Savimbi interviewed by Luanda newspaper

The leader of Angola’s UNITA rebel movement, Jonas Savimbi, told a Luanda newspaper in a controversial interview this week that a summit meeting between himself and President Jose Eduardo dos Santos could bring an end to the country’s 25-year civil war.

“It is possible to end the war at any point and for that a summit meeting between the two parties is essential,” Savimbi told the bi-weekly newspaper ‘Folha 8’ on Monday. But publication of the interview drew an immediate riposte from the News Media Ministry in Angola which called it a “fake” and “another provocative action” by ‘Folha 8’.

William Tonet, editor and publisher of the independent newspaper, said in an article accompanying the interview that Savimbi, widely blamed by the UN and regional governments of violating Angola’s 1994 peace agreement, had said “nothing new”. “He has not deviated one millimetre from his standard line.”

Nevertheless, Tonet said he felt he had every right to run the question-and-answer interview with the nation’s most wanted man because state television itself had broadcast some Savimbi speeches in which he pledged to continue the war.

The principle of running such an interview, he added, was important for press freedom in Angola at a time the authorities “have invaded news rooms, stopped journalists from leaving the country, passed judgements on them, and taken other measures”.

He said he had conducted the interview by telephone and e-mail from the Amsterdam home of J. Sanguesse, “one of the UNITA leader’s oldest friends and confidantes”. Savimbi has been “in hiding” in the Angolan hinterland since government forces routed his strongholds in a major offensive which started last October.

The News Media Ministry said the newspaper had “deliberately sought to wipe clean Jonas Savimbi’s image, presenting him as a man of peace and reconciliation”.

“The News Media Ministry would like to draw the attention of the Angolan and international public to this case of misuse of the country’s press freedom, and challenge the authors of such a regrettable farce to prove the authenticity of their fanciful interview,” it added.