Weapons are also flown into UNITA areas from Brazzaville in Congo, according to pilots, airport personnel and other sources interviewed by Human Rights Watch. Additional investigation into this activity is needed. 
 

Some arms for UNITA are transported across the Angolan border by land. They arrive not only by vehicle, but in rough terrain are also transported by human caravans, often women. Maria Calamba portered for UNITA in Uige province in 1995. She told Human Rights Watch:
 

I worked for UNITA for a while, carrying things for them. Food, clothes, blankets, chairs, guns and ammunition. I carried weapons to Santa Cruz in June from a base inside Zaire. The supplies there had arrived by truck. The walk was some weeks, but not difficult. We do it all the time. You asked me what type of guns? Aks. Soldiers love to show off to us this gun. There were lots of new and shiny guns covered in grease when they unpacked the big boxes. Inside was paper with funny writing on it. I could not make out anything. It's not like Portuguese writing. I know what that looks like. This writing was square with horns and things. I hadn't seen this writing before, which is why I noticed it. The guns and other supplies are then made into smaller packages and sent out to other UNITA bases. Santa Cruz is just a place to start from. There is too much work and too little food which is why I left to see if things are better with the government. ⁽³²⁾
 

Transparency in Arms Transfers

Human Rights Watch believes that states should be willing to provide details about their weapons transfers and other military assistance to other countries. As a rule, if a country believes that it is in its national interest to make a particular arms sale, it should be willing to divulge the details of the sale and provide its justification. This is particularly necessary in the case of arms transfers to human rights violators, when the possibility of misuse of weaponry is high. 
 

Recognition of the need for disclosure, or "transparency" as it is called in the international security community, led to the establishment of the United Nations Conventional Arms Register in December 1991 to promote "transparency so as to encourage prudent restraint by states in the arms export and import policies and to reduce the risks of misunderstanding, suspicion or tension resulting from a lack on information." ⁽³³⁾

Nations are requested to voluntarily submit data on their arms imports and arms exports, but only for seven categories of major weapons systems: tanks, armored vehicles, large caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, and missiles and missile launchers.
 

Angola has yet to submit an entry to the register in its three years of operation (1993, 1994 or 1995). In the first register in 1993 (covering 1992 arms trade), not a single nation listed an arms transfer to Angola. In the 1994 register (covering 1993 arms trade) only Russia, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic reported arms deliveries to the Angolan government. In the 1995 register (covering 1994 arms trade), Poland listed the delivery of fifty BWP-2 armored vehicles to Angola, and Slovakia listed delivery of nine OT-64 armored vehicles and forty 122mm artillery pieces.
 

Small arms and light weapons are presently not part of the register. Human Rights Watch strongly believes that the U.N. Register should be expanded to include light weapons and small arms. These weapons often cause the greatest devastation among civilians.
 
 

Both the government and UNITA have used foreign "security specialists" (usually a euphemism for mercenaries) during their conflict. These foreign security personnel have not just trained and assisted Angolan forces, they have often participated directly in combat. They have both contributed to and committed human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war.
 

A South African firm, Executive Outcomes (EO), was deeply involved in the conflict from 1992 through 1995. EO apparently provided armed personnel to assist both UNITA and government forces during the 1992-1994 war. An oil industry source told Human Rights Watch that in late 1992 and in early 1993 EO was providing assistance to UNITA on contract. In February 1993, the government also hired one hundred expatriate armed personnel through EO to protect privately-owned oil installations in Soyo. Thus EO employees found themselves assisting operations against each other in the first quarter of 1993. In April 1993 EO reportedly ended its work with UNITA.
 

EO expanded its activities in Angola during 1994 under contract to the government. ⁽³⁴⁾ In September 1994 EO was awarded a new contract by the government reportedly worth some $40 million per year. ⁽³⁵⁾

Between September 1995 and January 1996, EO's contract was extended by the government on a month-to-month basis. ⁽³⁶⁾ In the post-Lusaka period, EO had some 400-500 men in Angola, mostly under contract to the Angolan Armed Forces and providing services in Luanda, Cabinda, Zaire, Lunda Sul, Benguela and Huila. Under pressure from the U.S. and others, the Angolan government finally told EO to withdraw in January 1996.
 

