Army denies rebels killed soldiers

A senior Angolan army official has denied claims by Cabindan separatists that they had killed 47 government soldiers in clashes over the past few weeks. On Friday Agence France Presse (AFP) reported lieutenant-general Baltazar Diogo from the Angolan armed forces as saying: "These are lies - no Angolan soldier was killed. There have been no battles in Cabinda." Diogo said the claims were "communiques of desperation". In a statement sent to AFP on Thursday, the Front for the Liberation of the Cabinda Enclave (FLEC), the main separatist group, admitted that two of its own soldiers had died and four were wounded during the recent clashes. The separatists have been battling government troops since Angola's independence in 1975. FLEC and its various factions want the northern enclave to be recognised as an independent state, while the Angolan government counts the area as one of its provinces. In October 2002 authorities stepped up their counterinsurgency campaign in the enclave and shortly afterwards claimed that it had had overrun FLEC's main military base. Since then, separatists have called for talks over the disputed territory. Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has promised greater autonomy to the province on several occasions, but refused to accept an independent Cabinda. Earlier this month Interior Minister Osvaldo Serra van Dunem announced that the government wanted a "real and suitable mediator to commence a transparent dialogue" about the future of the oil-rich province of Cabinda.