Jonas Savimbi
Encyclopedia
Jonas Malheiro Savimbi was an Angola
n political leader. He founded and led UNITA
, a movement that first waged a guerrilla war
against Portuguese colonial rule, 1966–1974, then confronted the rival MPLA
during the decolonization conflict, 1974/75, and after independence in 1975 fought the ruling MPLA in the Angolan Civil War
until his death in a clash with government troops in 2002.
"Igreja Evangélica Congregacional de Angola", founded and maintained by American missionaries. Both his parents were members of the Bieno group of the Ovimbundu
, the people who later served as Savimbi's major political base.
In his early years, Savimbi was educated mainly in Protestant
schools, but also attended Roman Catholic schools. Eventually, at the age of 24, he was given a scholarship to study in Portugal
. There he became associated with students from Angola and other Portuguese colonies who were preparing themselves for anti-colonial resistance and had contacts with the clandestine Portuguese Communist Party. He knew Agostinho Neto
, who was at that time studying medicine and who later went on to become president of the MPLA and Angola's first state President. Under increasing pressure from the Portuguese secret police
(PIDE
), Savimbi left Portugal for Switzerland
with the assistance of Portuguese and French communists and other sympathizers, and eventually wound up in Lausanne
. Here he was able to obtain a new scholarship from American missionaries and studied social sciences. He then went on to the University at Fribourg
for further studies.
While there, probably in August 1960, he met Holden Roberto
who was already a rising star in émigré circles. Roberto was a founding member of the UPA (União das Populações de Angola) and was already known for his efforts to promote Angolan independence at the United Nations. He tried to recruit Savimbi who seems to have been undecided whether to commit himself to the cause of Angolan independence at this point in his life. At about this time Savimbi changed his course of study from medicine to political science.
Following Angola's independence in 1975, Savimbi gradually drew the intrigue of powerful Chinese
and, ultimately, American
policymakers and intellectuals. Trained in China
during the 1960s, Savimbi was a highly successful guerrilla fighter schooled in classic Maoist approaches to warfare, including baiting his enemies with multiple military fronts, some of which attacked and some of which consciously retreated. Like the Chinese Red Army
of Mao Zedong
, Savimbi mobilized large segments of the rural peasantry as part of his military tactics. From a military strategy standpoint, he is generally considered one of the most effective guerrilla leaders of the 20th century.
While Savimbi originally sought a leadership position in the Marxist MPLA, he later denounced Marxism and joined forces with the FNLA in 1964. The same year he conceived UNITA
with Antonio da Costa Fernandes
. Savimbi went to China for help and was promised arms and military training. Upon returning to Angola in 1966 he formally launched UNITA and began his career as an anti-Portuguese guerrilla fighter, but also fought the FNLA and MPLA, as the three resistance movements tried to position themselves to lead a post-colonial Angola. Portugal would later release PIDE
archives revealing that Savimbi in fact signed a collaboration pact with Portuguese colonial authorities to fight the MPLA.
Complementing his military skills, Savimbi also impressed many with his intellectual qualities. He spoke seven languages fluently - four European, three African. In visits to foreign diplomats and in speeches before American audiences, he often cited classical Western political and social philosophy, ultimately becoming one of the most vocal anti-communists of the Third World.
Some dismiss this intellectualism as nothing more than careful handling by his politically shrewd American supporters, who sought to present Savimbi as a clear alternative to Angola's communist government. But others saw it as genuine and a product of the guerrilla leader's intelligence. Savimbi's biography describes him as "...an incredible linguist. He spoke four European languages, including English although he had never lived in an English-speaking country. He was extremely well read. He was an extremely fine conversationalist and a very good listener."
These contrasting images of Savimbi would play out throughout his life, with his enemies calling him a power-hungry warmonger, and his American and other allies calling him a critical figure in the West's bid to win the Cold War.
and Washington viewing the conflict as important to the global balance of power. In 1985, with the backing of the Reagan
administration, Jack Abramoff
and other U.S. conservatives organized the Democratic International
in Savimbi's base in Jamba, in Cuando Cubango Province in southeastern Angola. The meeting included several of the "anti-communist" guerrilla leaders of the Third World, including Savimbi, Nicaraguan contra
leader Adolfo Calero
, and Abdul Rahim Wardak, then leader of Afghanistan
's mujahideen
who now serves as Afghanistan's Defense Minister.
Equally important, Savimbi also was strongly supported by the influential, conservative Heritage Foundation
. Heritage Foundation foreign policy analyst Michael Johns
and other conservatives visited regularly with Savimbi in his clandestine camps in Jamba and provided the rebel leader with ongoing political and military guidance in his war against the Angolan government. Savimbi's U.S.-based supporters ultimately proved successful in convincing the Central Intelligence Agency
to channel covert weapons and recruit guerrillas for Savimbi's war against Angola's Marxist government, which greatly intensified and prolonged the conflict.
During a visit to Washington, D.C.
in 1986, Reagan invited Savimbi to meet with him at the White House
. Following the meeting, Reagan spoke of UNITA winning "a victory that electrifies the world."
Two years later, with the Angolan Civil War intensifying, Savimbi returned to Washington, where he was filled with gratitude and praise for the Heritage Foundation's work on UNITA's behalf. "When we come to the Heritage Foundation", Savimbi said during a June 30, 1988 speech at the foundation, "it is like coming back home. We know that our success here in Washington in repealing the Clark Amendment and obtaining American assistance for our cause is very much associated with your efforts. This foundation has been a source of great support. The UNITA leadership knows this, and it is also known in Angola."
. As a consequence, Moscow and Havana
began to reevaluate their engagement in Angola, as Soviet and Cuban
fatalities mounted and Savimbi's ground control increased. By then UNITA
held total control of several limited areas, but was able to develop significant guerrilla operations everywhere in Angola, with the exception of the coastal cities and Namibe Province. At the height of his military success, Savimbi was beginning, in 1989 and 1990, to launch attacks on government and military targets in and around the country's capital, Luanda
. Observers felt that the strategic balance in Angola had shifted and that Savimbi was positioning UNITA for a possible military victory.
Signaling the concern that the former Soviet Union was placing on Savimbi's advance in Angola, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
raised the Angolan war with Reagan during numerous U.S.-Soviet summits. In addition to meeting with Reagan, Savimbi also met with Reagan's successor, George H. W. Bush
, who promised Savimbi "all appropriate and effective assistance."
In January 1990 and again in February 1990, Savimbi was wounded in armed conflict with Angolan government troops. But the injuries did not prevent him from again returning to Washington, D.C., where he met with his American supporters and President George H. W. Bush in an effort to further increase U.S. military assistance to UNITA. Savimbi's supporters warned that continued Soviet support for the MPLA was threatening broader global collaboration between Gorbachev and the U.S.
Under military pressure from UNITA, the Angolan government negotiated a cease-fire with Savimbi, and Savimbi ran for president in the national elections of 1992. Foreign monitors claimed the election to be fair. But because neither Savimbi nor Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos
obtained the 50 percent necessary to prevail, a run-off election was scheduled.
In late October 1992, Savimbi dispatched UNITA Vice President Jeremias Chitunda
and UNITA senior advisor Elias Salupeto Pena
to Luanda to negotiate the details of the run-off election. But on November 2, 1992 in Luanda, Chitunda and Pena's convoy was attacked by government forces and they were both pulled from their car and shot dead. Their bodies were confiscated by government authorities and never seen again. The offensive against Chitunda, Pena and other UNITA officials has come to be known as the Halloween Massacre
.
Alleging governmental electoral fraud and questioning the government's commitment to peace, Savimbi withdrew from the run-off election and resumed fighting, mostly with foreign funds. UNITA again quickly advanced militarily, encircling the nation's capital of Luanda
.
One of Savimbi's largest sources of financial support was the De Beers
Corporation, which bought between $500 and $800 million worth of illegally mined diamonds in 1992-1993. In 1994, UNITA signed a new peace accord, but Savimbi declined the vice-presidency that was offered to him and again renewed fighting in 1998.
Savimbi also purportedly purged some of those within UNITA who he may have seen as threats to his leadership or questioned his strategic course. Savimbi's foreign secretary, Tito Chingunji
and his family, were murdered in 1991 after Savimbi suspected that Chingunji had been in secret, unapproved negotiations with the Angolan government during Chingunji's various diplomatic assignments in Europe and the United States. Savimbi denied his involvement in the Chingunji killing and blamed it on UNITA dissidents.
, his birthplace. In the firefight, Savimbi sustained 15 wounds from machine gun fire to his head, throat, upper body and legs. While Savimbi returned fire, his wounds proved fatal almost immediately.
Savimbi's somewhat mystical reputation for eluding the Angolan military and their Soviet and Cuban military advisors led many Angolans to question the validity of reports of his 2002 death. Not until pictures of his bloodied and bullet-ridden body appeared on Angolan state television, and the United States State Department
subsequently confirmed it, did the reports of Savimbi's death in combat gain credence in the country. Savimbi was interred in Luena Main Cemetery in Luena, Moxico Province
. On January 3, 2008, Savimbi's tomb was vandalised and four members of the youth wing of the MPLA were charged and arrested.
, who assumed UNITA's leadership on an interim basis in February 2002. But Dembo had sustained wounds in the same attack that killed Savimbi, and he died from them ten days later. Dembo was succeeded by Paulo Lukamba
. In 2003, Lukamba was succeeded by Isaías Samakuva
, who served as UNITA's ambassador to Europe under Savimbi and has headed UNITA ever since.
Six weeks after Savimbi's death, a ceasefire between UNITA and the MPLA was signed, but Angola remains deeply divided politically between MPLA and UNITA supporters. Parliamentary elections in September 2008
resulted in an overwhelming majority for the MPLA, but their legitimacy was questioned by international observers.
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
n political leader. He founded and led UNITA
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the Angolan War for Independence and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war .The war was one...
, a movement that first waged a guerrilla war
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
against Portuguese colonial rule, 1966–1974, then confronted the rival MPLA
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola - Labour Party is a political party that has ruled Angola since the country's independence from Portugal in 1975...
during the decolonization conflict, 1974/75, and after independence in 1975 fought the ruling MPLA in the Angolan Civil War
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War was a major civil conflict in the Southern African state of Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with some interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. Prior to this, a decolonisation conflict had taken...
until his death in a clash with government troops in 2002.
Early years
Savimbi was born on August 3, 1934, in Munhango, Moxico Province, a small town on the Benguela Railway, and raised in Bié Province. Savimbi's father, Lote, was a stationmaster on Angola's Benguela railway line and a preacher of the ProtestantProtestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
"Igreja Evangélica Congregacional de Angola", founded and maintained by American missionaries. Both his parents were members of the Bieno group of the Ovimbundu
Ovimbundu
The Southern Mbundu, now generally called Ovimbundu , are an ethnic group who lives on the Bié Plateau of central Angola and in the coastal strip west of these highlands. As the largest ethnic group in Angola, they make up almost 40 percent of the country's population...
, the people who later served as Savimbi's major political base.
In his early years, Savimbi was educated mainly in Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
schools, but also attended Roman Catholic schools. Eventually, at the age of 24, he was given a scholarship to study in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. There he became associated with students from Angola and other Portuguese colonies who were preparing themselves for anti-colonial resistance and had contacts with the clandestine Portuguese Communist Party. He knew Agostinho Neto
Agostinho Neto
António Agostinho Neto served as the first President of Angola , leading the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the war for independence and the civil war...
, who was at that time studying medicine and who later went on to become president of the MPLA and Angola's first state President. Under increasing pressure from the Portuguese secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
(PIDE
PIDE
In 1969, Marcello Caetano changed the name PIDE to DGS . The death of Salazar and the subsequent ascension of Caetano brought some attempts at democratization, in order to avoid popular insurgency against censorship, the ongoing colonial war and the general restriction of civil rights...
), Savimbi left Portugal for Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
with the assistance of Portuguese and French communists and other sympathizers, and eventually wound up in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
. Here he was able to obtain a new scholarship from American missionaries and studied social sciences. He then went on to the University at Fribourg
Fribourg
Fribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
for further studies.
While there, probably in August 1960, he met Holden Roberto
Holden Roberto
Holden Álvaro Roberto founded and led the National Liberation Front of Angola from 1962 to 1999. His memoirs are unfinished.-Early life:...
who was already a rising star in émigré circles. Roberto was a founding member of the UPA (União das Populações de Angola) and was already known for his efforts to promote Angolan independence at the United Nations. He tried to recruit Savimbi who seems to have been undecided whether to commit himself to the cause of Angolan independence at this point in his life. At about this time Savimbi changed his course of study from medicine to political science.
