DATE=10/20/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ANGOLA / UNITA (L)
NUMBER=2-255277
BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA
DATELINE=JOHANNESBURG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The government of Angola says its troops have
captured the main strongholds of the UNITA rebel
movement. V-O-A Southern Africa Correspondent Alex
Belida has been monitoring developments in Angola's
civil war and has this report.
TEXT: The fall of UNITA's twin strongholds of Andulo
and Bailundo in the country's war-ravaged Central
Highlands region was announced in an official
government communique. The brief document said
several other towns previously occupied by UNITA had
also been captured by government troops, backed by
police and civil defense forces. It gave no other
details.
A reporter for one of Angola's few independent news
organizations confirmed the fall of Bailundo in a
radio broadcast from the former rebel stronghold.
Efforts to contact UNITA officials via satellite
telephone were unsuccessful.
/// REST OPTIONAL ///
In recent statements, the rebels claimed they were
successfully resisting attacks on their Central
Highlands bases. They also claimed the government
military offensive, under way since last month, was on
the verge of collapse.
Angola has been battered by civil war for more than
two decades. A 1994 peace agreement backed by the
United Nations halted the fighting. But the agreement
collapsed and fighting resumed late last year
following charges that UNITA had failed to live up to
its demilitarization commitments under the peace
accord. (Signed)
NEB/BEL/JP
20-Oct-1999 10:10 AM EDT (20-Oct-1999 1410 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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