SAVIMBI MAY REQUEST ASSISTANCE FROM U.S. FOR REBELS IN ANGOLA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706550001-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 2, 2011
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 9, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000706550001-1
ARTICLE AP?EARED
ONPAGE 6-AN
WASHINGTON TIMES
9 October 1985
Savimbi may request
assistance. from U.S.
for re
bell inAngola
By Michael Sullivan ["The whole concept of giving humani-
MAVINGA, Angola - With the repeal
of the Clark Amendment, which barred
American support to his UNITA guerrilla
movement, Jonas Savimbi says he will
ask Washington for aid to support his
insurgency.
Mr. Savimbi, dressed in camouflage
uniform with a Soviet-designed assault
rifle slung over his shoulder, spoke to
journalists here after a recent heavy
offensive by government forces. He said
UNITA, the National Union for the 'Ibtal
Independence of Angola, turned back the
offensive with the help of record
quantities of aid sent by some African
and Arab states.
Mr. Savimbi said he is talking to U.S.
officials about the possibility of obtain-
ing American aid in the future.
"I am making an effort to make my
case known;" Mr. Savimbi said. "The sym-
pathy is there, I can assure you."
He said UNITA officials have visited
Washington recently to sound out the
administration and Congress on the pos-
sibility of receiving assistance, which he
said would be similar to the aid UNITA is
receiving from South Africa - "humani-
tarian, material and moral"
The United States was prohibited from
aiding Mr. Savimbi's UNITA movement
under the Clark Amendment, which was
repealed earlier this year. As soon as the
repeal took effect at the beginning of
October, Rep. Claude Pepper, a Florida
Democrat, introduced a bill to give $27
million in humanitarian assistance to
UNITA - the same amount given to the
contras in Nicaragua.
[A State Department official said yes-
terday that while American officials
maintain contact with UNITA, "we have
not received any official request for aid"
The spokesman, who declined to be iden-
tified, said the United States believes the
conflict in Angola should be resolved
through negotiations, not force.
[UNITAs secretary for foreign affairs,
Jeremias K. Chitunda, said in Washing-
ton that while the group would be happy
to receive the humanitarian assistance
proposed by Mr. Pepper, he believes the
United States should supply military
assistance as well.
uereausr amtuae;' he said.]
In his briefing here, Mr. Savimbi said
the recent government offensive against
UNITA, called the strongest challenge
the movement has seen in its 10 years,
was aimed at more than destroying the
organization. He said the attack, com-
manded partly by Soviet officers, was
intended to dissuade the United States
from getting involved in Angola in the
face of a stepped-up Soviet commitment
in the country.
"It is my conviction the Russians
wanted to test the will of the West;" Mr.
Savimbi said of the latest offensive.
UNITA claims it beat back the attack,
evidently aimed at capturing the move-
ment's headquarters at Jamba in
southeastern Angola. It brought journal-
ists on a tour here earlier this week to
back up its claim.
The journalists met with a captured
Angolan MiG-24 pilot, who spoke fluent
Russian and supported claims of
increased Soviet involvement in Angolan
military operations.
Though Mr. Savimbi said he will seek
American support, he said he believes
the Gulf Oil facilities in Angola's oil-rich
Cabinda Province are "legitimate tar-
gets." In any strike at the partly
American-owned facilities, he said,
UNITA would "be careful not to hurt the
Americans:'
Mr. Savimbi said he "sent some feelers
to Gulf" about the oil company's oper-
ations in Cabinda, but that the company
did not want to talk to him.
The bearded 51-year-old guerrilla
campaigner was upbeat during his
briefing, held in a recently dug bunker
camouflaged by fresh-cut thatch and
branches. Dressed in a camouflage uni-
form and cap in addition to the assault
rifle slung over his left shoulder, Mr.
Savimbi carried a pearl-handled Colt
revolver on his right hip.
While openly acknowledging
increased support from South Africa,
Mr. Savimbi was adamant that no South
African soldiers had been involved in the
recent fighting.
"I want to deny" reports of South Afri-
can military involvement, he said. "We
did not need it. We did not request it.
South Africa was not prepared to give it.
"It is not troops I needed, I will not ask
for troops.... My troops are far better;"
he said.
The Swiss-educated rebel leader was
equally adamant that the South African
Air Force was not used in defeating the
government offensive, which UNITA says
it turned back late last month at a battle
along the Lomba River northwest of
Mavinga.
"I never asked for South African air
support;' Mr. Savimbi said, saying he
doubted the South Africans would pro-
vide him with any.
But he said that since the latest attacks
were launched in July on two fronts -
against the towns of Cazombo and
Mavinga- UNITA has received stepped-
up direct support not only from Pretoria,
but from Arab and black African states.
He said he has also received assistance
from West European countries that used
other nations as intermediaries.
Aid has poured in in the past four
weeks, he said, giving UNITA "more
sophisticated weapons than in 10 years"
of previous fighting.
Most of the new weaponry has been in
shipments of 23mm anti-aircraft guns,
anti-tank weapons, cannons and mortars,
half of which came directly from South
Africa.
"South Africa brought the other weap-
ons [from other countries] to us," Mr.
Savimbi said, without revealing which
countries sent him support.
At Mavinga, aid that was kept from the
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eyes of visitors before was no longer hid-
den. Journalists were given South Afri-
can army rations, and crates for 81mm
mortars were openly visible.
It appears that the increase in weap-
ons helped UNITA turn the tide against
government forces in the battle at Lomba
River.
Mr. Savimbi was sharply critical of
increased Soviet support for the govern-
ment of Eduardo dos Santos, and he saw
the latest fighting as an indication of
more-direct Soviet involvement in
Angola.
nated by Soviet officers command'na Air
and round o era~tioonns, and UNITA
Calms to have tired at lest nine Sevier
and 38 Cubans in the latest fighting.
The journalists were allowed to talk to
a captured Angolan MiG-21 pilot,
Francisco Matamba, who confirmed that
Soviet pilots now are flying combat mis-
sions in Angola to- support the Angolan
arm
y. e
The 22-year-old second lieutenant said
he was shot down Oct. 3 r r the Lomba
River while covering th retreat of a
heavy Angolan armored ~umn that had
been mauled by UNITA. I major consid-
eration appeared to be keeping any
Soviet officers directing the column
from being captured by UNITA.
Lt. Matamba, his right arm in a sling
because he was injured while par
achuting from his MiG, said he had
trained three years in the Soviet Unidh
and flew 45 combat missions, 20 of whicjt
were against Mavinga. Mavinga has been
bombed by MiGs for several weeks,
although there appears to be little if any
damage to UNITA positions and no dam-
age to the airstrip.
Lt. Matamba said MiG-23 fighters
from Lubango and four Su-22 ground
attack fighters from Luanda had been
moved to Menongue to support the cur-
rent offensive. Thg MiGs, he said were
flown by Cubans, Russians and
Angolans, while the Su-22s were piloted
by Angolans and Soviets.
There were, he said, at least three
Soviet MiG-21 pilots based at Menongue,
as well as Soviet radar operators. ,
Concerning South African air
involvement, Lt. Matamba said radar
operators "told us South African planes
had been seen;' but that he had never
seen any himself.
Washington Times staff writers in
Washington contributed to this report.
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000706550001-1