Angola:UNITA generals captured

Reports that one senior UNITA general has been captured are confirmed, while there are suspicions that another is being held in secret in Luanda.

Hospital staff have confirmed that General Camalata Numa, of the rebel group UNITA, is receiving treatment in Luanda. He is said to have been wounded in the campaign in which UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi was killed on 22nd February.

General Numa was transported secretly from Luena to Luanda one week ago due to the serious injuries he received to his legs, one of which may have to be amputated.

General Numa was chosen by Jonas Savimbi to lead the UNITA commission to form the joint armed forces of Angola, composed by elements from UNITA and the government faction MPLA. However, he was forced to take to the bush after the MPLA massacre of UNITA leaders after the election in 1992.

Meanwhile the Deputy head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Angolan Armed Forces, General Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda, has appealed to all UNITA forces to lay down their arms.

Both UNITA and MPLA were criticised in the US State Department annual report on human rights abuses, which mentioned assassinations, torture and robbery perpetrated by both sides in this interminable conflict.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru