/ 13 June 2001

SADC PUTS THE SQUEEZE ON UNITA

THE 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) is seeking concrete ways to cut off fuel supplies to Angolan rebels, SADC members attending an annual meeting in Kinshasa announced at the weekend. Despite a UN embargo against rebels, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) continues to profit from a lucrative diamond trade and uses the money to purchase weapons, ammunition and fuel for the war effort. On Saturday, energy ministers from the SADC formed a committee, headed by South Africa and Zimbabwe, to devise a strategy to cut off oil supplies to the insurgents.