From: barnhart@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Mr. Aaron Barnhart)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:ANGOLA: Portugal prepares for possible evacuation
Date: 7 Nov 92 17:37:49 GMT
Organization: Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A.

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: ANGOLA: Portugal prepares for possible evacuation


lisbon, oct 31 (ips) -- portugal has begun taking the necessary
precautions for the speedy evacuation of its nationals from angola
where there are growing fears of a renewed fighting in this war-
torn southern african country.

on saturday, a hercules c-130 plane from the portuguese
airforce (fap) carrying ''aluette'' helicopters, took off from
lisbon, hours after the ship ''vasco da gama'' -- presently in
cape verde -- had received instructions to travel to santo tome-
principe on friday night.

due to its location in the gulf of guinea, the former
portuguese colony of santo tome-principe is the closest point from
which the battleship and the air divisions could approach the
angolan coast, reaching their in a matter of hours.

but a source in the portuguese military command stressed that
the military divisions will be dispatched for evacuation purposes
only if ''expressly authorised by the angolan government''.

after five centuries of colonial rule followed by 13 years of
war against the angolan liberation movements (1961-74), portugal
acts with extreme caution when sending military divisions to the
africa continent -- even for humanitarian missions.

portuguese prime minister anibal cavaco e silva said they had
taken the precaution ''as a measure of reassurance'' for the
40,000 portuguese residents in angola.

the evacuation plan was drawn up by the ministry of defence at
the beginning of this month when the tension between the ruling
angolan popular liberation movement (mpla) and the opposition
union for the total independence of angola (unita) had increased.

this followed unita leader jonas savimbi's refusal to recognise
his defeat in the september general elections. he subsequently
returned to the southern huambo province, withdrew his 11 generals
from the new joint armed forces, and threatened to restart the
civil war.

jose manuel durao barroso, portuguese vice-foreign minister
stated that up until saturday morning, the portuguese embassy in
luanda had not received any evacuation requests, but should there
be any, ''government has an evacuation plan ready''.

durao barroso, who is considered the architect of the peace
treaty signed by the mpla and unita in portugal in may 1991,
pointed out that the portuguese residents ''are people who have
put up with 16 years of civil war and will not leave angola just
like that''.(more/ips)

angola: portugal prepares for possible evacuation(2-e)

angola: portugal (2)

in a statement saturday, portugal has condemned ''the violent
death of three portuguese (friday) in luanda'', and hopes that
those responsible will be ''identified and punished''. the three
died when unita soldiers opened fire on the car in which they were
traveling at the luanda airport.

pictures of the bullet riddled bodies of the three portuguese
and one angolan woman who was also in the car, have also been
shown on portuguese tv causing an public outcry in lisbon and
forcing the government to raise its hitherto moderate tone against
unita.

the statement urges the rebel movement to abstain ''from
actions that, in addition to violating the peace agreements,
endanger the lives of foreigners living in angola''.

the portuguese government further ''demands that unita and the
other parties respect the outcome of the elections, that were
qualified as free and fair by the united nations (u.n.)''.

following 16 years of civil war, angola held its first
presidential and parliamentary elections on sep 29 and 30 -- the
first since angola became a sovereign state after the portuguese
withdrew in 1975.

the non-official results, made known oct 3, had given dos santos
50.87 percent of the votes in the presidential run-off, and the
mpla 55 percent in the parliamentary elections.

but savimbi refused to recognise the result and unita was granted
a recount which showed that dos santos had only captured 49.5
percent of the presidential vote, and savimbi 40 percent, which
has means there must be a second round of presidential voting,
although no date has been set.
(end/ips/ip/md/ego/trd/mv/cpg/92).