OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 7.30pm.
THE head of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) has refused to hand the body of rebel Unita general Arlindo Chienda Pena to long-standing Unita chief Jonas Savimbi.
Pena, known as “Ben Ben”, died on Monday of complications from malaria, according to the medical account, but Savimbi’s supporters alleged that the general, who led the armed wing of Unita before joining the FAA as deputy chief under a 1994 peace pact, was poisoned.
FAA chief-of-staff General Joao Baptista de Matos said “we will not give in to pressure, wherever it comes from”, in response to a request for the body from Savimbi.
Pena died in a Pretoria hospital after being rushed to South Africa for treatment from Luanda, and De Matos confirmed that he would be buried on Friday in the Angolan capital.
According to Unita hardliners, the 42-year-old officer was poisoned because he had refused to read out an order demanding the demobilisation of all armed forces of the former rebel movement in line with the Lusaka peace protocols signed in Lusaka in November 1994.
Pena nevertheless signed a text to this effect, against his will, according to Savimbi’s backers.
The Angolan government has severed all ties with Savimbi and his part of Unita since the emergence in the past month of a breakaway faction led by former top aides to the rebel chief, who has retained strongholds in central Angola. — AFP