"the endangered painted hunting dog, ""Lycaon pictus"", which is now deemed extirpated in the local area. Throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s, Cuando Cubango served as the location for the primary base camp of Angola's UNITA rebel movement, led by Jonas Savimbi. The rebel movement received support from the United States as part of the Cold War conflict against Angola's Marxist government, which was supported by the Soviet Union, Cuba and other communist states. Savimbi and UNITA maintained a large and clandestine base camp in the Cubando Cubango town of Jamba. The camp was protected by anti-aircraft weapons and"
"the office of the leader of UNITA, Jonas Savimbi, thence to the region Kubango, which began coordinating the logistics of UNITA in the so-called on South front. In 1979 he was a delegate to the 12th Annual Conference of UNITA and elected member of the Central Committee, having been transferred to South Africa as representative of the movement led by Jonas Savimbi in that country. In 1984, he was appointed vice-president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of UNITA, and in 1986, at the party's sixth congress, he was elected to the permanent secretariat and to the direction of the cabinet"
"and many other election observers, said that the election had been neither free nor fair. Following the Halloween Massacre, UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi directed UNITA forces to take up arms again against the MPLA. However, the US now opposed UNITA, instead pressuring Savimbi to accept the election results. The war ended aftee Savimbi's death, in 2002. In preparation for independence, free elections in Namibia were held in November 1989, with SWAPO taking 57% of the vote. Namibia gained independence in March 1990. SWAPO was originally a Marxist party that intended to install a one-party state. The South African government rejected"
"few weeks later established the Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile (GRAE) on March 27, appointing Savimbi to the position of Foreign Minister. Roberto established a political alliance with Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko by divorcing his wife and marrying a woman from Mobutu's wife's village. Roberto visited Israel in the 1960s and received aid from the Israeli government from 1963 to 1969. Savimbi left the FNLA in 1964 and founded UNITA in response to Roberto's unwillingness to spread the war outside the traditional Kingdom of Kongo. Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China, invited Roberto to visit"
"(UNITA), founded in 1966. After many years of conflict that weakened all of the insurgent parties, Angola gained its independence on 11 November 1975, after the 1974 coup d'état in Lisbon, Portugal, which overthrew the Portuguese régime headed by Marcelo Caetano. A fight for dominance broke out immediately between the three nationalist movements. The events prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens, creating up to 300 000 destitute Portuguese refugees—the ""retornados"". The new Portuguese government tried to mediate an understanding between the three competing movements, which was initially agreed by the movements, but later failed and resulted in a devastating"
"sophisticated anti-aircraft weaponry that protected the headquarters throughout 16 years of war. UNITA also maintained a large military airstrip in Jamba. Author Paul Hare described Jamba as ""a spread out, well-organised guerrilla encampment, carefully planned and camouflaged to protect against air attacks"". On December 24, 1999, Jamba was captured by the military of Angola. UNITA was led by Jonas Savimbi, a charismatic political and military leader who is generally considered one of the more important figures in the history of Angola. Savimbi forged relations with the U.S. and ultimately became an important proxy for the West during the Cold War."
"it by the MPLA. In late 1998, a militant group calling itself ""UNITA Renovada"" broke away from mainstream UNITA, when several UNITA commanders dissatisfied with the leadership of Jonas Savimbi ended their allegiance to his organization. Thousands more deserted UNITA in 1999 and 2000. In 1999, a MPLA military offensive damaged UNITA considerably, essentially destroying UNITA as a conventional military force and forcing UNITA to return to more traditional guerilla tactics. The Angolan civil war ended only after the death of Savimbi, who was killed in an ambush on 22 February 2002. His death was shocking to many Angolans, many"
"in violation of the European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports. Government troops killed Savimbi on 22 February 2002, in Moxico province. UNITA Vice President António Dembo took over, but died from diabetes twelve days later on 3 March, and Secretary-General Paulo Lukamba became UNITA's leader. After Savimbi's death, the government came to a crossroads over how to proceed. After initially indicating the counter-insurgency might continue, the government announced it would halt all military operations on 13 March. Military commanders for UNITA and the MPLA met in Cassamba and agreed to a cease-fire. However, Carlos Morgado, UNITA's spokesman in"
