C.I.A. SAID TO SEND REBELS IN ANGOLA WEAPONS VIA ZAIRE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000200880001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: February 1, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200880001-6
ON PAGE NEW YORK TIMES
C.I.A. SAID TO SEND
REBELS IN ANGOLA
I?EGIa -WEAPONS VIA_.ZAIRE
By JAMES BROOKE
Special to The New York rimes
KAMINA, Zaire - In a highly secret
operation, the Central Intelligence
Agency has used an abandoned air
base here to airlift arms to guerrillas
in Angola, diplomatic and business
sources say.
Lan ing largely at night, C-130 and
Boeing 707 -cargo jets with the mark-
ings "Santa Lucia Airways" arrived
here with arms deliveries on three oc-
casions last year, the sources said.
"The operation was directed by a
black American everyone called Colo-nel," one diplomat said. "He was in
charge of about 20 men. Very few
Zairois were involved."
Zaire Has Denied Accusations
President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zair
has repeatedly denied accusations l
other African leaders that American
aid to the Angolan rebels led by Jonas,
Savimba passes through Zaire.1
Largely supplied by South Africa, the
guerrillas of the Union for the Total In-
dependence of Angola, or Unite, are
fighting to overthrow Angola's Marxist
Government.
American aid to Unite, budgeted at
$15 million last year, started flawing in
late 1983. United States officials have
refused to disclose the supply route.
Transfer through South Africa would
violate an American embargo on arms
shipments to South Africa.
Diplomats at the American Em-
bassy in Kinshasa and at the American
Consulate in Lubumbashi, 250 miles
southeast of here, declined to discuss
the military aid to Unite.
IIn Washingtop, a apokeamas iIIsr '
.Apace Agency.
the Central Intel#
Sharon Foster, said It the
would not confirm or dilly gation of covert activities, but that
any covert activity we MW be
conducting would be in support of
U.S. policy and under appropriate au-
thority."]
Highly Sensitive Issue
The issue is highly sensitive in Zaire.
Two years ago, Zaire and Angola
signed a mutual nonaggression pact.
Residents interviewed here refused to
talk about air traffic at the base, which
is 14 miles out of town.
But according to Western diplomats,
aid workers anc4 businessmen in Kin-
sliasa and Ltlbtuabashi, mooof the
h4s been funneled through here.
The Kamina air base was built in thq
19150's by Belgium, which administere(
Zaire at the time as the Belgian Congo
Title base, once the largest between the
Sdhara and South Africa, has sine
fallen into ruin. But the two runways,
measuring about 7,000 feet each, a
still in good repair, according to civil-
ian pilots who have landed on them re-
cently.
According to the sources, the light
blue cargo planes of Santa Lucia Air-
ways made arms deliveries here or,
three occasions: between March 2C
and April 20, for two weeks between
May 15 and 30, and during one night it
mid-October.
Most of the landings were at night.
but in May "it was day and night -
quite some activity," one source said.
From the air, the two landing strips
and the dozens of support buildings
spread out across a table flat plain of
wooded savannah. The base is closed tc
unauthorized visitors, whether by air
or from Kamina, a railroad junction
town of 100,000.
Last July, Defense Minister Fran-
cois-Xavier de Donna of Belgium via'
ited the base in the company of several
Belgian newspaper reporters.
"To the left and right of the rOnwall
there are small holes with lights or,
them - it's American material that
can be immediately removed," one re-
porter wrote in De Standaard, a Bel?
gian newspaper, of the visit. "Among
other places, it is from here that thr
Americans supply the Angola guerrillel
units. The night flights of the Americar.
planes apparently stopped a few weeks
ago. But the installations are still there
so operations can be started up at any
moment."
Roads from Kamina to Angola - 20E
miles west of here - are largely im
passable. There is a railroad line frohere to Angola, but is not believed t
have been used for shipping the arm
According to sources, the arms we
flown from here to Jamba, Mr.-Savim
bi's bush headquarters in southeaste
Angola.
Aid workers along the probable fligh
path have reported hearing carg
planes passing overhead at night.
Kamina is believed to be one of at
least two supply points in Zaire for the
rebels.
Last November, Angolan military of?i
ficials reported that Unite had opened
a new front in northeastern Angola, 10(
miles south of Kinshasa.
U.S. Cargo Planes
Pilots have reported frequent in-
stances of American military C-13(
and C-141 cargo planes landing at Kin?
shasa airport.
An American businessman said he
asked two American military pilots ai
Kinshasa airport in January whether
they were heading "north or south."
"One said 'north,' the other said
'south,' " the businessman recalled.