Following Angola's independence in 1975, Savimbi gradually drew the intrigue of powerful Chinese
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
and, ultimately, American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
policymakers and intellectuals. Trained in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
during the 1960s, Savimbi was a highly successful guerrilla fighter schooled in classic Maoist approaches to warfare, including baiting his enemies with multiple military fronts, some of which attacked and some of which consciously retreated. Like the Chinese Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
of Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
, Savimbi mobilized large segments of the rural peasantry as part of his military tactics. From a military strategy standpoint, he is generally considered one of the most effective guerrilla leaders of the 20th century.
While Savimbi originally sought a leadership position in the Marxist MPLA, he later denounced Marxism and joined forces with the FNLA in 1964. The same year he conceived UNITA
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the Angolan War for Independence and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war .The war was one...
with Antonio da Costa Fernandes
Antonio da Costa Fernandes
Antonio da Costa Fernandes served as UNITA's representative to the United Kingdom. Along with Jonas Savimbi, he was co-founder of UNITA.Costa Fernandes studied with Savimbi, the future leader of UNITA, in Switzerland...
. Savimbi went to China for help and was promised arms and military training. Upon returning to Angola in 1966 he formally launched UNITA and began his career as an anti-Portuguese guerrilla fighter, but also fought the FNLA and MPLA, as the three resistance movements tried to position themselves to lead a post-colonial Angola. Portugal would later release PIDE
PIDE
In 1969, Marcello Caetano changed the name PIDE to DGS . The death of Salazar and the subsequent ascension of Caetano brought some attempts at democratization, in order to avoid popular insurgency against censorship, the ongoing colonial war and the general restriction of civil rights...
archives revealing that Savimbi in fact signed a collaboration pact with Portuguese colonial authorities to fight the MPLA.
Complementing his military skills, Savimbi also impressed many with his intellectual qualities. He spoke seven languages fluently - four European, three African. In visits to foreign diplomats and in speeches before American audiences, he often cited classical Western political and social philosophy, ultimately becoming one of the most vocal anti-communists of the Third World.
Some dismiss this intellectualism as nothing more than careful handling by his politically shrewd American supporters, who sought to present Savimbi as a clear alternative to Angola's communist government. But others saw it as genuine and a product of the guerrilla leader's intelligence. Savimbi's biography describes him as "...an incredible linguist. He spoke four European languages, including English although he had never lived in an English-speaking country. He was extremely well read. He was an extremely fine conversationalist and a very good listener."
These contrasting images of Savimbi would play out throughout his life, with his enemies calling him a power-hungry warmonger, and his American and other allies calling him a critical figure in the West's bid to win the Cold War.
Savimbi's Washington allies
As the MPLA was supported by the "Soviet block" since 1974, and declared itself "Marxist-Leninist" in 1977, Savimbi repealed his earlier Maoist leanings, and contacts with China, posing on the international scene as a protagonist of anti-communism. The war between the MPLA and UNITA, whatever its internal reasons and dynamics, thus became a sub-plot to the Cold War, with both MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and Washington viewing the conflict as important to the global balance of power. In 1985, with the backing of the Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
administration, Jack Abramoff
Jack Abramoff
Jack Abramoff is an American former lobbyist and businessman. Convicted in 2006 of mail fraud and conspiracy, he was at the heart of an extensive corruption investigation that led to the conviction of White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian, U.S. Representative Bob Ney, and nine...
and other U.S. conservatives organized the Democratic International
Democratic International
The Democratic International, also known as the Jamboree in Jamba, was a 1985 meeting of anti-Communist militants held at the headquarters of UNITA in Jamba, Angola....
in Savimbi's base in Jamba, in Cuando Cubango Province in southeastern Angola. The meeting included several of the "anti-communist" guerrilla leaders of the Third World, including Savimbi, Nicaraguan contra
Contras
The contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle's dictatorship...
leader Adolfo Calero
Adolfo Calero
Adolfo Calero Portocarrero was a Nicaraguan businessman, and leader of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, which was the largest contra rebel group opposing the Sandinista government. In the contra leadership, Calero was responsible for managing the bank accounts into which money was deposited and...
, and Abdul Rahim Wardak, then leader of Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
's mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
who now serves as Afghanistan's Defense Minister.
Equally important, Savimbi also was strongly supported by the influential, conservative Heritage Foundation
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...
. Heritage Foundation foreign policy analyst Michael Johns
Michael Johns (executive)
Michael Johns is an American health care executive, former federal government of the United States official and conservative policy analyst and writer.-Biography:...
and other conservatives visited regularly with Savimbi in his clandestine camps in Jamba and provided the rebel leader with ongoing political and military guidance in his war against the Angolan government. Savimbi's U.S.-based supporters ultimately proved successful in convincing the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
to channel covert weapons and recruit guerrillas for Savimbi's war against Angola's Marxist government, which greatly intensified and prolonged the conflict.
