Angola Rebel Leader Savimbi Says Truce Is Over, Orders War Resumed

LISBON — Angolan guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi ordered his fighters back to the battlefield Thursday, ending a tattered two-month-old truce in Angola’s 14-year-old civil war.

The rebel leader accused government troops of launching a big military offensive against his fighters in southern Angola on Aug. 17.

“The Angolan people, to their infinite sorrow, accept that the war has restarted,” Savimbi said in a statement issued from his southern Angolan stronghold of Jamba and released in Lisbon.

His announcement came the day after seven of the African leaders who helped broker Angola’s cease-fire ended a meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, to try to put the peace process back on track.

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos agreed to the truce with Savimbi on June 24 at a summit of 18 African leaders at Gbadolite, Zaire.

The rebel leader also said Thursday that his National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) “rejected in the most violent terms” a communique released by the leaders who met in Harare.

In it, they supported Dos Santos’ contention that Savimbi agreed at the Gbadolite summit to accept “temporary and voluntary retirement” during cease-fire and peace negotiations, and that his guerrillas would be integrated into existing Angolan institutions.

Savimbi says he would never agree to leave Angola and wants peace on condition that Dos Santos hold elections leading to a power-sharing arrangement.

The rebel leader never has had the opportunity to test his popularity at the polls. His followers have been at war since Portuguese colonizers hastily withdrew from the country in 1975, leaving rival groups to fight for power. The Angolan government has been supported by Cuba, and Savimbi has received U.S. and South African help.

Since the cease-fire, Angolan government and rebel delegates have held sporadic talks in Zaire to try to resolve their differences.

UNITA’s Lisbon spokesman, Alcides Sakala, said the guerrillas are still ready to discuss peace with the government despite the resumption of fighting. There was no immediate reaction from Luanda to UNITA’s statement.

The United States, which gives Savimbi $15 million to $18 million in aid a year, said Wednesday it expects another round of talks in Zaire shortly. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said national reconciliation in Angola can be achieved only by direct negotiations between the two sides.