and all those positively-charged socialist labeling?
Talk about two-faced hypocrisy! Anybody who admires Che Guevera and what the
guy stood for would never wreak the havoc Savimbi unleashed on the people of
Angola! I hope the Angolans will move on and to borrow the author's
concluding remarks, that they would now more than before, determined and
inspired by their general struggle, embrace their slogan 'a luta continua'.
Good luck!
Lamin Sanyang(jatafaakoreing)

>From: Momodou Camara <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: FWD.VICTORY FOR ANGOLA: U.S.-PUPPET SAVIMBI BITES THE DUST
>Date: Sat, 9 Mar 2002 22:42:38 +0100
>
>I hope this is not stale news.
>
>Momodou Camara
>****************
>
>VICTORY FOR ANGOLA: U.S.-PUPPET SAVIMBI BITES THE DUST
>By G. Dunkel
>
>When the news spread on Feb. 22 that Jonas Savimbi had been  shot dead
>in an ambush by the army in southeastern Angola,  the general reaction
>in Angola and the rest of Africa was  one of jubilation. Savimbi was
>the most hated and despised  man in Angola.
>
>His death was seen as a major victory in the 41 years of  armed
>struggle that the Angolan people have waged against  imperialism. It
>was hoped that peace--at least the end of  armed conflict--could be
>near.
>
>The big corporate media--New York Times, BBC, CNN, Financial  Times,
>the Washington Post--have called Savimbi  "charismatic," "a leader in
>the struggle against Portuguese  colonialism," "one of the contenders
>in a three-way tribally  based struggle" for control of Angola, and so
>on. They claim  he had ties to China, admired Che Guevara and had
>adopted  "people's war."
>
>It is all spin. In reality, Savimbi was a puppet of U.S.  imperialism
>in a war against the Angolan revolutionary  government that left at
>least 500,000 dead, tens of  thousands crippled for life by U.S.-made
>land mines,  billions upon billions of dollars of material destruction,
>  vast misery and a debt that Angola will spend decades  paying.
>
>Capitalist accounts of Savimbi's life are full of  distortions. For
>example, he was not an opponent of  Portuguese colonialism, which was
>financed, armed and  supported by the United States, a NATO ally.
>
>By the early 1970s, Savimbi's organization, UNITA, had a  formal
>agreement with the Portuguese army for military  cooperation in the
>struggle against the MPLA, which was  leading the struggle against the
>Portuguese and currently  leads the Angolan government. (See William
>Minter's book  "Operation Timber: Pages from the Savimbi Dossier" for
>  detailed documentation.)
>
>This is not just an interesting but minor historical  footnote--it
>foreshadowed Savimbi's military and political  agreements with the
>apartheid South African regime, the CIA  and the most reactionary
>Reaganite wing of the U.S. ruling  class.
>
>The MPLA, with significant aid from revolutionary Cuba,  defeated an
>invasion by the apartheid South African army in  1975 that had been
>intended to put UNITA in power in Luanda.  After that defeat, the CIA
>took over the care and  construction of UNITA, while apartheid South
>Africa supplied  the military muscle.
>
>The role of the CIA in Angola until 1978 is detailed in John
>  Stockwell's book "In Search of Enemies." Stockwell was the  CIA
>station chief in Angola but turned against the agency.  While the
>connection of Savimbi to the CIA is well  documented, neither the New
>York Times nor the Washington  Post mentioned it in their recent
>articles on Savimbi's  death.
>
>The struggle continued with ups and downs until the  Angolans,
>Namibians and Cubans decisively defeated the South  Africans at the
>battle of Cuito Cuanavale in 1988. This  defeat led to an agreement
>that involved the withdrawal of  Cubans from Angola in return for the
>independence of Namibia  and the end of South African invasions.
>
>After Cuito Cuanavale, the U.S., acting under the auspices  of the
>United Nations, managed to put together two  peace/election agreements.
>But every time UNITA lost the  election, even when international
>monitors asserted they  were basically free and fair, Savimbi cried
>fraud and went  back to fighting. The only solution he was willing to
>accept  was one that left UNITA in complete control of Angola.
