Jonas Savimbi
Jonas Savimbi was the leader of the UNITA rebels during the Angolan civil war[1].
With support from the governments of the United States, South Africa, Israel,[2] several African leaders including Félix Houphouët-Boigny of the Ivory Coast and Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire(Mobutu denied helping UNITA)[3]. Savimbi spent much of his life battling Angola's Marxist-inspired government, which was supported by weapons and military advisers from the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Nicaragua Sandinistas.[4] The war ultimately became one of the most prominent Third World conflicts of the Cold War. Sean Cleary was a political advisor to Savimbi[5].
2002: Killed in combat
After surviving more than a dozen assassination attempts, Savimbi was killed on February 22, 2002, in a battle with Angolan government troops - and, reportedly, South African mercenaries and Israeli special forces[6] - along riverbanks in the province of Moxico, his birthplace. In the firefight, Savimbi sustained 15 machine gun bullets to his head, throat, upper body and legs. While Savimbi returned gun fire, the blows proved immediately fatal.[7]
Resources
- Siler, Michael J. Strategic Security Issues in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comprehensive Annotated Bibliography, 2004. Page 311.
- Bridgland, Fred. Jonas Savimbi: A Key to Africa. Hodder & Stoughton General Division. ISBN 0340422181
- Christine Messiant, "Les Eglises et la dernière guerre en Angola. Les voies difficiles de l'engagement pour une paix juste", LFM. Social sciences & missions, No.13, Oct. 2003, pp.75-117
- "The Coming Winds of Democracy in Angola", Jonas Savimbi speech to the Heritage Foundation, October 5, 1989.
Notes
- ↑ BBC Monitoring Africa - Political, Angolan interior minister: "There will be no negotiations with Dr Savimbi", BBC Worldwide Monitoring, 23-March-2001, Accessed via NexisUK 11-September-2009
- ↑ National Congress Library,Angola: A Country Study, Congress Library, Accessed 11-September-2009
- ↑ Blaine Harden, Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent, p. 51, and Sean Kelly, America's Tyrant: The CIA and Mobutu of Zaire, p. 4
- ↑ Nicaragua Betrayed, by Anastasio Somoza and Jack Cox, backflap
- ↑ Elaine Windrich, Angola's War Economy: The Role of Oil and Diamonds, HNet Book Reviews, Accessed 11-September-2009
- ↑ Fred Bridgland in Johannesburg and Michael Evans, 'Dogs of War' ban will rob British Army of vital frontline soldiers, The Times, 05-August-2006, Accessed 11-September-2009
- ↑ BBC News,"Savimbi 'died with gun in hand'", BBC News, February 25, 2002.
