Cuban Troops Start Pullout From Angola

Under a sweltering sun, thousands of cheering, flag-waving Angolans lined Ho Chi Minh Avenue here Tuesday to bid an emotional farewell to 450 Cuban soldiers--the historic beginning of the end of Havana’s long military presence in southern Africa.

The soldiers, both men and women, were counted by an Indian and a Czechoslovak officer from the U.N. Military Observer Force as they climbed aboard three Soviet-made Ilyushin airliners for the 14-hour flight home. An additional 1,000 Cuban soldiers later boarded a Soviet ship scheduled to leave today, U.N. officials said.

“You have fulfilled your mission with honor and glory, and your contribution to our country is unforgettable and indestructible,” Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said at a parade for the departing Cubans.

“Those of your colleagues who have died, we have engraved their names on this soil,” he added. “For the rest, your names are engraved in the memories of the Angolan people.”

Gen. Abelardo Colome Ibarre, Cuba’s deputy defense minister and a member of the Politburo, responded with praise for the Angolan forces left behind to defend their country one day on their own.

“Your troops’ example will be forever in the hearts of our people,” he said.

The departure marked the first concrete steps toward implementation of the U.S.-brokered Angolan peace accord, signed in New York last month by Angola, Cuba and South Africa.

Under the pact, Cuba promised the phased withdrawal of its 50,000 troops from Angola, and South Africa agreed to grant independence to Namibia, the vast territory between Angola and South Africa that Pretoria has ruled for 73 years.

First Phase This Week

Cuba was given until April 1 to withdraw its first 3,000 soldiers, but the U.N. observers said that many troops will leave by air and sea this week, completing the initial pullout by Sunday.

“We are showing our good will by accelerating the process,” President Dos Santos said.

Cuban soldiers first came to Angola in 1965 to help Angolans wage a guerrilla war for independence from the Portuguese colonizers. Since independence was achieved in 1975, Cuban soldiers and Soviet weaponry have helped the Marxist government here fight an internal rebel movement, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), supported by South Africa and the United States.

South Africa withdrew its soldiers from the war front in southern Angola in August and, under the peace agreement, has promised to halt aid to UNITA. Cuba has agreed to withdraw all its soldiers from Angola by July 1, 1991.

U.S Aid $15 Million

The United States still provides about $15 million annually in assistance to UNITA and its charismatic leader, Jonas Savimbi. And the Soviet Union continues to spend about $1.5 billion a year in military aid for the Angolan government, according to Western military analysts.

By signing the peace pact, South Africa, Cuba and Angola--under pressure from both the United States and the Soviet Union--have agreed to leave the fighting to the Angolans themselves.

Angolan’s civil war has cost an estimated 60,000 to 120,000 lives, displaced a million people and turned the oil- and diamond-rich country into one of Africa’s least-developed nations.

More than 300,000 Cubans have fought in Angola during the 13-year-old war, and the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers of many of those who left Tuesday also have served here. Cuba said it also was sending the remains of soldiers killed here back to Havana this month, but it declined to give an overall casualty figure.

The peace pact allows both Cuba and South Africa to claim victory in a war that--it became increasingly clear in recent years--could not be won by either side. Each country has contended that it was involved in the Angolan conflict only because it wanted to halt aggression by the other foreign power.

“We’re withdrawing with victory,” Cuban Gen. Raul Tomanevich said in an interview at a barracks near Luanda. Nearby, a young soldier with an AK-47 rifle stood near a sign, in Spanish, that stated: “Nobody here surrendered.”

“I’m happy to return to our homeland because I know we’ve achieved our goal--the South Africans are gone from Angola,” said Col. Antonio Vera, 49, a veteran of the Cuban revolution and father of three who was one of those who departed Tuesday. “We’ve been helping a brother.”

In interviews, many of the soldiers said they plan to return to school and civilian jobs when they arrive in Cuba. The career soldiers, such as Vera, said they will await reassignment.

“If (Cuban President) Fidel Castro wants to send us to Ethiopia, we will gladly go,” he said. Ethiopia is the only other country in Africa where Cuban troops are stationed.

Among the Cubans departing this week are several hundred women from an artillery unit.

Lucinda Morejon, a 38-year-old mother of three teen-agers, was leaving after eight months in Angola. A black woman whose ancestors were brought to Cuba as slaves from Angola, Morejon said she had volunteered for Angolan duty.

“I talked to my husband and mother and they told me: ‘We’ll take care of the children. You do your duty.’ I have felt very at home here,” she said.

Several dozen foreign journalists were invited to Angola to witness the Cuban withdrawal, and Western reporters were allowed to interview Cuban soldiers without restriction.

“If the peace agreement fails, and South Africa returns, we are willing to come back,” declared Blanca Ginarte, a 21-year-old Cuban soldier. “We will stay as long as the Angolan people need us.”

The Cubans and Angolans staged an elaborate military parade Monday at a Cuban camp in Funda, east of Luanda, and dozens of soldiers were decorated for bravery. After an air show featuring Soviet MIG-23 fighters and a fireworks display, hundreds of Angolan schoolchildren were set loose on the parade grounds to hug and kiss the embarrassed Cuban soldiers while television crews filmed the scene.

On Tuesday, at Primeiro de Maio (First of May) Square in Luanda, the soldiers watched a civilian parade of several thousand construction workers, nurses and coffee plant workers. Carrying flags of both Cuba and Angola, as well as portraits of Castro and Dos Santos, the Angolans marched past a reviewing stand chanting: “Angola and Cuba--United for Victory.” Dos Santos declared the day a national holiday.

“I came to say goodby to the Cubans because they gave their lives to protect us,” said Maviva Germana, 20, a student nurse in the crowd. “They have not only been our protectors, but our teachers and doctors. “

Cuban Civilians May Stay

The 1,000 Cuban civilians living in Angola are not required to leave under terms of the peace accord.

About half the 91 officers and civilians in the 10-nation contingent assigned by the United Nations to monitor the pullout had arrived by Tuesday.

“We’re here to tell the world that this withdrawal has taken place,” said Col. Arvid Geirulv, a Norwegian who is deputy military commander of the force. He said he anticipated no problems because the withdrawal agreement was technically between two friendly parties, Cuba and Angola.

Geirulv said he would send officers to areas that the Cubans have evacuated to verify that all foreign soldiers have left. U.N. officers also will be stationed in Luanda and the port cities of Cabinda, Lobito and Namibe, he said.

Under the agreement, Cuban troops are to withdraw north of the 15th Parallel, about 150 miles north of the Namibian border, by Aug. 1. By Nov. 1, half the Cuban troops must have left Angola and the remainder must be stationed north of the 13th Parallel, near the strategic Benguela Railway.

If the U.N. observers receive reports, from any source, that Cubans have remained behind, “we will investigate,” Geirulv said.

In exchange for the troop withdrawal, South Africa has agreed to allow the United Nations, on April 1, to implement its 1978 plan for free elections in Namibia. That plan calls for Pretoria to withdraw all but 1,500 of its estimated 25,000 troops from Namibia by July 1. A multinational U.N. peacekeeping force will take over the country’s security until U.N.-supervised elections on Nov. 1.

In Johannesburg, the state-run South African Broadcasting Corp. welcomed the start of the withdrawal but warned that the parties must honor all aspects of the agreement.

“Cuba and Angola are now bringing their contribution to the peace process. The further evolution of this peace process will depend in large measure on a continued positive contribution from Luanda and Havana,” the radio said.