Government claims recapture of provincial capital

The Angolan government this week said it had recaptured the Zaire Province capital of M’banza Congo in northern Angola nearly three weeks after it was occupied by UNITA rebels. In national television broadcasts and other official media reports, the government said fleeing rebels had “left 400 dead and large quantities of war materiel on the battleground after fierce clashes” with the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA). It said the army was still consolidating its positions around M’banza Congo. Western diplomats and humanitarian sources contacted by IRIN in the Angolan capital Luanda, said they were still trying to verify the media reports which were first carried in a broadcast at the weekend by ‘Radio Nacional de Angola’ quoting a military source. M’banza Congo, 500 km north of Luanda, lies on the main road towards important oil installations in the town of Soyo. Last week, UNHCR said an estimated 20,000 people fleeing fighting in the area had crossed into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).