DATE=1/27/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ANGOLA / U-N PLANES (L-O)
NUMBER=2-258482
BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA
DATELINE=JOHANNESBURG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Doubts are being raised about the credibility
of testimony to the U-N Security Council accusing
Angola's UNITA rebel movement of downing two U-N
aircraft a year ago. V-O-A Correspondent Alex Belida
reports from our Southern Africa Bureau.
TEXT: South African military affairs expert Jakkie
Potgieter is blunt in his assessment of the video-
taped testimony of UNITA defectors that was presented
to the Security Council last week. Mr. Potgieter says
their widely-publicized claims about the downing of
two U-N chartered aircraft are - clearly a
fabrication.
The chairman of the U-N ANGOLA Sanctions Committee,
Canadian Robert Fowler,interviewed the defectors in
Angola. They say the two U-N planes were brought down
by shoulder-launched surface-to-air-missiles at the
personal orders of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi.
All 23 people on the two chartered cargo planes died
in the separate incidents in Angola's Central Highland
on December 26th, 1998 and January 2nd, 1999.
But Mr. Potgieter, an analyst on Angolan affairs and
regional security issues at South Africa's respected
Institute for Security Studies, tells V-O-A one of the
aircraft was struck at an altitude (45-hundred meters)
far beyond the capability of any weapons known to be
in the rebels' arsenal.
He also says there are inconsistencies in the actual
videotaped statements of the defectors, including
conflicting references to the planes being downed by
shoulder-fired missiles and by anti-aircraft guns.
/// OPT /// That inconsistency appears even in
printed excerpts of the defectors' statements issued
by the United Nations. At one point in these
excerpts, a former rebel colonel (identified as Jose
Antonio Gille) refers to both "missiles" and "the
gun", prompting Ambassador Fowler to ask for
clarification. The defector's answer, according to
the U-N transcript, is "It was portable" -- to which
is appended a translator's note saying this means, "it
was not a gun," but a shoulder-fired missile. /// END
OPT ///
Mr. Potgieter says there are large, vehicle-mounted
anti-aircraft missiles that could have brought down
the U-N plane known to have been beyond the range of
shoulder-launched weapons and conventional anti-
aircraft guns. But he says UNITA is not believed to
have any such vehicle-mounted systems. The analyst
says Angolan government armed forces do have this type
of longer-range missile.
UNITA has denied any responsibility for the downing of
the U-N planes. In an interview with V-O-A last week,
rebel foreign secretary Alcides Sakala blamed the
Angolan government.
Mr. Sakala charged the downing of the aircraft was in
support of a successful effort by President Jose
Eduardo Dos Santos to force U-N peacekeepers out of
the country. He also charged the defectors were
forced to say what their Angolan government captors
wanted them to say.
Ambassador Fowler told reporters last week that there
had been no indications that the former UNITA fighters
had been coerced.
/// OPT /// In response to questions about the
credibility of the defectors, Mr. Fowler said members
of his sanctions panel who accompanied him to Angola
had been able to corroborate their testimony. But it
is not clear whether this included the former rebels'
statements about the downed U-N planes. The Canadian
ambassador said dealing with those incidents was not
formally within his mandate -- even though he recorded
their comments on the matter. /// END OPT ///
Analysts say they are shocked Ambassador Fowler does
not appear to have questioned the defectors' testimony
before presenting it to the Security Council and
releasing it to the public. They say it is still
possible that UNITA was the true culprit in the
downing of the planes, but not in the way described by
the former rebels.
The analysts say this calls into question the
credibility of other claims presented by Mr. Fowler to
the United Nations. Among other statements, the
Canadian envoy said international sanctions against
UNITA are working and could bring the long-running
civil war in Angola to an early end. (SIGNED)
NEB/BEL/JWH/RAE
27-Jan-2000 09:07 AM EDT (27-Jan-2000 1407 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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