>
>WHERE IS ANGOLA HEADED?
>
>Angola is a desperately poor, war-wracked, deeply indebted  country
>with one of the poorest living standards in the  world. Some 4 million
>people--one-third of its population-- are internal refugees. Yet it
>still supplies 8 percent of  all the oil the United States consumes.
>This is a bit  surprising but indicates one reason for the sustained
>and  intense U.S. interest in Angola.
>
>Ever since 1992, when Savimbi pulled out of the  election/peace process
>and restarted the civil war, the U.S.  has followed a two-pronged
>strategy. It gave Savimbi enough  money, or enough access to the world
>diamond market, to keep  on fighting. At the same time it offered the
>MPLA government  diplomatic recognition, development aid, access to
>U.S.  markets for goods other than oil, and loans if it would make  a
>deal with UNITA that Savimbi would accept.
>
>Of course, everyone knew that the only deal Savimbi would  really
>accept was the MPLA's capitulation, but while this  process was going
>on, UNITA had time and opportunity to  regroup and rearm itself.
>
>Since the U.S. and the CIA were so closely and openly linked  with
>Savimbi, a good deal of the political maneuvering that  took place in
>Angola was carried out through the auspices of  the UN.
>
>With the U.S. taking a two-pronged approach, two groups  developed
>within the Angolan movement. One felt that an  agreement with Savimbi
>was possible. The other--especially  strong in the Angolan army (FAA)--
>felt that the only  possible solution was to crush UNITA. After the
>last  agreement with Savimbi broke up in 1996, the government  adopted
>a "two-track approach" of offering dialog while  maintaining military
>pressure on UNITA.
>
>Late in 2001, the FAA began a powerful offensive that swept  UNITA out
>of traditional strongholds it had occupied for  years and forced its
>armed units to begin retreating toward  the Zambian border in
>southeastern Angola. As the success of  the offensive became clear, a
>propaganda campaign was begun  to blunt it in the name of peace.
>
>On Feb. 6, the UN press service IRIN ran an interview with  Abel
>Chivukuvuku, a former political adviser to Savimbi.  This interview
>gave Chivukuvuku the forum to propose a two- month peace process for
>the Angolan government and the UN to  follow, premised on the
>recognition that a solution to the  country's problems could not be
>military.
>
>The U.S., remember, is right now preparing to wage high- intensity war
>all over the globe, ostensibly because 3,000  people were killed here
>on Sept. 11. But Angola, which has  lost half a million people in a war
>created and financed by  the U.S., must allow its foes into the
>government in the  name of peace. By this logic, George W. Bush should
>be  inviting Osama bin Laden into his cabinet.
>
>IRIN reported Feb. 13 that the Irish development agency GOAL  condemned
>what it called the "FAA's scorched earth policy."  It didn't discuss
>how the MPLA government could protect its  people against UNITA
>atrocities.
>
>The same day that the news of Savimbi's death broke, IRIN  reported on
>a national conference of Angola's traditional  leaders that called for
>an immediate cease-fire and the  creation of a sovereign national
>conference to discuss the  country's political future. This conference
>was sponsored by  the Open Society Foundation, which is a creation of
>George  Soros, the international financier, Wall Street tycoon and
>  currency speculator.
>
>Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is due in  Washington Feb. 26
>to talk to President George W. Bush,  along with the presidents of
>Mozambique and Malawi, about  regional security. Obviously, the
>direction of Angola after  the death of Savimbi is going to be a major
>topic of  discussion.
>
>Even if Angola can wrap up a 27-year-old civil war without  any more
>major fighting, it is going to face major problems-- a completely
>devastated economy that needs IMF approval to  borrow the funds it
>needs to start rebuilding. But the  political price the IMF is
>currently demanding is a price  that no poor country should have to
>pay.
>
>The armed struggle might possibly be over, but the general  struggle
>will still continue. As the heroes of the African  revolution against
>Portuguese colonialism put it, a luta  continua.
>
>- END -
>
>(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to  copy and
>distribute verbatim copies of this document, but  changing it is not
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>message to:  [log in to unmask] Web: http://www.workers.org) " JC
>
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