During a visit to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in 1986, Reagan invited Savimbi to meet with him at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. Following the meeting, Reagan spoke of UNITA winning "a victory that electrifies the world."
Two years later, with the Angolan Civil War intensifying, Savimbi returned to Washington, where he was filled with gratitude and praise for the Heritage Foundation's work on UNITA's behalf. "When we come to the Heritage Foundation", Savimbi said during a June 30, 1988 speech at the foundation, "it is like coming back home. We know that our success here in Washington in repealing the Clark Amendment and obtaining American assistance for our cause is very much associated with your efforts. This foundation has been a source of great support. The UNITA leadership knows this, and it is also known in Angola."
Savimbi's military success
As U.S. support began to flow liberally and leading U.S. conservatives championed his cause, Savimbi won major strategic advantages in the late 1980s, and again in the early 1990s, after having taken part unsuccessfully in the general elections of 1992Angolan general election, 1992
General elections were held in Angola on 29 and 30 September 1992 to elect a President and National Assembly, the first time multi-party elections had been held in the country. They followed the signing of the Bicesse Accord on 31 May 1991 in an attempt to end the 17-year long civil war...
. As a consequence, Moscow and Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
began to reevaluate their engagement in Angola, as Soviet and Cuban
Cubans
Cubans or Cuban people are the inhabitants or citizens of Cuba. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
fatalities mounted and Savimbi's ground control increased. By then UNITA
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the Angolan War for Independence and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war .The war was one...
held total control of several limited areas, but was able to develop significant guerrilla operations everywhere in Angola, with the exception of the coastal cities and Namibe Province. At the height of his military success, Savimbi was beginning, in 1989 and 1990, to launch attacks on government and military targets in and around the country's capital, Luanda
Luanda
Luanda, formerly named São Paulo da Assunção de Loanda, is the capital and largest city of Angola. Located on Angola's coast with the Atlantic Ocean, Luanda is both Angola's chief seaport and its administrative center. It has a population of at least 5 million...
. Observers felt that the strategic balance in Angola had shifted and that Savimbi was positioning UNITA for a possible military victory.
Signaling the concern that the former Soviet Union was placing on Savimbi's advance in Angola, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
raised the Angolan war with Reagan during numerous U.S.-Soviet summits. In addition to meeting with Reagan, Savimbi also met with Reagan's successor, George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
, who promised Savimbi "all appropriate and effective assistance."
In January 1990 and again in February 1990, Savimbi was wounded in armed conflict with Angolan government troops. But the injuries did not prevent him from again returning to Washington, D.C., where he met with his American supporters and President George H. W. Bush in an effort to further increase U.S. military assistance to UNITA. Savimbi's supporters warned that continued Soviet support for the MPLA was threatening broader global collaboration between Gorbachev and the U.S.
Under military pressure from UNITA, the Angolan government negotiated a cease-fire with Savimbi, and Savimbi ran for president in the national elections of 1992. Foreign monitors claimed the election to be fair. But because neither Savimbi nor Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos
José Eduardo dos Santos
José Eduardo dos Santos is an Angolan politician who has been the second and current President of Angola since 1979. As President, José Eduardo dos Santos is also the commander in chief of the Angolan Armed Forces and president of the MPLA , the party that has been ruling Angola since...
obtained the 50 percent necessary to prevail, a run-off election was scheduled.
In late October 1992, Savimbi dispatched UNITA Vice President Jeremias Chitunda
Jeremias Chitunda
Jeremias Kalandula Chitunda served as the Vice President of UNITA until his assassination in Luanda, as part of the Halloween Massacre shortly after the first round of the presidential election, held on September 29-30...
and UNITA senior advisor Elias Salupeto Pena
Elias Salupeto Pena
Elias Salupeto Pena served as the representative of UNITA, an anti-Communist rebel group that fought against the MPLA in the Angolan Civil War, to the Joint Military and Political Commission...
to Luanda to negotiate the details of the run-off election. But on November 2, 1992 in Luanda, Chitunda and Pena's convoy was attacked by government forces and they were both pulled from their car and shot dead. Their bodies were confiscated by government authorities and never seen again. The offensive against Chitunda, Pena and other UNITA officials has come to be known as the Halloween Massacre
Halloween Massacre (Angola)
The Halloween Massacre refers to events which took place from October 30 to November 1, 1992 in Luanda, Angola as part of the Angolan Civil War.-Context:...
