Despite Cease-Fire, Peace Eludes Angola : Africa: Lawlessness plagues country. Political tensions cast doubt on elections scheduled for September.

One year after a cease-fire ended one of the longest, most savage civil wars in Africa, peace is still remote for many of Angola’s 10 million people.

In Cabinda province, rich with oil, separatist guerrillas fight for independence. In remote Lunda Norte, 30,000 smugglers battle with police for control of the diamond mines.

Bursts of gunfire puncture the night in Luanda as robbers fight guards in and around warehouses. Banditry is rife throughout the country.

“There are a lot of people without food, but with automatic weapons,” a senior diplomat said, on condition of anonymity. “What do you expect?”

International monitors have reported no major clashes between the governing Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) since their 16-year war ended in May, 1991.

But the breakdown in order has been accompanied by political tension and vicious propaganda, casting doubt on Angola’s first democratic elections, set for September 29-30.

“I’m really firm: No one will fight, UNITA will not fight, the MPLA will not fight,” UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi said. “The war is over and we all have to make efforts.”

Still, Savimbi accuses the MPLA of plotting to assassinate him and of moving demobilized soldiers into the police force in a bid to stay in power.

Government officials accuse Savimbi of fooling U.N. cease-fire monitors by passing off children and old men as fighters to be demobilized, while infiltrating 20,000 guerrillas into the cities.

Under the peace accords, the two armies are to be disbanded before the elections and new national armed forces established under a unified command. By May 27, the U.N. monitoring team reported only 14% of government soldiers and 2.7% of UNITA fighters had been demobilized.

Also, the electoral process is running far behind schedule. The 5.9 million eligible voters are supposed to be registered by July 31, but only 750,000 were on the rolls by June 20, a month after registration began.

Both sides insist that the elections can be held on schedule, and few observers will predict the outcome. It is hard to find a UNITA supporter among Luanda’s urban elite, but the former rebels have impressive strength in the countryside.

Even the committed seem less certain. Savimbi told reporters in Luanda he would be prepared to form a coalition with the MPLA after the elections or to bow out if UNITA loses.

Cuba, which backed the MPLA with 50,000 soldiers during the war, has plans to evacuate its nationals in case UNITA wins and decides to settle some old scores.

The MPLA has disavowed Marxism and may lose votes because of economic reforms that have removed price controls, causing the cost of living to soar for a people already deep in poverty.

Savimbi plays down former links with South Africa and stresses his U.S. support, but has faced hard questions from Washington about accusations by two dissident UNITA commanders of human rights abuses.

Tony da Costa Fernandes and Miguel N’zau Puna, the dissident commanders, arrived in Luanda on June 13 and declared their intention of ending Savimbi’s leadership of the organization he founded in 1965.

Two dozen new political parties sprang up to contest the elections, but none has gathered much momentum.

The current tension reminds older Angolans of the days before independence from Portugal in November, 1975, when civil war began after the collapse of a power-sharing agreement among the MPLA, UNITA and a third nationalist movement.