Angolan rebels retake diamond center, diplomats report

MALANGE, Angola (Reuters) -- Angola's UNITA rebels have recaptured the key diamond center of Caombo in northern Malange province, western sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

"Government forces (FAA) had captured Caombo in November. On December 1 and 2 UNITA counter-attacked the city causing heavy casualties and capturing two to four tanks," said the sources, who spoke on strict conditions of anonymity in the tense province.

FAA declined to comment on the situation and the number of rebel and government casualties could not be confirmed.

Luanda has been fighting the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or UNITA, since independence from Portugal in 1975. Africa's longest-running war has killed about a million people and left some 2.6 million homeless.

Despite the setback at Caombo, FAA was on the offensive and the momentum appeared to be with the government forces, the sources said.

FAA wiped out much of UNITA's conventional fighting capacity in 1999. But the rebels' diamonds-for-arms trade appears to continue through neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo despite international sanctions. Analysts' estimates of UNITA's diamond take over the past eight years vary from $1.5 billion to $3 billion.

Angola officially produces diamonds worth $800 million a year.

Last month, FAA started pushing from Uige and Malange towards its border with Congo. Caombo lies 360 kilometers (216 miles) east of Luanda and 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the provincial capital Malange.

The capital is a strategic point between traditional rebel strongholds in the central highland Bie and Huambo provinces and the diamond-bearing areas in the central north: northern Malange, Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul.

Diamonds are also found south of Malange city in the Kwanza River valley.

Of the province's 14 municipalities, only Malange and Cacuso to the west are under civilian administration. To the south Cangandala has been "normalized," officials say, but formal administration is not in place.

Government forces control three other municipalities: Calandula 70 kilometers (42 miles) to the northwest, Caculama to the southwest and Cambundi Catembo to the southeast, each about 90 kilometers (54 miles) from Malange. They also control Mussende in Cuanza Sul province.

The 425 kilometer (255 mile) road to Luanda in the west is often plied by commercial convoy truckers who arrange their own protection to ward off the high risk of rebel and bandit attacks.

Aid agencies do not send convoys under their own flags but use truckers who arrange their own protection.

The latest raid occurred on November 30 when a convoy carrying supplies for the United Nations World Food Program and the non-governmental organizations Oxfam and Concern was looted.

It remains unclear who launched the attack in a treacherous zone littered with the wrecks of vehicles about 60 kilometers (36 miles) west of Malange. The area is a common north-south transit point for UNITA but the road has FAA checkpoints as well.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Official Web Site of the Republic of Angola
National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA)

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