.
Alleging governmental electoral fraud and questioning the government's commitment to peace, Savimbi withdrew from the run-off election and resumed fighting, mostly with foreign funds. UNITA again quickly advanced militarily, encircling the nation's capital of Luanda
Luanda
Luanda, formerly named São Paulo da Assunção de Loanda, is the capital and largest city of Angola. Located on Angola's coast with the Atlantic Ocean, Luanda is both Angola's chief seaport and its administrative center. It has a population of at least 5 million...
.
One of Savimbi's largest sources of financial support was the De Beers
De Beers
De Beers is a family of companies that dominate the diamond, diamond mining, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. De Beers is active in every category of industrial diamond mining: open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial, coastal and deep sea...
Corporation, which bought between $500 and $800 million worth of illegally mined diamonds in 1992-1993. In 1994, UNITA signed a new peace accord, but Savimbi declined the vice-presidency that was offered to him and again renewed fighting in 1998.
Savimbi also purportedly purged some of those within UNITA who he may have seen as threats to his leadership or questioned his strategic course. Savimbi's foreign secretary, Tito Chingunji
Tito Chingunji
Tito Chingunji served as the foreign secretary of Angola's UNITA rebel movement in the 1980s and early 1990s. In the mid-1980s, he was UNITA's representative in Washington, D.C....
and his family, were murdered in 1991 after Savimbi suspected that Chingunji had been in secret, unapproved negotiations with the Angolan government during Chingunji's various diplomatic assignments in Europe and the United States. Savimbi denied his involvement in the Chingunji killing and blamed it on UNITA dissidents.
2002: Killed in combat
After surviving more than a dozen assassination attempts, Savimbi was killed on February 22, 2002, in a battle with Angolan government troops along riverbanks in the province of MoxicoMoxico (province)
Moxico is the largest province of the African nation of Angola. It has an area of 223,023 km² and a population of approximately 230,000. Luena is the capital of the province....
, his birthplace. In the firefight, Savimbi sustained 15 wounds from machine gun fire to his head, throat, upper body and legs. While Savimbi returned fire, his wounds proved fatal almost immediately.
Savimbi's somewhat mystical reputation for eluding the Angolan military and their Soviet and Cuban military advisors led many Angolans to question the validity of reports of his 2002 death. Not until pictures of his bloodied and bullet-ridden body appeared on Angolan state television, and the United States State Department
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
subsequently confirmed it, did the reports of Savimbi's death in combat gain credence in the country. Savimbi was interred in Luena Main Cemetery in Luena, Moxico Province
Luena, Moxico Province
Luena is a town located in east central Angola. It is the administrative capital of Moxico Province. While no exact figures are available, estimates on the population of the city varies from 60,000 to 200,000 residents, including an unknown number of refugees from the Angolan Civil War that...
. On January 3, 2008, Savimbi's tomb was vandalised and four members of the youth wing of the MPLA were charged and arrested.
UNITA after Savimbi
Savimbi was succeeded by António DemboAntonio Dembo
General António Sebastião Dembo served as Vice President and later President of UNITA, an anti-Communist rebel group that fought against the MPLA in the Angolan Civil War....
, who assumed UNITA's leadership on an interim basis in February 2002. But Dembo had sustained wounds in the same attack that killed Savimbi, and he died from them ten days later. Dembo was succeeded by Paulo Lukamba
Paulo Lukamba
General Paulo Armindo Lukamba "Gato" led UNITA, an anti-Communist rebel group that fought against the MPLA in the Angolan Civil War, from the death of António Dembo on March 3, 2002 until he lost the 2003 leadership election to Isaías Samakuva.Lukamba was born in the province of Huambo, in central...
. In 2003, Lukamba was succeeded by Isaías Samakuva
Isaias Samakuva
Isaías Henrique Ngola Samakuva is an Angolan politician who has been the President of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola since 2003....
, who served as UNITA's ambassador to Europe under Savimbi and has headed UNITA ever since.