UNITA calls EO personnel mercenaries. The government labels them "security specialists." Latras Luitingh, the deputy director of EO, defended what his company achieved in Angola: "Call them [EO] what you like--mercenaries, profiteers, soldiers of fortune, or simply soldiers--EO is a professional organization. It was through our efforts in Angola that Jonas Savimbi was forced to come to the negotiating table. As a consequence of that, we have peace or, rather, relative peace, in Angola. Even the Angolan government will attest to that." ⁽³⁷⁾
 

Between mid-1993 and late 1994 EO trained 4,000 to 5,000 government troops and about thirty pilots. EO employees flew combat sorties in Soviet Mi-17 helicopters and MiG-23 fighters. Their main contribution was in assisting in the recapture of the diamond areas of Cafunfo and the oil installations at Soyo in 1994. EO pilots also undertook reconnaissance and photographic missions including infrared photography. Although most of EO's officers and leadership are whites, 70 percent of EO's personnel are black Africans, mostly from South Africa and Namibia. ⁽³⁸⁾
 

An EO member admitted on South African television in 1995 that his organization did not just train soldiers but engaged in aggressive military operations: 
 

A team went ahead to clean up Cafunfo. We followed up later and, on the way to Cafunfo, we killed about 300 enemy soldiers. Executive Outcomes was engaged in attacks all the time. It did give some training as well, but the successes of the MPLA could be directly attributed to Executive Outcomes' involvement. ⁽³⁹⁾
 

^{A former EO employee described his work to Human Rights Watch in June 1995:}
 

^{We are professionals. We don't engage in unnecessary violence. We are specialists in counter-insurgency operations. Most of our work was training but we also engaged directly in operations that had direct commercial consequence. Some civilians get hurt in these operations but they were not our target. In the Cafunfo operation we did encounter problems and things went out of control for a short time. That was unusual. (40)}

^{UNITA soldiers have admitted that night flying and nocturnal intelligence and operations led by EO denied their forces sleep and eroded morale. One UNITA soldier told Human Rights Watch:} 
 

^{We used to know we could sleep well at night. In this recent war new tactics meant that fighting continued at night and that light infantry units led by these Executive Outcomes guys would come from deep behind our lines. We could no longer rest. It weakened us very much. It is the new tactics they trained the FAA in that made the difference. They introduced a new style of warfare to Angola. We were not used to this. (41)}
 

^{Three EO employees were killed in combat with UNITA in early March 1994 and three more were wounded and flown to Windhoek, Namibia on March 7 for medical treatment. UNITA claimed to have killed over 125 "foreign mercenaries" as of late 1994. EO's Executive Director Eeben Barlow admitted that fifteen of his employees died in Angola from malaria, training accidents and UNITA attacks since mid-1993. In September 1994, another EO representative said fourteen employees had died in Angola in the last twelve months. (42)}
 

^{UNITA took EO employees prisoner and, according to a UNITA official, executed them. Two EO personnel were captured in eastern Angola in March 1994. Two more were captured on July 15, 1994 when their PC-7 plane was shot down by UNITA shortly before government forces recaptured the strategic diamond town of Cafunfo. One of these was identified by UNITA as D.C. O'Connell, a South African. UNITA had publicly threatened to execute any captured mercenaries. Although South African Deputy President Thabo Mbeki made an appeal for clemency in July 1994, a UNITA official told Human Rights Watch that they were executed shortly after capture. He justified the executions by saying, "These are mercenaries. They fight for money not ideology. They have no rights in UNITA eyes. Both black and white mercenaries did not have the right to live. They designed and conducted operations that killed our people. We have no responsibility to them under international law. They earned thousands of US [dollars] a month trying to kill us." (43) The July/August 1994 edition of UNITA's journal Terra Angolana included photos of three white soldiers killed by UNITA; two were identified from the photos as EO employees by their families.}
 

