Angolan Government, Rebels to Hold ‘Exploratory Talks’ on Ending War

Angolan government officials and UNITA rebels will meet in Zambia for “exploratory talks” on ending the African country’s 18-year civil war, the United Nations said Saturday.

A terse statement released by the U.N. mission in Angola said the two sides will meet Monday in the Zambian capital of Lusaka. Also participating will be U.N. envoy Alioune Blondin Beye and diplomats from Portugal, the United States and Russia.

Those nations brokered 1991 peace accords that brought Angola a brief spell of peace. Fighting flared anew last year after UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi refused to accept defeat in multi-party elections he said were rigged.

Under growing international pressure, the rebels now say they will accept the election results.

On Friday, President Clinton named Paul J. Hare, a former U.S. ambassador to Zambia, as a special envoy to Angola.

Angola’s war erupted on the eve of independence from Portugal in 1975 and killed about 350,000 people before the government and UNITA--the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola--signed the 1991 accords.

Since hostilities resumed, an additional 100,000 people are thought to have died and millions face starvation in the once-prosperous nation in southwestern Africa.

An Angolan military statement said UNITA troops occupied the town of Chicomba, which straddles a strategic supply route in southern Huila province.

The statement said the rebel attack made a mockery of a unilateral cease-fire called by UNITA last month and warned that government forces would retaliate.