Mass graves reported near Kuito

Angolan and Portuguese media this week reported the discovery of nearly 100 bodies in mass graves near the besieged government-held central highlands city of Kuito, some 450 km southeast of the capital Luanda. The reports, still to be independently verified, were carried by the independent Roman Catholic broadcasting station, 'Radio Ecclesia' and the Portuguese 'Radio Renascenca'. The Catholic station quoted the government as saying four ditches containing the bodies had been found near Chipeta, a village outside Kuito which has seen some of the heaviest fighting recently between government forces and Jonas Savimbi's UNITA rebel movement. It quoted a witness as saying the victims had been bound, pushed into the ditches and then killed by grenades and machine gun fire. The Portuguese report quoted an Angolan government official as blaming UNITA - a claim UNITA denied in the same broadcast.