Fears are growing that Angola’s civil war could spill over its borders following reports that Zambia is aiding Unita. Ivor Powell reports
New evidence has come to light implicating President Frederick Chiluba’s Zambian government in aiding Jonas Savimbi’s rebel Unita movement in neighbouring Angola.
Indications have also surfaced of Ugandan troops seconded in support of the rebels.
And with Angola’s MPLA government already having warned the Zambians on three separate occasions of possible military action if Chiluba’s government continues to aid Savimbi’s military machine, fears are growing that Angola’s civil war could spill over the borders as the Angolan military apparently prepares for a major offensive.
Earlier this week the Angolan Ministry of Defence issued a proclamation calling up the entire male population born between January 1 and December 31 1978 for military duty in the second half of this month.
The Mail & Guardian can reveal that earlier this year six MiG 23 fighter jets, piloted by Ukrainians, were grounded in transit at Zambia’s Ndola airport for nearly two weeks. Approached to explain the presence of the aircraft, airport authorities claimed initially they were Zambian air force matriel and were undergoing repairs. Later this version was abandoned when it was pointed out that Zambia owns no MiG 23s.
Subsequently it emerged – as reported in the M&G last week – that Unita had acquired six MiGs; the aircraft were traced back to deals with Ukrainian weapons suppliers.
Unita’s MiGs are reported to be based at Luka airport near Chibaranda in Unita-held territory. Their acquisition is in flagrant violation of sanctions by the United Nations and other international bodies against Unita.
Analysts have said that the acquisition of the fighter aircraft, along with six Hind strike helicopters, could significantly alter the balance of power in Angola’s ongoing civil war, giving Unita, which has in the past been largely reliant on relatively localised guerrilla tactics, the capacity to strike at longer-range strategic targets.
Meanwhile, in another development, sources inside Zambia have reported mysterious troop movements in recent months – apparently into Unita-held areas of Angola. In one such case, opposition United National Independence Party secretary Basil Kabwe told the M&G he personally observed eight brand-new military trucks – apparently part of a much larger convoy – in procession along the Shangombo highway leading to the border with Unita-held areas in Angola.
Number plates on the trucks identified them as being Zambian registered; however, the vehicles were not of a kind used by the Zambian military. Each of the trucks observed by Kabwe was loaded with around 30 heavily armed soldiers – likewise dressed in uniforms other than those worn by the Zambian army.
Unconfirmed reports have traced the route taken by the convoy back to Uganda – another of Unita’s alleged allies. It is almost inconceivable that troop movements of this magnitude could have taken place without the connivance of the Zambian authorities.
Uganda’s alliance with Unita is believed to arise from Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s sponsorship of rebels seeking to depose Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila. Kabila is backed by the Angolan MPLA government.
Last month in a letter to the UN Security Council’s Committee on Angola, the Luanda government registered similar claims regarding Zambian and Ugandan support for the Unita rebels.
Angolan permanent representative Alfonso Van-Dunen alleged that in July 1998 a convoy of no fewer than a hundred trucks laden with supplies left Kitwe bound for Unita strongholds.
Van-Dunen’s communique also alleged that a Unita representative, Angelo Dembo, was permanently in place in Zambia – under the protection of Chiluba’s Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) – to oversee the provision of supplies. It is understood that payment for military assistance and supplies is made in diamonds. Last year international agencies estimated that Unita’s haul from diamond mining stood in excess of $600- million per year.
Continuing contacts, the Angolan government claims, were guaranteed by a top-level meeting of four Unita generals with Zambian political leaders and representatives of the intelligence services between September 5 and 11 last year.
In the wake of the meeting, a number of senior Zambian officials and senior intelligence operatives embarked earlier this year on a two-week “state visit” together with Chiluba to Belgium and Israel – both major diamond-dealing and cutting centres. No visible business of state was concluded on the visit.
Among the senior MMD figures directly named as being involved in assisting Unita are former defence minister Ben Mwila, who is believed to be of Angolan origin, and Enock Kavindele, a former commerce and industry minister and a close personal friend of Savimbi.
According to UN estimates, the latest cycle of war in Angola has left no fewer than 650 000 people displaced (from a total population of only 10-million) since April 1998.
In the middle of last year, up to 30 000 Unita soldiers were reported by foreign intelligence agencies and military analysts to be hiding out in refugee camps on the Zambian side of the border. Their status as potential combatants was in defiance of the 1994 Lusaka protocols where Unita agreed to demobilise and reconstitute as a civilian political party.
Allegations of top-level Zambian assistance to Savimbi’s rebels have led to two diplomatic notes verbales – threatening military action against Zambia – and at least one written threat since late 1997. Since that time, however – largely owing to huge weapons-for-diamonds deals and allegedly the assistance of allies like Uganda and Zambia – the tide of the war has turned. Unita currently controls around a third of Angola.
In the face of mounting evidence to the contrary and UN Security Council calls for Zambia and Angola to meet to address the allegations, Chiluba has consistently denied any Zambian involvement in the Angolan war.
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