Struggle goes on, says UNITA

Savimbi lead UNITA for more than 30 years

LUANDA, Angola -- Angola's UNITA rebels have issued a defiant statement vowing to continue their struggle despite the death of their leader, Jonas Savimbi.

Savimbi lead the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) during nearly 30 years of bloody fighting.

The government released a statement saying the 67-year-old guerrilla leader was killed in a battle between rebels and the Angolan army on Friday. Portuguese TV broadcast video showing Savimbi's bullet-riddled body.

The Angolan government called on UNITA rebels "to reconsider their options and reintegrate themselves into Angolan society so as to contribute to the consolidation of democracy and national reconciliation."

But in a statement issued on Sunday, UNITA said: "Anyone who thinks the ideals of UNITA died with its leader is mistaken.

"UNITA is a cause. It is essentially a political project which ... will continue to strive to realise its fundamental principles, which consist of justice, peace and reconciliation, in a country where all Angolans can benefit from a genuine democracy and be equal under the law and in society."

MORE STORIES • Profile: A rebel with charisma and guile  • Analysis: Power struggle brewing  • Reaction to Savimbi's death  • Press review: Savimbi's death goes unmourned  • Diamond industry funds war  • Angola: Key events in recent history

Savimbi's death has bolstered hopes of peace in the war-torn African nation, where UNITA has battled the ruling party government of a rival former rebel group since independence. (Chronology of key events)

Some analysts have warned that Savimbi's death could spark a power struggle within the UNITA movement that could cause it to splinter into rival factions.

Observers say possible successors to Savimbi are UNITA Vice President Antonio Dembo and Savimbi's close aide Paulo Lukamba Gato. Both are believed to be hiding out in the Angolan bush. The army says it is still pursuing rebel units.

Carlos Morgado, a UNITA spokesman in Portugal, told Lisbon's Publico newspaper that "the ball is now with (Angolan President) Jose Eduardo dos Santos. If he declares a cease-fire, obviously we have a path open that we did not have before."

Portugal's foreign ministry has called for a cease-fire as a first step to applying the 1994 Lusaka peace accords between UNITA and the government.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres said the international community must do more to further peace in Angola -- a former Portuguese colony. (More international reaction)

Angola's state news agency Angop reported on Sunday that the army had buried Savimbi in a cemetery in Luena, capital of Moxico and a government stronghold.

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos left on Sunday for Portugal and the United States.

He will meet with Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama late on Sunday and hold talks with President Jorge Sampaio early on Monday before travelling to Washington for a meeting with President George W. Bush.

Civil war has reduced Angola from a prosperous, mineral-rich nation to one of the world's poorest countries, riddled with landmines that make movement around the country potentially deadly.

In the last decade, UNITA is believed to have made millions out of an illegal trade in diamonds -- and Savimbi himself was accused of running UNITA-controlled territory as a personal fiefdom. (More on the diamond link)

The civil war is estimated to have killed more than 500,000 people, though there are no confirmed figures.

About four million people -- roughly one-third of the population -- have been driven from their homes by the fighting, creating a humanitarian crisis.

In the early years of UNITA's insurgency, Savimbi was backed by South Africa and the United States, who saw him as a counterpoint to MPLA's communist regime. (Profile of Savimbi)

Dos Santos and Savimbi signed a cease-fire agreement in 1989, but it collapsed soon afterwards.

After the MPLA abandoned Marxism in 1991, the two leaders signed a peace accord and both prepared for Angola's first multiparty elections.

But UNITA claimed election fraud even before the vote, and after losing to dos Santos and the MPLA, Savimbi and his fighters returned to their guerrilla tactics.

The two sides signed another peace agreement in 1994 after U.N.-sponsored talks, and U.N. peacekeepers arrived in 1995.

But in 1997, Savimbi announced he would head Angola's largest opposition party, but refused to attend the inauguration of the national unity government. A year later, UNITA said it had demobilised, and the government legalised it.

Just three months later, however, the U.N. imposed sanctions on UNITA after it delayed handing over some Angolan regions it had held.

A series of incidents followed, including the shooting down of a U.N. plane, a government-launched offensive against UNITA and the U.N.'s decision to pull its peacekeepers out of the country.