Two high-ranking officers were among 25 people killed when a Russian-made military helicopter crashed due to bad weather in the Angolan province of Cuanza-Norte, state radio reported on Sunday.
One officer was Lieutenant-General Jose Domingos, better known as ”Ngueto”, the other a general who was only identified as ”Toy”, the radio reported. Domingos was commander of the northern region’s military front.
The Portuguese news agency Lusa had earlier reported that the helicopter was carrying a number of Angolan army officials and journalists on their way to a demobilisation camp the government has set up for Unita rebel soldiers in Mussabo, 200km east of Luanda.
Lusa also said that the crash appeared to have been caused by bad weather. The military officers were to attend a ceremony where rebels from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) were to hand in their weapons, the agency said. Lusa said a search was under way to find the helicopter’s black box.
Since the government and Unita signed a ceasefire pact in April to end a bloody civil war that has rumbled on since the country’s independence from Portugal in 1975, 35 demobilisation camps have been set up.
Unita estimates that 69 000 former rebels have moved to the camps throughout the country, while 200 000 relatives have settled nearby.
Thousands more are expected to arrive in the coming weeks. – Sapa-AFP