UNITA attacks power station near Luanda

Suspected UNITA rebels attacked a power station on the outskirts of the Angolan capital, Luanda, early on Tuesday - bringing the rebel movement's current wave of attacks closer to the capital than ever before. An explosion took place at the substation in the Viana municipality, about 20 km from the centre of Luanda, at about 01H00 local time on Tuesday. A gun battle ensued between the attackers and soldiers of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), during which at least three people were killed. Power supplies were interrupted in the capital on Tuesday morning, and places up to 60 km away were reported to be without electricity. UNITA's armed faction has not operated within the capital since being expelled in 1992, when it went back to war after losing Angola's first and only presidential election. By 1998, the rebels' conventional military capability had been all but destroyed. But in the last six months, the rebels have regrouped and are operating effectively as a guerrilla force. Analysts have spoken of a strategy to target the north-western part of the country - the hinterland of the capital, and the main support base for the ruling MPLA party. Previously, the closest the guerrillas had got to Luanda was when they attacked Caxito, 60 km away, in May this year. Guerrilla attacks have often been timed so as to embarrass the government at politically sensitive moments. The attack at Viana came as a delegation from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was in the country to assess the viability of programmes for which the government has requested UN assistance. They were also looking at prospects for elections provisionally scheduled for 2002. News reports late on Tuesday quoted a government communiqué as saying that two soldiers and a state electrical worker were killed in the attack. The army "caused several deaths in UNITA's ranks", the communiqué said. An AFP report said residents in Viana's Kapalanka neighbourhood, where the power plan is located, had managed to flee into the tiny town centre and did not suffer any casualties. The government said in its statement that the "terrorist attack" had left most of Luanda without electricity. According to the report Viana has about 200,000 people, including 6,000 refugees, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The attack came about one week after the United Nations condemned UNITA attacks on civilian. Hundreds of people have died in recent weeks in UNITA attacks across the country's western provinces. It also came as the United States renewed its sanctions on the rebel movement for another year. But UNITA has been trying to lobby support for its cause and has criticised what it sees as United Nations' bias. News reports this week said UNITA had written to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, urging him not to allow the UN to be "transformed into a part of the Angolan conflict". The letter from UNITA's mission abroad said UN Security Council support for the ruling MPLA party was "unacceptable" as long as the UN ignored the peace proposals presented by the movement earlier this year, Lusa reported. "UNITA never had the right to defense, the right to be heard over the allegations by one party, the MPLA, which illegally took power and has illegally remained there since 1975", the letter was quoted as saying. The UN has imposed sanctions on UNITA and has called several times for UNITA and the government to accept the terms of the Lusaka Protocol signed in 1994. However, while the government accepts the terms of the agreement, UNITA has consistently asked for new negotiations and a new agreement. According to a Reuters report, UNITA warned in a statement on Tuesday that the war would continue unless the 1994 peace pact was renegotiated. "This protocol can no longer be applied in its entirety because it has suffered so many violations on the part of the signatories and the UN that to insist on its application is tantamount to prolonging the war," the statement was quoted as saying. "UNITA is definitely for peace and is ready for dialogue whenever the government wants ... In the meantime, it must be made clear that UNITA will never surrender to the Luanda government," it added. In March, the Angolan government announced a peace plan calling for Savimbi to declare an unconditional ceasefire, hand his weapons to the United Nations, stick to the Lusaka Protocol and participate in an election, tentatively scheduled for 2002. However, the UNITA statement on Tuesday said: "Holding elections at a time when the country is at war will only play into the hands of the regime of (President) Jose Eduardo dos Santos in order to carry out worse ballot-rigging than that of 1992".