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 -
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