Savimbi in Burkina Faso - claims and counterclaims

Angolan Defence Minister Kundi Pahyama claimed on Monday that rebel UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi was in Burkina Faso, according to the state-run ‘Jornal de Angola’. However, Burkina Faso’s Foreign Minister categorically denied the claim, a news source in Ouagadougou told IRIN. Savimbi is wanted by the Angolan army, which has led an intensive military offensive to hunt him down in southern and eastern Angola in recent months. An AFP report quoted the newspaper as saying that Pahyama commented on Savimbi’s location in response to questions from journalists in the town of Benguela, about 600 km southwest of Luanda. A short while ago, news reports speculated that Savimbi could be in a South African hospital. The South African government and UNITA denied the reports. Savimbi was declared a war criminal by the Angolan parliament and a warrant for his arrest was issued in 1999, the report said. The government would have him face charges of crimes against humanity, on the grounds that his insurrection has left more than 500,000 people dead and over 100,000 mutilated over the past 25 years.