Six weeks after Savimbi's death, a ceasefire between UNITA and the MPLA was signed, but Angola remains deeply divided politically between MPLA and UNITA supporters. Parliamentary elections in September 2008
Angolan legislative election, 2008
A legislative election was held in Angola on September 5 and September 6, 2008, as announced by President José Eduardo dos Santos on December 27, 2007. The 220 seats in the National Assembly were at stake. The 2008 election was the first election in Angola since 1992;...
resulted in an overwhelming majority for the MPLA, but their legitimacy was questioned by international observers.
Quotes
- "I am not communist because it serves no purpose. Nor am I a capitalist. Socialism in this country is the only answer. Those who led the country to independence cannot become the exploiters of the people. We want a socialist system, but which? There is the orthodox one and the extremist one. We want the democratic one, social democracySocial democracySocial democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
." - Savimbi on his ideology - "I am against nationalization; it is a disease which saps the strength of a national economy. The real question is the renegotiation of allowable profits. Foreign companies need their profits, they would not invest without them. But the people of Angola need their share. When Angola is independent the investors must know that the people will have a greater share."
- "We support completely the atmosphere of détenteDétenteDétente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
. There is a need to live together peacefully in this area, that is a must. That is why we back completely the initiatives of Presidents KaundaKenneth KaundaKenneth David Kaunda, known as KK, served as the first President of Zambia, from 1964 to 1991.-Early life:Kaunda was the youngest of eight children. He was born at Lubwa Mission in Chinsali, Northern Province of Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia...
, NyerereJulius NyerereJulius Kambarage Nyerere was a Tanzanian politician who served as the first President of Tanzania and previously Tanganyika, from the country's founding in 1961 until his retirement in 1985....
and Seretse KhamaSeretse KhamaSir Seretse Khama, KBE was a statesman from Botswana. Born into one of the more powerful of the royal families of what was then the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland, and educated abroad in neighbouring South Africa and in the United Kingdom, he returned home—with a popular but controversial...
. Prime Minister VorsterB.J. VorsterBalthazar Johannes Vorster , better known as John Vorster, served as the Prime Minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978 and as the fourth State President of South Africa from 1978 to 1979...
is an intelligent leader and he must know that the independence of Angola will have an effect on South Africa. I hope the future leader of this country will be realistic. We have a dam at CuneneCunene (province)Cunene is a province of Angola. It has an area of 87,342 km² and a population of approximately 200,000 to 300,000.-Overview:Ondjiva is the capital of the province it was previously known as Vila Pereira d’Eça . Ondjiva is the only city in this province...
. We have investments involving South Africa. Should we ostracize them? I hope that a leader here will be realistic enough to cooperate with any country despite differences in political systems." - "Only elections — free elections — under OAU control can provide a final solution. But first there will have to be a short period of transitional government in which both sides would be represented. But in the end, the ballot must decide, not bullets."
Books
- The War Against Soviet Colonialism: The Strategy and Tactics of Anti-Communist Resistance, Winter 1986. Policy ReviewPolicy ReviewPolicy Review is one of America's leading conservative journals. It was founded by the Heritage Foundation and was for many years the foundation's flagship publication. In 2001, the publication was acquired by the Stanford University-based Hoover Institution, though it maintains its office on...
, Volume 35.
Further reading
- Bridgland, Fred. Jonas Savimbi: A Key to Africa. Hodder & Stoughton General Division. ISBN 0340422181.
- Chilcote, Ronald H. Emerging nationalism in Portuguese Africa . Hoover Institutions publications, 97 Stanford, Calif. Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University [1972], ISBN 0817919716.
- Christine Messiant, "Les Eglises et la dernière guerre en Angola. Les voies difficiles de l'engagement pour une paix juste", LFM. Social sciences & missions, No.13, Oct. 2003, pp. 75–117.
External links
- Biographical Entry at BlackPast.orgBlackPast.orgBlackPast.org is a web-based free content reference center that is dedicated primarily to the understanding of African American history and the history of people of African ancestry...
- Jonas Savimbi at the Notable Names Database.
- "White House Statement on the President's Meeting with Jonas Savimbi", June 30, 1988.
- "Genocide of Christians in Angola, UN and the resistance of UNITA", Webarchive, 2000.
- "Angola Rebels Demand Death Probe", BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, February 28, 2002.
Speeches and essays
- "The Coming Winds of Democracy in Angola", Jonas Savimbi speech to the Heritage FoundationHeritage FoundationThe Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...
, October 5, 1989. - Policy Review vol. 35, contains Savimbi's 1986 essay "The War Against Soviet Colonialism".