SAVIMBI: REAGAN PROMISED MOST EFFECTIVE AID

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000201100011-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 17, 2010
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: February 3, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/17 :CIA-RDP91-005878000201100011-8
1(RT1CLc .~PPE.aRE0
ON PAGE .,~=~~
WASHINGTON TIt9ES
3 February 1986
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- President Reagan has Given Jonas
Savimbi his personal commttment m
provide anti-Marxist rebels in An-
gola with the "moat effective" aid,
the guerrilla leader told The Waah-
ingOat Times yesterday.
Mr. Savimbi also told The Times
that what he needed most was anti-
tank and anti-aircraft weapons.
In abroad-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 m
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 the l~yearold bush
gets, bringing
war to the cities.
Mr. Savimbi, whose Washington
visit is as much an imag eb~urtd f g
campaign as a lobbying
U.S. aid, claimed support among 12
black African nations, a statement
aimed at dispelling the frequent
criticism that his forces are backed
only bywhite-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 'Ibtal Indepen-
dence of Angola (UNITA)which
10-day trip to Washington,
started last 'Iliesday,~ ~s=~
cessful so far, espec' Y
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 `p'ant m 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
gpard 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 S2 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
The administration has
Mr. Savimbi openly or secretly and
whether U.S. su ort would flo_r~edo
auty last hones of a .S.-me fiend
t tra-
tion has re 10
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 m help us in
the most effective way. And the most
effective way is to give ua the aid we
are asking for."
Mr Sr+vimhi_ who said he 'a ~-
inQ 0o ut of the debate over seat or
~:A e:d hP nPtda nN- ant ne
anti-aircraft wesoons to combat
Gv:st.f*IaAP fAnltA_ 1VLL lEt f1QtIL21Y
and Hind 24 h liconter avnshios,
one of the most devastettna weavona
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 6orces working against
his aid, Mr. Savimbi said, arethe 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 aura 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 [acilities
without endangering Americans.
There are no current plans to at-
tackthe 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
then 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. Tf 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 guet`s'illa war-
fare:'
QpI1bQUf~
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Z.
He said he must bring the war to
the cities, through a?selective"cam.
paign of carbombings, explosives
and sniper attacks, oo force the An-
cgal settglem~~e+~d~~h~tic
elections.
As his own lobbying eQbrb t'e?
ceive widespread media attetttioo,
his U.5. opponents have also begun
their own campugn, which Mr.
la until ~,g,arese stoy~ued all
ai in 19~~a to to t
vttn t 0 con u-
ina tD _ve tm
" tat know me. He does
not know UNITA," svim sat
Kd reaa'mg t e most requent
criticism of his rebel movement, Mr.
Savimbi said he receives aid Prom
South Africa because it is offered.
But he has always condemned South
Africa's racial polides.
"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.
STAT
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