The battle for Bailundo

Angolan government forces, with the support of newly trained fighter pilots, were battling on Tuesday for control of Bailundo, a town in Angola's central highlands used as a key base by the rebel UNITA movement and its leader Jonas Savimbi. According to reports by Western diplomats, Angolan officials and the South African-based Institute for Strategic Studies (ISS), the battle for Bailundo, part of a wider offensive against the rebels, still remained to be won despite news reports suggesting the government had seized control of the town some 480 km southeast of the capital Luanda. Hannelie de Beer, an ISS Angola specialist, told IRIN on Tuesday that the institute had heard overnight from sources it had contacted in the area that Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) troops were currently within 7-12 km from Bailundo. "What has made a difference for them during this offensive (which started two weeks ago) has been the deployment of fighter aircraft operated by newly trained crews," de Beer said. "It would do them (the government) wonders if they had taken it. They need this victory for a morale booster given the low morale of their forces and there is a lot of pressure on them for a victory." She said that from the ISS contacts in Angola, there were no reports to back UNITA claims that government aircraft had dropped napalm or chemical weapons in Bailundo. Asked about the whereabouts of Savimbi, who has used Bailundo as a residence and headquarters, she said he never remained in one place for a long time and that she did not know his present whereabouts. UNITA, she added, usually had a fallback alternative when it was facing pressure and had shown itself well able to use guerrilla tactics during more than 20 years of civil war in Angola. In Lisbon, the visiting Angolan deputy foreign minister, Jorge Chikoty, said in a radio interview monitored by the BBC: "As you know, Angola has been experiencing a difficult political and military situation. Naturally, there have been clashes between the two armies. The Angolan government has always been trying to re-establish state authority. It is very likely this might happen in Bailundo or other areas." But, he added, "in concrete terms, I can only give you this general information at the moment. I think that there is progress in many areas, but this is a situation which the government has been working on for a while. I cannot specify any locality. The truth is that the Angolan state has been trying to reimpose legality in the country".