Jonas Savimbi, CIA Terrorist, Reported Killed Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Sat Feb 23, 5:00 AM ET - via Yahoo Angola's Rebel Savimbi Killed in Battle, Govt Says By Justin Pearce LUANDA (Reuters) - The Angolan government said it would prove veteran UNITA rebel leader Jonas Savimbi was dead by bringing his body to the capital Saturday. It announced Savimbi was killed Friday in a battle with Luanda's troops, fueling hopes for an end to one of Africa's longest-running wars. The elusive 67-year-old guerrilla fighter -- who combined charisma and guile to wage a decades-old struggle for power -- died in a clash with army troops in Moxico province, the government said. "The government of the Republic of Angola would like to inform the national and international public of the death of Jonas Malheiro Savimbi," it said in a statement. There was no official reaction from UNITA, but an unofficial UNITA contact in Lisbon, Rui Oliveira, said: "We are waiting for our forces in the interior to get in contact with us, only after that can we talk." State radio said Savimbi's body would be flown to the capital Saturday from Moxico and displayed in public. A senior Angolan intelligence officer speaking to Reuters by satellite phone said Savimbi was "shot several times" during a battle with government forces. Savimbi and some of his troops had been surrounded by the army since Monday, the intelligence officer said, adding that up to two dozen people died in the battle. A regional military source in Pretoria told Reuters that Savimbi actually died earlier in the week but that Luanda had delayed announcing his death to coincide with President Eduardo dos Santos's visit to the United States Monday. "Of all the reports over the years of Savimbi being killed, this one sounds the most credible," the source said. "Our information is that he actually died early in the week Monday or Tuesday. But the government wanted maximum propaganda out of the killing ahead of the president's visit to Washington next week," the source added. The whereabouts of Savimbi's two most senior aides, vice-president Antonio Dembo and secretary-general Paulo Lukamba Gato remained unknown, fueling speculation they too may have been caught up in the fighting along the Zambian frontier. JUBILANT MOOD News of Savimbi's death was greeted with celebrations in the poorer outlying slums of Luanda Friday evening, but the capital was quiet early Saturday as people waited for fresh announcements from the government or UNITA. People let off flares and cars and minibuses blew their horns Friday while military trucks drove past with soldiers in a jubilant mood. "He just wanted war, war, war," one man said. "I think peace will come now because Savimbi was one of the principal figures of the rebellion." Savimbi was the founding father of UNITA (the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), which he said was born as an army of "12 people with knives" in 1966. Big and barrel-chested with matching ivory-handled pistols at his hip, Savimbi combined charisma, guile and a deep understanding of Angola's history to motivate his army to fight. The war in the former Portuguese colony in southwestern Africa has dragged on since 1975 and claimed an estimated one million lives. A Western diplomat in Luanda called Savimbi's death a "major breakthrough" for peace. "The war will end. Maybe UNITA will not disband straight away, but it changes the whole nature of the conflict. I can't imagine it continuing as before," the diplomat said. Other diplomats said Savimbi's death was a severe blow to morale, but UNITA remained an experienced fighting force and could still wreak havoc in the southern African state. "UNITA is no doubt heavily wounded by Savimbi's death. This could be the biggest blow to the UNITA movement since its inception," an African diplomat based in Pretoria said. "But long experience for UNITA also means that the movement can easily adapt to shock waves and continue to fight on," the diplomat added. UN SEEKS TO REVIVE TALKS The report of Savimbi's death comes as the United Nations (news - web sites) tries to revive peace talks between Luanda's government and Savimbi's forces. The two sides have clung to entrenched political positions while the country is mired in poverty despite a wealth of diamonds and oil that has financed both sides in the civil war. The stocky, ebullient son of a railway stationmaster, Savimbi studied medicine in Lisbon and political science in Switzerland. He left Europe in 1961 to fight Portuguese rule. His forces and allies came close to controlling Angola in fighting after the end of Portuguese rule. However, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, backed by Cuban troops, swept through the country and won widespread recognition as the government of Angola. Savimbi's charm worked as well in the West as it did in the Angolan interior when, soon after independence, Angola became a playground for Cold War proxies. With the Soviet Union, via Cuba, backing the then-Marxist MPLA and the United States, through South Africa, supporting UNITA, Savimbi accepted the patronage of the white apartheid state, while styling himself as an African nationalist. (with additional reporting by Buchizya Mseteka in Johannesburg, Ian Simpson and Carlos Alberto in Lisbon.) ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytaf-02.23.02-05:49:44-13178