"the MPLA and UNITA, that lasted from independence in 1975 until the death of rebel UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi in 2002. The city was besieged, extensively damaged, and its civilians were massacred en-masse or fled the city. Upon independence in 1975, Savimbi declared Huambo to be a separate republic within the nation. However, the MPLA took the city back on 8 February 1976 with the help of Cuban troops, though most of the surrounding areas remained under UNITA control. By mid-1976 the Cuban expeditionary force had established its most important structures in the Province of Huambo in the areas of"
"Guinean passport and visited the United Nations. Jonas Savimbi, the future leader of UNITA, joined the UPA in February 1961 at the urging of Mboya and Kenyan Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta. Later that year Roberto appointed Savimbi Secretary-General of the UPA. The United States National Security Council began giving Roberto aid in the 1950s, paying him $6,000 annually until 1962 when the NSC increased his salary to $10,000 for intelligence-gathering. After visiting the United Nations, he returned to Kinshasa and organized Bakongo militants. He launched an incursion into Angola on March 15, 1961, leading 4,000 to 5,000 militants. His forces"
"Epongoloko base in Benguela province and Mufumbo base in Cuanza Sul in October 2001. The Slovak government sold fighter jets to the Angolan government in 2001 in violation of the European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports. Government troops killed Savimbi on February 22, 2002, in Moxico province. UNITA Vice President António Dembo took over, but died from diabetes twelve days later on March 3, and Secretary-General Paulo Lukamba became UNITA's leader. After Savimbi's death, the government came to a crossroads over how to proceed. After initially indicating the counter-insurgency might continue, the government announced it would halt all"
"Despite the ceasefire, deep political conflict between UNITA and the MPLA remains. Savimbi was immediately succeeded by António Dembo, who died shortly after Savimbi. Following Dembo, in elections contested by General Paulo Lukamba, Dinho Chingunji and Isaías Samakuva, Samakuva won the UNITA election and emerged as UNITA's current president. UNITA received support from several governments in Africa and around the world, including Bulgaria, Egypt, France, Israel, Morocco, the People's Republic of China, North Korea (although North Korea later recognized the MPLA government), Saudi Arabia, Zaire, and Zambia. During the Reagan administration high ranking security officials met with UNITA leaders. Central"
"United National Independence Party The United National Independence Party (UNIP) is a political party in Zambia. It governed the country from 1964 to 1991 under the presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, and was the sole legal party between 1973 and 1990. UNIP was founded in October 1959 by Mainza Chona as a successor of the Zambian African National Congress (ZANC), banned earlier that year. UNIP was initially led Chona as the ZANC leader, Kaunda, had been imprisoned. Kaunda later assumed power as leader of UNIP after he was released from prison in 1960. In the general elections, UNIP won 14 seats,"
"October 2001. The Slovak government sold fighter jets to the Angolan government in 2001 in violation of the European Union Code of Conduct on Arms Exports. Government troops killed Jonas Savimbi on 22 February 2002, in Moxico province. UNITA Vice President António Dembo took over, but died from diabetes 12 days later on 3 March, and Secretary-General Paulo Lukamba became UNITA's leader. After Savimbi's death, the government came to a crossroads over how to proceed. After initially indicating the counter-insurgency might continue, the government announced it would halt all military operations on 13 March. Military commanders for UNITA and the"
"a key U.S. ally in an important Cold War struggle. In January 1986, Reagan invited Savimbi to a meeting at the White House. Following the meeting, Reagan spoke of UNITA as winning a victory that ""electrifies the world"". Two months later, Reagan announced the delivery of Stinger surface-to-air missiles as part of the $25 million in aid UNITA received from the U.S. government. Jeremias Chitunda, UNITA's representative to the U.S., became the Vice President of UNITA in August 1986 at the sixth party congress. Fidel Castro made Crocker's proposal—the withdrawal of foreign troops from Angola and Namibia—a prerequisite to Cuban"
"United States, the People's Republic of China and the Mobutu government in Zaïre. The United States, South Africa, and several other African nations also supported Jonas Savimbi's National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), whose ethnic and regional base lies in the Ovimbundu heartland of central Angola. The government of the Soviet Union, well aware of South African activity in southern Angola, flew Cuban soldiers into Luanda one week before November 11, 1975, the date on which Angolan nationalists had agreed to declare independence. While Cuban officers led the mission and provided the bulk of the troop force,"
