Ivor Powell
While Angola’s MPLA government continues to pursue its major offensive against Jonas Savimbi’s rebel Unita movement, recent events an ocean away could do more to influence the course of the 25-year civil war than any event on home ground.
Though little information has been forthcoming from ongoing meetings of the newly inaugurated United States-Angola Binational Consultative Commission (BNCC) in Washington, the Mail & Guardian understands that military co-operation aimed at crushing the rebels was on the table this week. The establishment of the BNCC has been interpreted as marking a major shift in US foreign policy towards Angola, with the world power, which once backed the Unita rebels against the Marxist MPLA, looking for a solution in partnership with the MPLA.
According to analyst Ed Marek, US-based military training outfit Military Personnel Resources Incorporated (MPRI) has either concluded a deal with the Angolan government, or is on the verge of doing so. Put together as a private security operation, MPRI is headed up by former US military generals and has a record of close association with the US government.
Marek’s report confirms information given by a source inside the security industry to the M&G two months ago that MPRI was already on site at offshore oil rigs in Cabinda and Soyo, and providing training and advice to the Angolan military before the September offensive.
Marek reports that the deal between MPRI and President Jos Eduardo dos Santos’s government was tied up last month. The proposed contract had been blocked by Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice, pursuing US policies of distance from regimes guilty of human rights a buses. Economic considerations have now apparently bulked larger than those of a humanitarian order.
A US Department of Commerce report reveals that the US currently buys up to 75% of the crude oil produced off the Angolan coast – accounting for $2,17- billion of a total $3,1-billion raked in by the Dos Santos regime per year. Total US investment in Angola is estimated at $4- billion, making it one of Angola’s principal trading partners.
Meanwhile, as the MPLA offensive continues, heavy fighting has been reported in and around the former Unita headquarters of Bailondo, where government troops have taken the airport. Fighting has also been reported around the Angolan town of Cuito.