Sources said reports had been received to the effect that Wezi Kaunda, a highly trained military man, had in recent months been involved in training guerrillas inside Angolan territory. These reports have not been confirmed. Kaunda, a former army major, died in a Lusaka hospital early on Thursday morning, after four gunmen opened fired as he and his wife Didi returned home after visiting friends late on Wednesday night. After shooting Kaunda, the gunmen fled in his luxury Land Cruiser, leaving his wife unharmed. The vehicle was later found abandoned and overturned by the side of a road.
Latest reports indicate that police had arrested one suspect in the murder.
Earlier this year Angola publicly condemned the Chiluba regime at the United Nations for continuing to allow military assistance and logistical supplies to pass through Zambian territory into Unita-held country in the west of Angola. This was in defiance of intensifying UN sanctions against Unita leader Jonas Savimbi's rebels. Former ministers in the Chiluba regime have been personally named as key players in arms, food and supply deals in exchange for Unita diamonds. Recent developments in the Angolan civil war have rendered the Zambian connection even more critical. Following the destruction of his headquarters, Bailondo and Andulo, by the Angolan army FAA, Savimbi and his troops moved east to Moxico province, on the border with Zambia.