American military officials say the
military planes are either carrying
American military aid to Chad or mili
tary aid for Zaire.
The Reagan Administration grantee
$15 million in emergency aid to Chad iij
December. United States military ai
to Zaire was $6.9 million last year, an
is expected to fall to $4 million thi
year.
Reports that American military ai
was secretly funneled through her
coincide with larger American inter
ests in this remote corner of Zair(
Known as the Shaba region, the area i
a major copper exporter and produce
60 percent of the world's cobalt,
strategic mineral used in airplan
manufacturing.
In 1977 and 1978, secessionist rebel.
based in Angola tried to seize control o
the region, formerly known as Katan
ga.
290 Americans In Shaba
There are only 200 Americans livin
in Shaba, but the American consular
in Lubumbashi, the regional capital
has 12 full-time staff members.
It is not considered a backwater post
The consul previously served as
State Department liaison in the plan
ning of the invasion of Grenada in 19831
The new political officer recently com-
pleted a tour as political officer it
Chad, an important African post for the
United States.
Shaba is one of two areas in Zaire the
United States has targeted for its aic
program, administered by the Agency
for International Development.
A.I.D. is rebuilding 3,000 miles of din
roads in Shaba. Last year, A.I.D
started rebuilding two roads, totaling
600 miles, that run roughly parallel tc
the Angola border about 50 miles inside
Zaire.
In an interview, Dennis M. Chandler
A.I.D.'s director in Kinshasa, saic
these road projects were designed
restore agricultural production, whict
has dropped sharply with the collapse
of Zaire's road system.
Plan to Rebuild Base
"We are doing there what we an
doing in the rest of the country," Mr
Chandler said of the road work near
the Angolan border.
In a separate effort, American mill
Lary officials in Kinshasa are known tc
be anxious to win American aid to re
build Kamina base. If renovated, the
base could provide rapid access to
southern Africa.
In November 1995, Gen. Richarc
Lawson of,\the Air Force, at the timtl
second in command of the Europear
Command, landed at the base in a 70'
to inspect its condition.
Continued
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200880001-6
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200880001-6
had close links to the C.I.A. In 1965, tM
year he took power, C.I.A. agents it
Kinshasa used to give him daily brief
ings on world affairs. In the mid-1970's
the C.I.A. sent arms through Zaire tc
guerrilla factions fighting in Angola.
During his weeklong visit to Wash
ington in December, President Mobutt
met with William J. Case irec
tor of Central n ence. Mr. Case'
reportedly visited Zaire last year.
President Mobutu's internal intelli
gence systems keep a tight control or
activities here, and it is inconceivable
that the arms supply operation couk
take place without his knowledge, ana
lysts say.
On Jan. 24, police agents in Lubum?
bashi, Zaire, prevented the writer of
the dispatch above from boarding i.
plane to Kinshasa. In a one-hour inter.
rogation, the agents repeatedly askec
if the correspondent, James Brooke
was investigating allegations that
Zaire is a transfer point for arms tc
Unita.
On Jan. 26, the United States Ambas-
sador to Zaire, Brandon H. Grove Jr..
conveyed a message from the Zairian
Government to Mr. Brooke that if he
wrote about the Zaire-Unita relation-
ship, the Zairian authorities would
never again grant him an entry visa.
The Ambassador stressed that he was
merely passing along the message.
Tanganyika
V SHABA
Kinshasa
Luanda
ANGOLA
Jambe
Two landing strips are about 14
miles from Kamina.
Earlier that year, a team of Amer
scan engineers visited the base an(
concluded that it would cost $60 millior
to 100 million to repair the dilapidate(
installations.
In December, in a classified Stat(
Department briefing paper delivere(
to President Reagan on the eve of
visit to Washington by President Mobu
tu, diplomats argued for spending $2t
million to rebuild the base.
No Action on Proposal
According to one source, the pro
posal included spending $2 million or
runway lights, $4 million on runway re
habilitation, $6 million on building re
pairs. To the dismay of American offi
cials in Kinshasa, the White House ha,
not acted on the proposal.
"A lot of people go through Kamina
but no one wants to invest in it," ,
Western military official complained.
Despite American military interes
in Kamina, the secret airlift here ap
pears to have been conducted by the
C.I.A., independent of American mili
tary, diplomatic or aid personnel.
Belgians Stationed at Base
Three Belgian military officers ar(
stationed at the base as part of an aic
program, but they are not believed t(
have been involved.
Limited Zairian assistance was pro
vided by elements of the Service o
Military Action and Reconnaissance, i
military intelligence unit, sources said.
Historically, President Mobutu, ha:
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200880001-6