Military

DATE=10/25/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ANGOLA/U-S FIRM (L ONLY)

NUMBER=2-268426

BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA

DATELINE=PENTAGON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A private U-S defense consulting firm says it has all but given up hope of concluding a contract with Angola despite five years of effort and the backing of the Clinton administration. V-O-A Pentagon Correspondent Alex Belida reports.

TEXT: With reports circulating of field troops going unpaid and unsupplied while generals enrich themselves on lucrative arms sales kickbacks, it is little wonder that U-S military experts say Angola's armed forces need reform.

But Ed Soyster, spokesman for a Washington-area consulting firm that hoped to lead just such an overhaul, says his company, M-P-R-I, has virtually abandoned all hope of ever concluding a firm contract with Angolan authorities. He says that after five frustrating years, M-P-R-I which stands for Military Professional Resources Incorporated - will spend no more money trying.

Mr. Soyster puts the blame on Angolan authorities for declining to pay for the firm's services after initially approving its proposals. He says the company's experts were to conduct a thorough revamping of Angola's armed forces, with the goal of bringing transparency to military administration and financing. ///OPT/// M-P-R-I would have also conducted officer training, English-language training and special training for engineers involved in bridge and road repairs something urgently needed in war-ravaged Angola. ///END OPT///

The package was approved by the Clinton administration, which granted M-P-R-I a formal license for the project.

But that license expired last December with the program unimplemented. Mr. Soyster says subsequent efforts to revive talks on a modified contract have gotten nowhere. ///OPT/// An Angolan General (Military intelligence chief General Cirilo de Sa) who was in Washington this month as part of a delegation invited for bilateral talks at the State Department even declined an invitation to meet with M-P-R-I officials. ///END OPT///

Mr. Soyster says it does not appear that financing was the problem for Angola. Instead, he suggests a lack of payoffs for the officials involved in contract negotiations may have played a key role.

///REST OPTIONAL///

According to the U-S Department of Energy, oil-rich Angola received 900 million dollars last year alone in bonuses paid by foreign oil companies operating in the country. The money was not recorded in Angola's government budget although it is widely believed to have gone to finance arms purchases and military operations.

M-P-R-I is currently working in Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria as well as countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. The firm is made up of former military personnel who work under contract for the U-S government or, with official U-S approval, for foreign countries. (Signed)

NEB/BEL/PLM