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Putting the Heat on Luanda
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13127 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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11 / 1987 |
2,658 Words |
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Jack Kemp
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On July 14 and 15, Chester A. Crocker, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, met with officials of the Angolan communist government in Luanda to discuss a plan to end the 25-year-old war in that country. This represented the first time in almost two years that the two sides had sat down to try to negotiate an end to the war, following the summer 1985 walkout by the Angolan communists.
The Angolan delegation, led by Foreign Minister Afonso Van Dunem Mbinda, had told Crocker at an April meeting that they were prepared to put forth new proposals to end the war. So when Crocker arrived in Luanda in July, he was expecting some new initiative from the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the official name of the ruling party in Angola.
Instead, he heard the same old line from the Angolan communists. They demanded that the Reagan administration cease its support for the democratic resistance forces of Jonas Savimbi's National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Moreover, they wanted the United States to use its influence to get the South Africans to allow Namibia its independence.
What were they willing to offer in return? Nothing. And they didn't say a word about a withdrawal of the 37,000 Cuban combat troops that are presently in Angola, propping up the regime, or the other 8,000 troops and advisers from assorted Soviet bloc nations.
Crocker left Luanda disappointed. He told the international news media that the trip had been a "waste of time." And he vowed that U.S. assistance to UNITA would continue until the MPLA was willing to talk more positively.
Stung by this rebuke and its negative impact on public opinion in the United States and Europe, Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos traveled to Havana to meet with Fidel Castro. After his talks with Castro, dos Santos promised new flexibility. Angolan officials soon began a highly publicized public relations effort in the United States, including the release of an American prisoner held in Luanda and the visit of two senior MPLA officials to Washington. A new set of proposals was then forwarded to Washington, and in September, Crocker traveled to Luanda to "clarify certain ambiguities." The headlines read, "Angola offers withdrawal of Cuban troops."
However, when one reads the fine print it is still the same old proposal made in 1984. Any withdrawal of Cuban troops would only mean movement of those troops to north of the 13th parallel - not out of Angola - and the MPLA continues to categorically reject the possibility of opening negotiations with UNITA. In fact, on August 8, Radio Luanda, the government-controlled radio, praised the flexibility of the new proposal but emphasized that the presence of Cuban troops north of the 13th parallel "cannot, at this time, be the subject of any negotiations whatsoever."
What is the situation in Angola now, and what are the likely prospects for the near future? Finally - and most importantly - what should the United States do to best protect its vital interests and promote its values in Angola?
The first phase of the war for Angola - the war against Portuguese colonialism -
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