ANGOLA REBEL CHIEF TO RECEIVE U.S. PRAISE, AND POSSIBLY AID

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900056-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 19, 2013
• Sequence Number: 56
• Publication Date: January 26, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/02/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900056-5
WASHINGTON POST
26 January 1986
Angola. RebdChief to Receive
U.S. Praise, and PssiMy A
id
Savimbi Arriving for Busy 7wor 04 .Viiff -
i
In what is becoMmg a crescendo
to the acrimoniousdebate over U.S.
policy toward ola, Washington.
is preparing to pjay host for two
weeks to the man who stands in the
center of the controversy-a burly,
bearded guerrilla chieftain of con-
siderable charm named Jonas Mal-
heiro Savimbi.
Heralded by President Reagan as
an exemplary "freedom fighter" and
embraced by conservatives as "the
Che Guevara of the right," Savimbi
is vilified as a "terrorist" by the So-
viet and Cuban-backed Marxist gov-
ernment he has fought for a decade.
To most of black Africa, he is a
"stooge of South Africa's white
rulers.
Whatever he is, Savimbi is about
to officially and publicly receive the
blessings of the administration-in-
cluding the personal benediction of
President Reagan and Secretary of
State George P. Shultz, who will
heap praise on the Angolan rebel as
the leader of a grand anticommunist
crusade.
Conservative groups, such as the
Heritage Foundation, the American
Conservative Union and the Amer-
ican Security Council, are orches-
trating a welcome for Savimbi un-
like anything Washington has ever
seen for an African guerrilla leader.
After his arrival Tuesday, Savimbi
will use his appearances before the
groups and elsewhere as a platform
from which to launch his plea for
military and nonmilitary assistance
from the United States.
Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly,
a public relations and lobbying firm
with a $600,000 contract to repre-
sent Savimbi's UNITA group, is
... "Che Guevara of the right"
helping to stage-manage much of
the visit with a goal of exposing him
to "all segments" of the U.S. foreign
policy community, a spokesman for
the firm said. It has arranged a
whirlwind schedule of government
and congressional appointments, as
well as media and think tank ap-
pearances.
Savimbi is already assured a Sun-
day night segment on CBS' "60
Minutes;" followed by appearances
on ABC's "Nightline" and PBS'
"MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour," as
well a possible cover story in Time
magazine. He is giving the keynote
speech at the Washington banquet
of the American Conservative
Union one night after Reagan ad-
dresses the group.
Virtbally every East Coast think
tank from the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace in Washing-
ton to the Council on Foreign Re-
lations in New York has scheduled
seminars, meetings or chats with
Savimbi.
As an indication of Savimbi's as-
cent to the top of the administra-
tion's foreign policy agenda, the
UNITA leader is scheduled to give
the National Security Council staff a
private briefing on the battlefield
status of his guerrilla war, he also
will make a closed-door speech to
State Department officials.
The questions of whether
Savimbi will receive U.S. aid and
whether it will be delivered overtly
or covertly remain undecided and
hotly debated. The White House
has submitted to the House and
Senate Intelligence Committees an
initial Ian for $10 million to $15
million in covert military aid to
fin e~ to Savimbi through the
Central Intelligence Agency.
Savimbi's supporters in Con-
gress, however, want to turn the
administration's proposal from a
52vert to an overt program, partly
because they object off e~LTA s
surreptitious involvement in hir
World conflicts and partly because
they favor a larger appropriation to
Savimbi than that proposed in the
administration's covert Dian.
Leading the pro-Savimbi cam-
paign in the House has been Rep.
Mark D. Siljander, a conservative
Republican from Michigan, who has
gathered 109 cosponsors for a bill
that would provide Savimbi's Na-
tional Union for the Total Indepen-
dence of Angola (UNITA) with $27
million in open military assistance.
In the Senate, Malcolm Wallop
(R-Wyo.) on Dec. 10 introduced an
amendment cosponsored with 12
colleagues that would have author-
ized $50 million in military and oth-
er assistance to Savimbi, although
the measure died for procedural
reasons.
On the same day, three key Sen-
ate members tried to pass a reso-
lution of support for Savimbi intend-
ed to lead to an aid program.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/02/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900056-5
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/02/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900056-5
Senate Maiority Leader Robert i golan conflict and urging him not to
Dole (R-Kan.) Sen. Richard G. aid - Savimbi. "U.S. involvement in
Lugar (R- Ind.), chairman of the _ this conflict, whether direct or in-
nas teForeign Relation Commit- direct, covert or overt, would dam.
tee, and Sen. David F. Durenberger age our relations with governments
(R-Minn r airman n t ate th
At?
roughout
~e*ct mmrttee on Intelli a fundamental U.S. policy objectives
sponsored w c in southern Africa," they said.
vored providing -material assist Far from promoting national rec-
anceto ZSavimbi early this year ifr onciliation or a withdrawal of the
the Marxist n government estimated 35,000 Cuban troops sta-
refused to engage in "good faith tioned in Angola, the opponents ar-
negotiation with UNITA and con. gue, U.S. Aid to UNITA is certain to
boned to prepare a new offensive escalate the war, increase the So-
a amst the guerrillas. The resol u- viet and Cuban commitment to the
tion was defeated 39 to 58. Angolan government and doom
Both supporters and opponents of hopes for settlement of the inter-
aid to Savimbi seem to agree on one locking disputes setting South Af-
thing, however. a decision to sup- rica against its black neighbors.
port him will have repercussions on Both sides also tend to agree that
U.S. foreign policy far beyond An- a decision to aid Savimbi will ring
gola. Advocates say it will send a the death knell for the administra-
strong message to Moscow of U.S. tion's 6-year-old policy toward
resolve to "roll back" communism southern Africa of "constructive
by aiding guerrillas fighting Soviet engagement," one that has sought
client states. In this context, they to rely on quiet diplomacy to nudge.
See the U.S. commitment as a cr- South Africa toward reform of its
cia! test of the so-called Reagan apartheid system and lessen ten-
Doctrine. sions between it and black Africa.
Opponents of aid to Savimbi ar- Assistant Secretary of State
gue that direct U.S. involvement in Chester A. Crocker, architect of the
his struggle will draw the ?United "constructive engagement" policy,
States into a damaging alliance with has just returned from a new round
South Africa, now UNITA's chief of talks with Angolan and South Af-
backer, and make the U.S. role of a rican officials in the search for a
neutral mediator in the region's negotiated end to southern Africa's
disputes impossible, problems. His trip is widely re-
In November, 101 House mem- garded as the last U.S. attempt at a
bers wrote President Reagan ex- breakthrough before providing
pressing strong opposition to re- Savimbi with some form of aid.
newed U.S. involvement in the An- Crocker has given no public indica-
tion he achieved any progress.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/02/19: CIA-RDP90-00965R000604900056-5