^{Under the Lusaka Protocol, "repatriation of all mercenaries in Angola" is demanded. (44) This became a contentious subject and the presence of EO personnel in Angola prompted UNITA to submit to the chairman of the Joint Commission a document entitled "Repatriation of all Mercenaries in Angola" in which it alleged that the government had recruited and was using mercenaries. The government responded by issuing a statement in November 1995 which asserted that the EO personnel did not fall under the definition of mercenary as in the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries adopted at the 45th session of the U.N. General Assembly in 1989. It called them "foreign military and industrial security specialists" in the Angolan Armed Forces and industrial security firms, hired on a cooperation basis. The government argued that the cooperation agreements and contracts signed with the Ministry of Defense were legal as they were in accordance with Article 15 of Presidential Decree No 2/93 on military policy.}
 

^{However, in an interview on January 10, 1995, FAA chief of staff Gen. Joao Baptista de Matos gave a less guarded description of these specialists. He said, "Some 300 South African mercenaries serve with the government forces and slightly less with UNITA." (45)}
 

^{After U.S. pressure on President dos Santos prior to the first ever official Angolan presidential visit to Washington, the Angolan government finally relented and announced on December 12, 1995 that EO would withdraw. EO had been competing with other firms, such as the U.S.-based Military Professional Resources Inc., for a lucrative government contract to train the new FAA army. On January 2, 1996, EO announced from Pretoria that, "In terms of an agreement between the Angolan government and Executive Outcomes, the company has started with the withdrawal of employees from Angola as the contract between the parties has been fulfilled." (46) EO announced on January 12 that its last personnel had left Angola the previous day from Cabo Ledo, and stated that it was "proud of the role it was able to play in Angola in order to end one of the longest civil wars in Africa." (47) Gen. de Matos and Phillip Sibanda, the commander of UNAVEM forces, were present to monitor the repatriation of the last of the EO contingent. According to the government, 446 EO personnel were repatriated to South Africa. (48)}
 

^{It has, however, been reported that some EO men are being redeployed from Executive Outcomes into front companies such as Saracen International, which is involved in mine clearance in the Soyo area, Stuart Mills International, which is renovating a military hospital, and Shibata Security, which is also involved in mine clearance. Others reportedly linked to Executive Outcomes include Branch Energy in Cabinda, Bridge Resources and Corporate Trading International. (49)}
 
 
 

^{Human Rights Watch has also been told recently that another security firm, Alpha 5, is working for the government in Lunda Norte province, in the diamond areas. Little is known about Alpha 5 and its activities to date, but it apparently relies primarily on South African security specialists. (50)}
 

^{UNITA "Security Specialists"}

^{The government alleges that UNITA uses mercenaries in the ranks of its military forces and that these individuals help the movement to maintain control of localities and assist in the extraction and export of diamonds in Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Bie and Kuando Kubango provinces and coffee exports from UNITA zones in Kwanza Norte and Uige provinces. Gen. de Matos in August 1995 claimed that, "Zaire is the principal source of destabilization, but UNITA is also using mercenaries from France, South Africa and we believe Britain." (51)}
 

^{According to the government, mercenaries are said to enter Angola through Zaire and to be locatedin the following places: Mbanza Congo, outskirts of Uige, Miconge in Cabinda, Luzamba and outskirts, Bailundo, Andulo, outskirts of Huambo, Jamba, Cuito Cuanavale. They are said to be attached to the following UNITA units: Cuango regional column, Battalion 07, Battalion 18, Battalion 22, Battalion 511, Battalion 530, Battalion 170, Chitunda Company, Luzamba airport detachment, Andulo airport detachment. (52)}
 

^{The government identifies the following Zairians, Lebanese and probable Russians as working for UNITA. They fail to name any South Africans, although they allege that most of the mercenaries used by UNITA come from Zaire and South Africa. The names, as listed by the government, are:}
 

