MANUEL MUANZA, Luanda | Sunday 5.00pm.
THE United Nations has suspended all missions to the besieged town of Humabo in central Angola, after a second UN-chartered Hercules C-130 was apparently shot down, with eight people aboard.
A local Huambo radio station said the plane, which had taken off from Huambo for Luanda, was hit by anti-aircraft fire seven kilometers from the airport, before coming down 20 kilometers (13 miles) away. However, the UN said the plane crashed some 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Huambo at around 15:30 pm, and the UN had only received “news provided by the government on the accident”. The plane was carrying four UN personnel, and four crew.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was “outraged by reports of a second United Nations aircraft apparently shot down in Angola within the past week.”
On December 26, a C-130 carrying UN personnel crashed after taking off from Huambo. The Angolan government claims that the 14 people aboard that plane are still alive, and are being held hostage by UNITA rebels loyal to Jonas Savimbi.
Although the Luanda government has agreed to ensure the safety of UN search and rescue teams, UNITA has failed to reply to a request from UN special envoy Issa Diallo, saying it has not been contacted by the UN concerning the plane.
The UN announced on Sunday that the organisation would pull its 1 000 observers out of combat zones in Angola. UN special envoy to Angola Issa Diallo said: “For the moment the withdrawal concerns only the danger zones. We will redeploy our personnel and their families in Luanda. We have no other choice.” — AFP
THE Star reports on Monday that one of the passengers on the second downed plane may be Hilton Wilkinson, son of the South African pilot of the first plane, John Wilkinson, believed to have flown to Huambo to search for his father.