"2015 presidential by-election, but again received less than 1% of the vote. Tilyenji Kaunda remained the party's presidential candidate for the 2016 general elections, but he received only 0.24% of the vote, with the party again failing to win a seat in the National Assembly. United National Independence Party The United National Independence Party (UNIP) is a political party in Zambia. It governed the country from 1964 to 1991 under the presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, and was the sole legal party between 1973 and 1990. UNIP was founded in October 1959 by Mainza Chona as a successor of the Zambian"
"Paulo Lukamba General Paulo Armindo Lukamba ""Gato"" (born Armindo Lucas Paulo on May 13, 1954) led UNITA, a former anti-colonial movement that fought against the MPLA in the Angolan Civil War, from the death of António Dembo on March 3, 2002 until he lost the 2003 leadership election to Isaías Samakuva. Lukamba was born in the province of Huambo, in central Angola. Lukamba joined UNITA during the Carnation revolution in Portugal. He eventually served eight years in France as UNITA's representative there. From 1995 until the death of Jonas Savimbi in February 2002, Lukamba served as UNITA's Secretary-General. Upon Savimbi's"
"through the diamond trade between 1992 and 1998. The UN also estimates that out of that sum, UNITA made at least $3.72 billion, or 93% of all diamond sales, despite international sanctions. Togolese President Gnassingbé Eyadéma allowed UNITA to use Togo as a base of operations. He gave money to relatives of Jonas Savimbi and shipped arms to UNITA militants. The report condemned Burkinabé President Blaise Compaoré for sending fuel to UNITA and maintaining a stronger alliance with UNITA than all other African leaders. The Rwandan and Gabonese governments refueled UNITA airplanes and sent fuel to Angola. The governments of"
"of whom had grown up during the Angolan civil war and witnessed Savimbi's ability to successfully evade efforts by Soviet, Cuban and Angolan troops to kill him. Six weeks following Savimbi's death, in April 2002, UNITA agreed to a ceasefire with the government. Under an amnesty agreement, UNITA soldiers and their families, comprising roughly 350,000 people, were gathered in 33 demobilisation camps under the ""Program For Social and Productive Reintegration of Demobilized and War Displaced People"". In August 2002, UNITA officially gave up its armed wing, and UNITA placed all of its efforts on the development of its political party."
"had taken control of 60% of the country. Savimbi called the situation UNITA's ""deepest crisis"" since its creation. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and South African President Nelson Mandela met in Lusaka on November 15, 1994 to boost support symbolically for the Lusaka Protocol. Mugabe and Mandela both said they would be willing to meet with Savimbi and Mandela asked him to come to South Africa, but Savimbi did not come. Savimbi met with South African President Nelson Mandela in May. Shortly after, on June 18, the MPLA offered Savimbi the position of Vice President under dos Santos with another Vice"
"diabetes, died days later. Dembo's succession of Savimbi had been pre-ordained by Savimbi and the UNITA leadership. In 1997, Savimbi and the UNITA leadership named Dembo Savimbi's successor in the event of Savimbi's death. Consistent with this pre-ordained succession, Dembo assumed leadership of UNITA immediately following Savimbi's death in combat. Following Dembo's death, UNITA's leadership was assumed by Isaías Samakuva, who had served as UNITA's ambassador to Europe under Savimbi. António Dembo General António Sebastião Dembo (1944 – February 25, 2002) served as Vice President (1992–2002) and later President (2002) of UNITA, an anti-Communist rebel group that fought against the"
"impact on the civilian population. It reiterated that the primary cause of the crisis in Angola was the failure of UNITA, under the leadership of Jonas Savimbi, to comply with obligations under the , Lusaka Protocol and relevant Security Council resolutions. In this regard, it demanded that UNITA immediately and unconditionally complete the demilitarisation of its forces and co-operate in the extension of state authority throughout Angola. The Council noted that the measures against UNITA were intended to promote a political settlement of the conflict by restricting its ability to achieve goals through military means. There were violations of the"
"various lessons to Cuba which were used in identifying better candidate nations, leaders and better opportunities for success. Jonas Savimbi, the future President of UNITA, met with Fidel Castro's ally and revolutionary Che Guevara in 1965. Guevara told his superiors he did not trust Savimbi, and Savimbi possibly presented a danger. This was probably linked to the fact that Savimbi did not have any notable aspirations towards Marxism–Leninism. However, to Cuba's surprise, Agostinho Neto (the then leader of the MPLA) had a very strong Marxist leaning which suited the Cuban agenda. In the 1960s Cuba mobilized a task force to"
"UNITA in their war against the Marxist Angolan government. In 1985, Jamba was the host of the Democratic International or ""Jamba Jamboree"", a meeting of global anti-communist insurgents organized by United States conservatives, including Jack Abramoff. At the conference, the participants signed a communiqué declaring ""our solidarity with all freedom movements in the world and ... our commitment to cooperate to liberate our nations from the Soviet imperialists"" Other participants in the conference included: In later years, Savimbi was visited regularly in Jamba by some of his closest American advisors and advocates, including Michael Johns, Grover Norquist, and others. The"
