Rebel Savimbi Ready to Sign Peace Plan : Angola: The UNITA leader says the accord provides for a cease-fire and elections for a multi-party democracy.

Rebel leader Jonas Savimbi said Friday that he is ready to sign “without changing a comma” a five-point peace plan to end Angola’s bloody 15-year civil war and turn the Marxist-ruled African nation into a multi-party democracy.

The plan, calling for a cease-fire and internationally supervised elections, was hammered out by representatives of the Luanda government and Savimbi’s National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) with the help of the United States, the Soviet Union and Portugal.

Savimbi told reporters that he and his movement are willing to sign the agreement immediately, but that Lopo do Nascimento, the government’s representative at the talks, has to obtain approval from Luanda before going ahead.

At the conclusion of the negotiations here Thursday night, the parties issued a joint statement reporting “significant progress” toward a peace agreement. It said the talks will continue early next year in Lisbon, the capital of Angola’s former colonial power.

Savimbi discussed details of the talks Friday. He said the five-point plan provides that:

* There will be an internationally supervised cease fire.

* Angola will be a multi-party democracy.

* There will be internationally monitored elections.

* The date for the elections must be fixed before the cease-fire is signed.

* Outside military assistance will end when the cease-fire is signed. The United States provides arms to UNITA; the Soviet Union supplies the government.

Savimbi said the pact could be signed at the next meeting if the government accepts it unchanged. If Luanda wants amendments, he said, more time might be needed for negotiations. “I doubt if they will refuse it outright,” he said.

The Angolan government has already agreed to permit the establishment of more political parties in the previously one-party state. UNITA will restructure itself as a party, Savimbi said.

In earlier rounds of talks, the government had demanded that the charismatic Savimbi go into exile in exchange for integrating the rebels into the national army and recognizing UNITA as a political party. But Savimbi rejected that condition.

“My personal future has been a problem for the MPLA,” Savimbi said, using the Portuguese acronym for the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, the governing party. “If there are elections, let the people decide.”

Will he run for president?

“If my party does nominate me, I will run,” he said, coyly suggesting that there might be a contest for the nomination by UNITA, an organization that Savimbi founded and has long dominated.