SAVIMBI: REAGAN PROMISED 'MOST EFFECTIVE' AID

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504570009-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: February 3, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/27: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504570009-5
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WASHINGTON TIMES
3 February 1986
Savhnbi: Reagan
promised most
effective' aid
By Arrig
President Reagan has given Jonas
Savimbi his personal commitment to
provide anti-Marxist rebels in An-
gola with the "most effective" aid,
the guerrilla leader told The Wash-
ington Times yesterday.
Mr. Savimbi also told The Times
that what he needed most was anti-
tank and anti-aircraft weapons.
In a broad-ranging interview on
the Angolan war, Mr. Savimbi
warned the Gulf-Chevron oil com-
pany that his forces would start at-
tacking its oil facilities in Angola if
the corporation continued trying to
block rebel aid bills in Congress.
And he said his guerrillas had
launched a new urban campaign of
car bombings and other raids
against Cuban and Soviet bloc tar-
gets, bringing the 10-year-old bush
war to the cities.
Mr. Savimbi, whose Washington
visit is as much an image-building
campaign as a lobbying effort for
U.S. aid, claimed support among 12
black African nations, a statement
aimed at dispelling the frequent
criticism that his forces are backed
only by white-ruled South Africa. He
would not name the countries, say-
ing they would be criticized if their
names were made public.
The 51-year-old leader of the Na-
tional Union for the Total Indepen-
dence of Angola (UNITA) said his
10-day trip to Washington, which
started last Tuesday, has been suc-
cessful so far, especially compared
to his last visit.
Following President Reagan's
first election after a campaign in
which he praised the Angolan rebels
as freedom fighters, Mr. Savimbi re-
ceived a "very cold reception" when
he came to Washington.
"We expected President Reagan
to support us in 1981 because during
his campaign he used UNITA as an
example, saying we want to help
UNITA. So we were surprised when
we came here. We got a very cold
reception:" he said.
During this visit, he has been
treated like a head of state, greeted
at the White House by Mr. Reagan,
received with diplomatic protocol at
the State Department and assigned
a special U.S. security detail to
guard him.
He has arrived at a time of
heightened debate over the Angolan
civil war, one of the most curious
wars being fought today.
UNITA is fighting a Marxist gov-
ernment, propped up by 35,000 Cu-
ban troops and $2 billion worth of
Soviet weaponry. The government,
which has no diplomatic relations
with the United States, is funded by
American oil companies with the
Chevron Corp., the parent company
of Gulf, owning nearly half of the
Angolan government oil facilities
and pumping about $2 billion a year
into the economy.
Liberal opponents of Mr. Savimbi
accused him of being a south Af-
rican "stooge" because he receives
his primary support from the Pre-
toria government. They have also ar-
gued that he does not deserve U.S.
support because he is a secret Marx-
ist.
Conservatives, who have been
mounting a campaign against
Chevron-Gulf and in support of U.S.
rebel aid, have been pressing the
Reagan administration into helping
UNITA.
The administration has been in-
ternally debating whether to end
Mr. Savimbi openly or secretly- and
whether U.S. support would torpedo
any last hopes of a U S -mediated end
tolh e Ana la T ' 'stra-
tion has reportedly pro sed 10
million to $15 million in cover
Mr. Savimbi said he believed the
conservative pressure had helped
and that the administration would
provide the much-needed aid.
"I believe there is a commitment
of aid. There were no figures dis-
cussed. But there is a commitment:'
he told The Washington Times. "The
President said he wants to help us in
the most effective way. And the most
effective way is to give us the aid we
are asking for."
Mr. Sa_yimbi. who said he is stav-
ing out of the debate over secret nr
open aid. said he needs anti-tank Ann
anti-aircraft w ea n t omb t
Soviet-made tanks.
and Hind 24 helicopter unshins,
one of the most devastatin weapons
in the Angolan arsenal
"The President was very warm.
He was very positive:' Mr. Savimbi
said.
If his opponents succeed in
blocking aid and Mr. Savimbi re-
turns to the African bush empty
handed, he said that will be a strong
message to the Soviets and Cubans.
"If we come from here - after all
the declarations from the adminis-
tration - and there is no aid, that
will invite the Russians to try to crip-
ple UNITA:' he said.
But Mr. Savimbi pledged that his
60,000 guerrillas would continue
their war even without U.S. help.
One of the forces working against
his aid, Mr. Savimbi said, are the cor-
porate lobbyists of the American oil
companies in Angola.
He threatened to attack their oil
facilities if they continue their lob-
bying efforts but he pledged not to
hurt American oil company work-
ers.
"We want to make sure we will not
kill Americans;" he said, revealing
that UNITA sympathizers employed
by the oil companies can inform the
rebels when U.S. citizens are not at
work so they can raid the facilities
without endangering Americans.
There are no current plans to at-
tack the oil fields, he said.
"But if they continue lobbying,
then the case is serious:' he said.
"I'm telling them if they do not stop
lobbying, then the decision (to attack
the oil facilities) has to be made:'
He said the U.S. Oil companies
there are "morally guilty" of aiding
the Angolan government, but he ex-
plained that he understands that the
oil executives are businessmen.
"Business is business," Mr.
Savimbi said, explaining he has no
objection to the oil companies con-
tinuing to operate. But when they
lobby against UNITA aid on Capitol
Hill, "they are not making business.
They are making politics. If you take
the risk of mixing business and poli-
tics, you take the political risks:' he
said.
Mr. Savimbi also explained a new
rebel campaign against urban tar-
gets. Last week UNITA claimed re-
sponsibility for car bombings in
Luanda, Angola's capital, that killed
Cubans and East Germans.
"We don't want people to think of
us as terrorist:' he said. "But we
want to start urban guerrilla war-
fare"
Gontinuad
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/27: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504570009-5
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/27: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504570009-5
Z.
He said he must bring the war to
the cities, through a "selective" cam-
paign of car-bombings, explosives
and sniper attacks, to force the An-
golan government to reach a politi-
cal settlement leading to democratic
elections.
As his own lobbying efforts re,
ceive widespread media attention,
his U.S. opponents have also begun
their own campaign, which Mr.
Savimbi said is "distorted:'
He accused one of his most voca
opponents. John of vin
Mr. Stockwell. a former CIA a en
who ran a secret U.S. operation in
Angola until Congress stoed all
aid in 1975, has tried to discredit
Savimbi and accused of continu-
ing to receive funds. ogress
revealed its restriction on Angolan_
rebel aid t
t ou r. Stockwell portrays
himself as someone who knows the
innermost workin of UNITA the
rebel leader said the ex-CIA agent
met him once for only three hours.
"He does not know me. He does
not know UNITA " Mr. Savimbi said.
ssing the most frequent
criticism of his rebel movement, Mr.
Savimbi said he receives aid from
South Africa because it is offered.
But he has always condemned South
Africa's racial policies.
"When South Africa said we want
to give you aid, we said thank you
very much. But we condemned
apartheid," he said.
"You must understand, it is the
reality of war that when you are
fighting and someone extends aid to
you, you have to accept;" he said.
Mr. Savimbi, is traveling on a di-
plomatic passport from an unidenti-
fied black African nation.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/27: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504570009-5