"of the UNIP in 1960. He was the UNIP's representative in Northern Europe in the early 1960s, and in 1965 he was appointed as Zambia's Ambassador to Egypt (the United Arab Republic). While there, he became friends with UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi, and the decision to allow UNITA to open offices in Lusaka at that time has been attributed to Banda's influence. Banda became Ambassador to the United States on 7 April 1967. He served as Ambassador to the U.S. for about two years, then returned to Zambia to serve as Chief Executive of the Rural Development Corporation for about"
"for UNITA. Mobutu's government fell to the opposition coalition on 16 May 1997. The Angolan government chose to act primarily through Katangese gendarmes called the Tigres, which were proxy groups formed from the descendents of police units who had been exiled from Zaire and thus were fighting for a return to their homeland. Luanda did also deploy regular troops. In early October 1997, Angola invaded the Republic of the Congo during its civil war, and helped Sassou Nguesso's rebels overthrow the government of Pascal Lissouba. Lissouba's government had allowed UNITA the use of cities in the Republic of Congo in"
"the incident and permitting a United Nations search and rescue mission. The Council demanded that Jonas Savimbi, the leader of UNITA, respond immediately to appeals from the United Nations to search and rescue possible survivors of Flight 806. The flight had 14 people on board and crashed 16 miles from Huambo. The resolution continued by expressing further concern about the increasing number of vanishing aircraft over UNITA territory and condemned the lack of co-operation to determine the fate of crews and passengers involved in these incidents. UNITA in particular had to facilitate investigations into the disappearances; if there was no"
"the UNITA and the FNLA, allowing the agency to resume Angolan operations. The Angolan government asserted this was ""proof of the complicity there has always been between the US executive and the retrograde racist Pretoria regime"" and it had ""no alternative but to suspend the contacts it has had with US government envoys"". In 1986, Savimbi visited Washington, where he met with American officials and was promised military hardware valued at about ten million dollars, including FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missiles and BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles. The US also pledged to continue its support for UNITA even if it lost the"
"and sixty kilometres to the south of Luanda. That June, UNITA sabotaged the oil pipeline in Cabinda, kidnapping 16 British expatriate workers and a Portuguese technician. Six months later the insurgents raided Cafunfo, killing 100 FAPLA personnel. Most of these attacks were planned and executed from Jamba, a town in Cuando Cubango Province, which Savimbi had proclaimed UNITA's new national headquarters. Jamba had no prior strategic significance, possessed no agricultural base, and had limited access to fresh water, but it was located as far away from FAPLA bases as possible and within easy reach of SADF bases in Ovamboland and"
"also worked to expand recognition of Savimbi as a key U.S. ally in an important Cold War struggle. In January 1986, Reagan invited Savimbi to meet with him at the White House. Following the meeting, Reagan spoke of UNITA winning a victory that ""electrifies the world"" at the White House in January 1986. Two months later, Reagan announced the delivery of Stinger surface-to-air missiles as part of the $25 million in aid UNITA received from the U.S. government. Jeremias Chitunda, UNITA's representative to the U.S., became the Vice President of UNITA in August 1986 at the sixth party congress. Fidel"
"Bakongo, and, to a lesser extent Ovimbundu, in multiple cities, most notably Luanda, on 22 January in the Bloody Friday massacre. UNITA and government representatives met five days later in Ethiopia, but negotiations failed to restore the peace. The United Nations Security Council sanctioned UNITA through Resolution 864 on 15 September 1993, prohibiting the sale of weapons or fuel to UNITA. Perhaps the clearest shift in U.S. foreign policy emerged when President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 12865 on 23 September, labeling UNITA a ""continuing threat to the foreign policy objectives of the U.S."" By August 1993, UNITA had gained"
"devoted to defending the interests of the Bakongo people and supporting the restoration of the historical Kongo Empire. However, it rapidly developed into a nationalist movement, supported in its struggle against Portugal by the government of Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire. During the early 1960s, the FNLA was also supported by the People's Republic of China, but when UNITA was founded in the mid-1960s, China switched its support to this new movement, because the FNLA had shown little real activity. The United States refused to give the FNLA support during the movement's war against Portugal, which was a NATO ally"