UNITA claims responsibility for train attack

A spokesman for the Angolan rebel group UNITA told IRIN on Tuesday that his organisation had carried out Friday’s attack on a scheduled passenger train that killed at least 150 people. “Yes it’s true, UNITA destroyed a military train on 10 August, it was not full of civilians, that’s just MPLA (government) propaganda,” Joffre Justino, speaking from Lisbon, said. He added that the train, a thrice-weekly service between Luanda and Dondo, 200 km to the southeast of the capital, was a legitimate target because it had a large troop escort and was carrying munitions and military supplies.

The army has denied that there were soldiers on the train. But Justine Pearce, a foreign journalist based in Angola, interviewed survivors of the attack at the Neves Bendinha hospital in Luanda, where the wounded, many suffering from serious burns from exploding fuel, were taken. “Survivors said there had been some soldiers on the train, but they were guarding it,” Pearce told IRIN. Miltary escorts are usual for road and rail journeys throughout Angola because of the threat of UNITA attack. Railway authorities told Pearce that 470 tickets had been sold for the journey. An estimated 500 people were aboard the train when it was attacked.

Witnesses said that after the ambush, between the towns of Zenza and Dondo, rebels had fired on passengers trying to extricate themselves from the train’s carriages. Asked if machine-gunning passengers escaping the wrecked train was acceptable, Justino repeated UNITA’s claim that all those on the train were military personnel.

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said the UNITA attack cast further doubt on the rebel group’s recent claims that it was willing to talk peace. Dos Santos said in a written statement that he was “upset and exasperated” by the ambush. The train, consisting of four passenger cars, two freight cars and two oil containers, was derailed when it struck an anti-tank mine while it was travelling in Cuanza Norte province.

“This type of act does not contribute to moves toward peace,” Dos Santos said in the statement. He added that recent signs that UNITA chief Jonas Savimbi was ready to negotiate an end to the three-decade civil war “may just be an attempt to confuse international public opinion”. Savimbi sent a letter in May to Roman Catholic church leaders in Angola, urging them to try and draw the foes into peace talks. However, the rebels have increased their attacks on military and civilian targets in rural areas recently, claiming they are responding to an army offensive. Justino told IRIN that the Angolan air force had been indiscriminately bombing UNITA-controlled areas.