U.N. Votes Sanctions on Angolan Rebels : Africa: Oil and arms embargo will take effect in 10 days unless UNITA’s Savimbi stops fighting.

Jonas Savimbi, once America’s favored guerrilla chieftain, felt the wrath of the United Nations on Wednesday as the Security Council condemned his rebellion against the Angolan government and approved sanctions against his political movement.

The council acted after receiving a report from Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali that 1,000 people are dying every day from the war, “the highest fatality rate of any conflict in the world.”

But the secretary general persuaded the council’s 15 ambassadors to delay imposition of the sanctions for 10 days. Boutros-Ghali said he is in continual phone contact with Savimbi and wants to give the Angolan rebel leader a chance to accept the Security Council’s strictures and end his rebellion.

In the resolution, adopted unanimously, the council condemned Savimbi’s group, UNITA, for “its continuing military actions” and “for repeated attempts to seize additional territory.”

The sanctions, which go into effect in 10 days unless UNITA stops fighting, would forbid the group to import arms and oil and prohibit all its land, sea and air traffic that does not have Angolan government approval. If this fails to work by Nov. 1, the council will consider additional sanctions. The United Nations has never before tried to clamp sanctions on an organization rather than a government, and it is not clear how effective these sanctions would be.

Before the vote, Angolan Foreign Minister Venacio de Moura, in a bitter speech to the Security Council, denounced Savimbi as “a poor loser who, unable to win at the ballot box, has imposed a cruel and devastating war on the people of Angola.”

The resolution was an ironic reflection of the world’s new political lineups in the wake of the Cold War. The United States was a major supporter of Savimbi’s UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) during the 1980s, when he was trying to bring down the Marxist-influenced government.

But the United States dropped its support of Savimbi when he refused to accept the results after losing U.N.-supervised elections in 1992. Incensed at the results, Savimbi took his followers back into battle against the government of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

In a strong statement to the Security Council, read by Robert T. Gray on behalf of U.S. Ambassador Madeleine Albright, the U.S. delegation made no reference to the previous American support of Savimbi. But the statement said: “The leadership of UNITA must understand that the international community holds it responsible and will not tolerate its continued attempts to wage a war on its own people to conquer militarily what it could not win through a democratic election.

“We will not stand by,” the statement went on, “while innocent people are slaughtered, whether quickly by bullet or slowly by starvation. . . . There must be no mistake. UNITA’s leadership must understand we are ready to impose additional sanctions . . . unless UNITA’s leadership engages fully and without reservation in implementing . . . the relevant resolutions of this council. This is our last warning.”

In his grim report on the situation in Angola, the secretary general told the Security Council that “the humanitarian dimensions of the Angolan tragedy are catastrophic as some 3 million people, particularly the most vulnerable population groups--children, women and the elderly--are suffering from the consequences of the conflict.”

The Boutros-Ghali report also stated that “it is evident that an effective and lasting peace cannot be achieved through military force.”

“I therefore strongly urge,” he went on, “that the government and UNITA return to the negotiating table without delay.”

Both the secretary general and the Security Council made it clear that they believe UNITA bears the brunt of the blame for the continued bloodshed in Angola and therefore deserves heavy sanctions.