Howard Barrell
Unita rebels have taken delivery of new weapons which enable them to attack Angola’s offshore oil rigs and bombard the nation’s capital, Luanda, according to unconfirmed intelligence reports.
The rebels now have three Russian-built MI 25 Hind helicopters, with another seven on delivery. They have also recently obtained more than 20 Russian-built unguided ground- to-ground mini-scud missiles, known as FROGs.
The new weaponry comes from the Ukraine, according to the reports. Deployment of the new weapons would almost certainly entail an increase in Western diplomatic pressure on Angolan President Jos Eduardo dos Santos to seek new talks with Unita leader Jonas Savimbi.
The Hind, a gunship and helicopter transport, has a combat radius of 160km and a total range of 1 200km, said Helmut Heitman, South African correspondent of Jane’s military publications. This would put offshore oil platforms, operated mainly by United States and French oil companies, well within range of a Unita attack. Ukrainian crews are to fly and maintain the helicopters, according to the intelligence reports.
The notoriously inaccurate FROG rockets would be suited to big-area targets such as cities, fuel farms or oil refineries. They have a range of up to 60km. They could also be used for attacks against a hydroelectric installation or big dam.
US diplomats stationed in Luanda, however, expressed scepticism over the reports of deliveries of Hinds and FROGs to Unita.
Independent South African military analyst Willem Steenkamp was also doubtful. He said the Hinds and FROGs would require considerable maintenance, and would need to be stationary for days or weeks, which would expose them to attack. He thought Savimbi was too canny a guerrilla leader to allow that kind of vulnerability. “Pliny the Elder said Africa always brings us something new,” said Steenkamp, “but these reports stretch the limits of credibility.”
However, another South African-based analyst said that, during its military involvement in Angola in the 1970s and 1980s, the old South African Air Force operated semi-permanent maintenance facilities for helicopters inside Angola. These had not been identified or attacked by Angolan government forces.
Unita had long operated an air transport operation into and out of Angola, he said, adding that the rebel movement could create a relatively secure environment for a new helicopter force. “Angola is a vast country. Much of it is heavily wooded and it has a sparse population. There are thousands of places to hide a small helicopter force and maintenance capability,” he said.
Meanwhile, Unita forces are providing logisitcal support for a group of Bakongo rebels fighting President Laurent Kabila’s regime in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Bakongo rebels are being led by Rwandan military officers, according to Mail & Guardian sources.
The Bakongo force adds to the array of groups confronting Kabila. The main force, the Rally for Congolese Democracy, is an uneasy alliance of smaller groups operating mainly in the eastern half of the country. It is also backed by Rwanda. Uganda is the main backer of another anti-Kabila force, led by Jean-Pierre Bemba and consisting of former loyalists of deposed and deceased dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
The M&G has also learned that Rwandan troops, rather than anti-Kabila rebels, were responsible for the recent heavy defeat inflicted on Zimbabwean troops near Kabinda in east-central Congo this week. Estimates of the Zimbabwean dead vary from 80 to 150. Zimbabwe has denied suffering a defeat on this scale.