Angola suspends bid to capture rebel chief Savimbi

LUANDA, Angola (Reuters) -- Angola's government has suspended an operation to capture rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, its armed forces commander said on Wednesday.

Operation Exagono was launched to surround Savimbi, leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) in the south of Bie province, about 600 kilometers (360 miles) southeast of the capital. The commander, General Joao de Matos, did not say why it was now being halted.

"The operation started in the beginning of May and concluded at the beginning of July. At this moment there is no operation being developed in that area," he told the independent Radio Ecclesia.

De Matos said Operation Exagono had been a follow-up to Operation Restauro, launched in September, also without success.

He was speaking in Catete, where UNITA rebels on Monday raided an aid storage depot, killing four civilians. Ten rebels were killed and several wounded.

He said the government would boost security in the area, adding: "We are going to pay special attention in this region. I believe a situation like this won't happen again."

The rebels captured U.N. food supplies that had been stockpiled at a mission 60 km (36 miles) southeast of Luanda.

"This is a fundamental terrorist action which aims to create panic among the people," he said.

The formerly Marxist MPLA government has been fighting UNITA since independence from Portugal in 1975.

The war has killed about a million people and has forced millions more to flee their homes in the oil-and-diamond-rich southwest African country.

Analysts said the government was likely to launch a major offensive against the rebels later this year.

Last year it broke through the UNITA front and forced it to resume the guerrilla tactics that have characterized long periods of the 25-year war.

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