UNITA Rebels Disband Their Military Wing
The military wing of Angola’s once-feared UNITA rebel movement has disbanded, the latest stage in a peace process started after the February death of the group’s founder, Jonas Savimbi.
The official state news agency said the disbanding took place Friday in the capital, Luanda.
The agency said 18 UNITA generals were commissioned and integrated into the army, while 5,000 UNITA soldiers would be assimilated into the armed forces in the southwestern African nation that has known little but civil war since independence from Portugal in 1975. UNITA is the Portuguese acronym for National Union for the Total Independence of Angola.
Nearly 80,000 other former fighters will be demobilized.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
