U.S. Recognizes Angola in Rebuff to Rebel Savimbi

In a step that removed one of the last vestiges of Washington’s Cold War-era Africa policy, President Clinton extended diplomatic recognition to the elected, formerly Marxist government of Angola on Wednesday, ending American patronage of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi.

“This decision reflects the high priority our Administration places on democracy,” Clinton told reporters as he posed for pictures in the Oval Office at the start of a meeting with South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The Congressional Black Caucus and African-American organizations like the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People have been urging recognition of Angola’s government for months.

Clinton’s action acknowledges the victory of Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos over Savimbi in a first-round presidential election last fall that was judged free and fair by international observers.

But some Africa specialists fear that Clinton’s action at this time could poison the atmosphere for U.N.-sponsored Angola peace talks between the government and the rebels, which resumed Wednesday after a four-day break in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The negotiations began six weeks ago.

A government negotiator at the talks hailed Clinton’s announcement, but a rebel spokesman said: “It is unfortunate that the decision of the U.S. government to recognize (Angola) comes at a critical point in the peace negotiations.”

For most of the years since Angola gained its independence from Portugal in 1975, the United States and the Soviet Union waged a bloody proxy war in the southwestern African nation, with Moscow backing the government and the United States supporting the insurgents. The government, which was also helped for years by Cuban troops, was Marxist at the time, but it has since embraced multi-party democracy and free-market economics.

Savimbi enjoyed especially warm support from President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s. In a policy that was officially secret but widely acknowledged, the U.S. government poured millions of dollars into supporting Savimbi’s National Union for the Total Independence of Angola--UNITA by its Portuguese acronym.

With the Cold War over and their foreign patrons no longer willing to pay for the Angolan conflict, the government and UNITA reached a peace settlement in May, 1991, that was supposed to have been solidified by last fall’s election.

Dos Santos finished first in the balloting but failed to win the absolute majority that he needed to avoid a runoff. The second round of voting was never held, however, because Savimbi and his followers resumed their armed insurgency.

The U.S. government has been sharply critical of Savimbi since the conflict resumed. But the Administration had delayed recognizing the Dos Santos regime because of concern that doing so would disrupt the Abidjan talks.

Clinton said Wednesday that he decided to go ahead with recognition because of UNITA’s refusal to accept the election results.

“The Angolan government by contrast has agreed to sign that peace agreement, has sworn in a democratically elected National Assembly and has offered participation by UNITA at all levels of government,” Clinton said. “Today we recognize those achievements by recognizing the government and the republic of Angola.”

Clinton’s delay in endorsing the Angolan election had become a point of friction between the White House and the African-American community, a key component of his electoral victory over George Bush.