page_title: Paul Manafort
section_title: Association with Jonas Savimbi
hierarchical_section_title: Paul Manafort / Career / Lobbying career / Association with Jonas Savimbi
caption_attribution_description: Lëtzebuergesch: Sujet: Jonas Savimbi Source: Eege Foto (1989) vum user ernmuhl Lizenz; GDFL
context_page_description: Paul John Manafort Jr. is an American former lobbyist, political consultant, lawyer, and convicted felon of tax and bank fraud. A long-time Republican Party campaign consultant, he chaired the Trump Presidential campaign team from June to August 2016.
  Manafort served as an adviser to the U.S. presidential campaigns of Republicans Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bob Dole. In 1980, he co-founded the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm Black, Manafort & Stone, along with principals Charles R. Black Jr., and Roger J. Stone, joined by Peter G. Kelly in 1984. Manafort often lobbied on behalf of foreign leaders such as former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, former dictator of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos, former dictator of Zaire Mobutu Sese Seko, and Angolan guerrilla leader Jonas Savimbi. Lobbying to serve the interests of foreign governments requires registration with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act; on June 27, 2017, he retroactively registered as a foreign agent.
  On October 27, 2017, Manafort and his business associate Rick Gates were indicted in the U.S.
context_section_description: In 1985, Manafort's firm, BMSK, signed a $600,000 contract with Jonas Savimbi, the leader of the Angolan rebel group UNITA, to refurbish Savimbi's image in Washington and secure financial support on the basis of his anti-communism stance. BMSK arranged for Savimbi to attend events at the American Enterprise Institute (where Jeane Kirkpatrick gave him a laudatory introduction), The Heritage Foundation, and Freedom House; in the wake of the campaign, Congress approved hundreds of millions of dollars in covert American aid to Savimbi's group. Allegedly, Manafort's continuing lobbying efforts helped preserve the flow of money to Savimbi several years after the Soviet Union ceased its involvement in the Angolan conflict, forestalling peace talks.
caption: Manafort has represented Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi.
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