THURSDAY, 4.00PM:
ANGOLA’s Unita rebel movement has seized the small town of Piri on one of the main roads north-east of the capital, Luanda, raising the spectre of renewed civil war.
The government reported on national radio that the Unita fighters took Piri on Tuesday, killing five people, following an initial assault on Sunday. The government estimates that around 10 districts have been taken by the rebels in the last month, reversing what should be a process of surrendering Unita districts to government authority. Kazambo and Luwawu in eastern Moxico province have also been seized this week, and troops are massing in the north.
Unita was supposed to have demobilised and surrendered all 300 districts originally under its control by March, the deadline set in peace accords signed in Lusaka in 1994. But after the deadline passed, Unita still held some 50 areas, including several major strongholds.
These events have occurred despite Unita leader Jonas Savimbi having agreed with United Nations special envoy Alioune Blondin Beye on Wednesday that the handover of Unita areas can continue.
Violence and what Unita calls “banditry” has plagued the countryside for months, forcing thousands from their homes. The UN no longer credits the Unita excuses.
A joint peace commission including UN representatives has found that raids have been committed by “residual [Unita] forces”. The UN is threatening tougher sanctions on Unita — freezing Unita bank accounts and halting its diamond trade — by June 25 if it does not hasten its compliance with the peace accords.
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