The pilot radioed Luanda repeatedly: “Permission to climb; permission to climb higher.” It was the first clear indication of war in the provinces. The small Beechcraft plane, heavily laden, was struggling to its maximum air height to avoid possible Unita missiles as it flew over the city of Malange.
Luanda had been subdued, but calm simply because little information comes in from the interior. Rumours ebb and flow through the city as word filters in from the fronts, but Luanda, torpid under the vertical light of the hottest month, is going about its normal daily business. The fronts seem a long way off unless you have family in the army or are trapped in the cities under attack.
But go out to the airport and it quickly becomes clear that the calm is an illusion. Tanks guard the military section of the airport. On the tarmac, Angolan armed forces (FAA) soldiers or supplies wait for the planes that will take them east to Malange or south to Andulo, or Kuito where the battles are most intense.
We were flying to Angola’s diamond fields, high above the battles for control of the cities. The diamond fields are the frontline in a terrorist war as Unita units raid villages and threaten the mines. The region has become an armed camp again since December, guarded by the FAA, by mine security guards, by local people.
The grass is still scorched by the side of the mine road where an RPG fielded by Unita hit a security guard truck. At the moment Unita attacks by small units are being repulsed, but because of the threat of larger, retaliatory, attacks, the Mail & Guardian was asked not to identify most of the locations visited, or people interviewed, during two visits to the region.
The raids are the opening moves in a strategy that could culminate in the recapture of the diamonds regions. Villagers are being targeted. A bus with 12 civilians was hit by Unita recently, killing all the passengers including two children. There was no reason for this attack beyond intimidation of the local people.
It is an effective strategy: the villages started to empty, leaving Unita to move unseen through those areas. Near one mine, Unita attacks have been recorded every two or three days since the beginning of the year. These go unreported. They are carried out by units travelling across the region or from the Unita bases to the north and the south.
Unita is raiding villages for food and supplies, even raiding FAA positions on occasion. The rebel movement is living off the land in the north. It is clear that the rebels have logistical problems, at least with food. The raiders are seriously malnourished.
To counter the raids, the government has reformed local civil defence units and armed more people. Young men can be seen on the roadside at the edges of the fields cradling their AK-47s and watching the long horizons of the rich hills. They guard the villagers as they work. Their stake is high; it is their land, their families, their lives that are threatened. They are effective as well; they track Unita through the bush and know their movements.
This intelligence, giving the possibility of an early warning of attack, is the mines’ first line of defence against Unita’s arrival. All the mines have built relationships with the sobas (chiefs) and local populations.
Since December last year, the stakes have been raised higher and higher, as mines have increased their security measures to counter Unita. Each time they do so, they know that the attack, if and when it comes, will be more intense than before. Mining directors now spend time not just running the mines but planning for attacks.
The danger is palpable. At one mine, we travelled the roads in a heavily armed convey, led by an armoured sweeper vehicle, a Mamba and escorted by a truck-mounted field gun and a rapid reaction force from Alpha Cinco, the main security company guarding the diamond fields.
It protects the movement of all workers and supplies to the mine After three major attacks on the road, resulting in the deaths of miners and security guards, it is the only safe way to travel – for the moment.
Mining companies have adapted to the new situation gradually as the pressure has built up over the past three months, until the mines have come to resemble fortified camps.
But there is no indication at present that Unita intends to occupy the mines yet again. These are high-profile mining operations and the rebels would have trouble selling such identifiable diamonds when the capture became public knowledge. The otherwise ineffective United Nations sanctions on Unita’s diamond trading may help protect the diamond fields.
Unita’s strategy now is preparatory; the rebel movement aims to deny the government as much income from diamonds as possible. Mine managers have been targeted since May last year; almost all the companies have had senior expatriate personnel killed. The companies stayed put nonetheless and have been able to recruit new staff.
The question at present is whether Unita will raid the mines for food and fuel supplies. Capturing diamonds would mean large-scale raids. Vital stocks at the mines are being kept as low as possible, but this pushes up costs; road travel is no longer possible so all supplies are flown in from Luanda.
If Malange falls to Unita, then the road to Luanda westward and the Lundas eastward, will fall under their control. The city is crowded with refugees who fled there for safety when Unita began attacking the villages in the province, and civilian casualties are climbing. The local people have few places to run to.
It is what happens to Malange, still under heavy bombardment by Unita after three weeks, that will allow the mining companies to gauge what to do next. For them the worst-case scenario is, as one miner put it: “We leave here carrying our dead.”