Thousands flee Angola fighting

Mozambique's President Chissano (centre), Botswana's President Mogae (left), and Angola's President dos Santos met Bush

LUANDA, Angola -- Tens of thousands of Angolans are fleeing their homes as a result of fighting between government troops and rebels that claimed the life of guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi, the U.N. says.

In January alone more than 49,000 people sought refuge with aid organisations, bringing the number of people displaced by Africa's longest civil war to 3.6 million since 1998, according to a report by the U.N. Organisation for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid.

Savimbi, leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or UNITA, died in a gun battle on Friday with Angolan soldiers.

U.N. officials told Reuters the fighting last week that resulted in Savimbi's death would worsen the humanitarian situation as UNITA staged a desperate bid to fight off government troops closing in on one of its main columns in eastern Moxico province.

A UNITA spokesman in Lisbon said on Tuesday that UNITA Vice President Antonio Dembo had taken on interim leadership of the group. Dembo has made contact with some military commanders, spokesman Carlos Morgado told Reuters.

Pursue peace, says Bush

President George W. Bush is calling on Angola's government to pursue a cease-fire in its 26-year civil war following Savimbi's death.

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Bush met the presidents of Angola, Botswana and Mozambique on Wednesday in Washington.

As well as the situation in Angola, they discussed a regional strategy to fight the spread of AIDS, and Bush said he asked all three presidents to join an effort to get the World Bank to provide half its assistance to poor nations in the form of grants, rather than loans.

Bush issued a statement saying he urged Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos to quickly achieve a cease-fire "and develop Angola's vast wealth to the benefit of the Angolan people."

Dos Santos told reporters he assured Bush that his government would do so, but the matter depended heavily on "the political will of those who are fighting," meaning UNITA forces.

UNITA has said the government must first adopt a unilateral cease-fire.

Bush said: "President dos Santos has it within his power to end 26 years of fighting by reaching out to all Angolans willing to lay down their arms."

In the first reported rebel attack since Savimbi's death, witnesses said UNITA gunmen killed nine people and wounded 15 in an ambush in rural Angola, the Portuguese national news agency reported on Tuesday.

The gunmen ambushed a truck carrying soldiers, police and civilians on a remote road near Malanje, 190 miles (305 kilometres) east of Luanda, the capital, on Monday, the Lusa news agency reported. A survivor of the attack told Lusa he believed the gunmen were UNITA soldiers.

Angola is rich in oil and minerals, yet its people remain desperately poor and its government largely reliant on foreign aid. After gaining independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola quickly plunged into civil conflict that has claimed at least half a million lives.

Dos Santos said on Tuesday that Savimbi's death helps clear the way for elections.

Bush said he, dos Santos and Presidents Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and Festus Mogae of Botswana discussed wars in Angola and Congo, and "agreed that peace is within reach of both countries." They also discussed the political crisis in Zimbabwe.