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DATE=2/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ANGOLA WAR (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259556
BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA
DATELINE=JOHANNESBURG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:   Angola's president says the UNITA rebel 
movement  no  longer poses a serious threat to his 
government.  But V-O-A Southern Africa Correspondent 
Alex Belida reports analysts in the region say the 
rebels are stepping up guerrilla attacks around the 
country.
TEXT:  Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos 
acknowledges the UNITA rebels have  not  been totally 
defeated.  But he says the rebels, led by Jonas 
Savimbi, have been so militarily weakened that they  
no  longer pose a serious threat.
Mr. Dos Santos' comments came at a meeting in Luanda 
of the Central Committee of his ruling M-P-L-A party, 
the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola.  
He says the authority of his government is now 
unchallenged around the country and that control has 
been restored over the country's southern border with 
Namibia as well as its northern border with Congo-
Kinshasa.  The Angolan leader says government forces 
are moving increasingly closer to regaining control 
over the eastern border with Zambia.
There has been  no  immediate reaction to Mr. Dos 
Santos' comments from the UNITA rebels, who have been 
in only intermittent contact with journalists since 
abandoning key strongholds last year in the face of 
Angolan government military offensives.
However, regional security experts in southern Africa 
are describing as unwarranted the Angolan President's 
contention that the rebels  no  longer pose a serious 
threat.  One analyst at South Africa's respected 
Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria told V-O-A 
that he believes Mr. Dos Santos is seriously mistaken 
and can expect what the analyst terms "a nasty 
surprise."
Experts say the rebels in recent weeks have stepped up 
their guerrilla attacks around Angola -- from the 
north near the important oil center of Soyo to the 
country's far south along the Namibian border, where 
UNITA forces are reported to have launched a counter-
offensive.
Military sources indicate the rebels are continuing to 
receive supplies despite the government's successful 
offensives and the stricter enforcement of 
international sanctions aimed at preventing UNITA from 
re-arming.  (Signed)  
NEB/BEL/JWH/KL/Africa
25-Feb-2000 09:47 AM EDT (25-Feb-2000 1447 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.