African Activist Archive

The mailing says one thousand people will die today in Angola; they will be killed in a war Jonas Savimbi and his UNITA movement are fighting to overturn Angola's internationally recognized democratic election. The mailing says as I write to you U.N. sponsored cease-fire negotiations are underway between the Angolan government and UNITA; we hope that these negotiations will bring a peace agreement; but the danger is that UNITA has made and broken many agreements in the past. The mailing says in Angola the killing goes on; the U.N. has designated Angola "the worst war in the world"; over 100,000 people have died since September 1992 when Savimbi went to war because he lost the election. The mailing says UNITA even fires on UN planes carrying food and medicine; until recently the city of Cuito had received only a handful of relief flights in many months; an eyewitness described how people "at the hospital would crawl on their knees to the veranda and eat grass, leaves and ants"; the last doctor fled the city driven by hunger. The mailing says UNITA is using hunger and disease as weapons in their war against the democratically elected government. The mailing says the U.S. is heavily responsible for the death and suffering in Angola; the CIA armed and financed UNITA to the tune of at least $45 million during the Reagan and Bush years; the U.S. and its allies have always refused to exert any effective pressure to force Savimbi to honor any of the previous cease fires, and only formally recognized the Angolan government in May. The mailing says in their savage war UNITA planted landmines, many of them from the U.S., which have maimed tens of thousands of people; because of these landmines Angola has over 55,000 amputees. The mailing says the Clinton Administration has taken a few steps to undo the damage; but much more is needed; there is a UN arms and oil embargo on UNITA but it goes largely unenforced; munitions and fuel are flown in regularly from South Africa; Mobutu's Zaire sells UNITA arms in return for plundered diamonds; the UN is trying to raise a $120 million fund for humanitarian relief; but less than half that amount has been pledged. The mailing says the first priority is public pressure on South African President F.W. de Klerk and Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire to stop all aid to UNITA; this needs to be backed up with satellite reconnaissance information on arms shipments; if there is a cease-fire, U.S. pressure will be needed to keep Savimbi from breaking the truce as he has so often in the past. The mailing says past U.S. administrations paid for UNITA's war machine; now it is time for the Clinton Administration to pay for humanitarian assistance for UNITA's victims; ACOA is mobilizing Americans from coast to coast to campaign for this new policy; you can add your voice today by signing the enclosed post card to President Clinton.

African Activist Archive

ANGOLA - THE WORLD'S WORST WAR

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