^{1. Luyey N'Koko, Zairian. 2. Zandu Emmanuel, Zairian. 3. M'Panzu Nkila Mpembi, Zairian. 4. N'Dele Kiala Josepho, Zairian. 5. Taizone Malambo, Zairian. 6. Fiston Lutinadio N'Sunbu, Zairian. 7. N'Koko Salazako Mayembe, Zairian. 8. Nioka Mavunga. 9. Ndolo Pascal Nkoko. 10. Kamil Sauyed, Lebanese. 11. Ali Soukied, Lebanese. 12. Mustafa Abdel, Lebanese. 13. Assi Al-Ali, Lebanese. 14. Fouda Ransan, Lebanese. 15. Abass Dakir, Lebanese. 16. Ajih Salame, Lebanese. 17. Imada Choucair, Lebanese. 18. Abassel Ahmad, Lebanese. 19. Nabil Kayat, Lebanese. 20. Oleg Aleksy. 21. Aleksandr Terechov. 22. Mikhail Riscob. 23. Luria Andropolo. (53)}
 

^{Human Rights Watch interviewed several foreign nationals involved in working for UNITA in 1995. Because of their continuing business with the former rebels they preferred not to be named. One admitted that UNITA frequently used foreign expertise:}
 

^{UNITA needs foreign expertise to help improve communications and other logistics. Setting up better satellite communications, and using the Internet are all things UNITA is investing and training in for both military and political reasons. Air freighting people and cargo in and out of UNITA zones also requires help. These are all done on a commercial basis. Mercenary work it is not. UNITA has its own forces who can do a better job. It is true Zairians are involved in the diamond areas, but many of these were originally Angolans in the 1960s. Their interest is diamond extraction and President Mobutu is probably pleased to see them kept paid and active elsewhere. (54)}
 

^{The U.N. frowns on the use of mercenaries. In his 1993/4 report, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the use of mercenaries concluded that for Angola, "with regard to the aggravation of this armed conflict, the presence of foreign mercenaries who have participated in training operations and in combat has been a key factor in the duration and nature of the conflict." (55)}
 
 

^{The Lusaka Protocol guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press. The Angolan Minister of Information Pedro Hendrik Vaal Neto claimed in a Angolan government sponsored section in the International Herald Tribune on June 16, 1995, "There are now 40 newspapers, 24 magazines and 18 bulletins and four private radio stations registered in the country. There are also more than 1,000 satellite antennas in the country receiving international broadcasts, including CNN." The minister said, "Views and opinions on the widest range of issues of local and national interest receive coverage." "We believe," he added, "that responsible journalism is essential to the health of a democratic society. The government is aware of the deficiencies in the professional education and training of many Angolan journalists and is actively pursuing measures to rectify the situation."}
 

^{Human Rights Watch has monitored freedom of expression in Angola carefully since the Lusaka Protocol, and has observed a radically different situation than that which the Minister depicted.}
 

^{On January 18, 1995, Ricardo de Mello, the director of the independent newsletter, Imparcial Fax, was assassinated outside his home in central Luanda by an unidentified gunmen. It was a professional killing. His assailant put one shot straight through the heart. The killing of Mello brings the number of journalists killed in Angola since the September 1992 elections to twelve. There have been many more incidents of intimidation of journalists. In January 1994 the state-run Angolan radio criticized the conduct of Angolan journalists working for foreign media and called for "measures" to be taken against them. In two separate broadcasts on January 13 and 14, 1994, Radio Nacional de Angola called on journalists to be "patriotic" and not to cover stories considered to be a threat to national security. A "certain correspondent of South African radio" was in particular warned to be more careful, an apparent reference to freelance Angolan journalist Mario Paiva.}
 

^{The following is a sample of cases of intimidation of journalists, writers and artists in 1995 and 1996.}

• ^{January 15, 1995. Unidentified individuals broke into the offices of Comerico Actualidade, destroying equipment and files. Publisher Victor Alexio believed it was intimidation, in response to publication of articles denouncing growing government and military corruption.}
• ^{January 18, 1995. Ricardo de Mello, director of Imparcial Fax, was assassinated outside his Luanda home.}
• ^{January 21, 1995. Government Rapid Intervention police raided a meeting of the Cabinda Nationals Committee in a Xiloango cinema house, Cabinda, detaining twenty-seven participants and assaulting several of them, including Joao Baptista Sousa, a journalist for Radio Nacional de Angola.}
• ^{January 28, 1995. Mario Cossa, an Imparcial Fax journalist, claimed to have been the target of an attack by seven men dressed in plain clothes.}
• ^{April 20, 1995. Victor Vimba (not his real name) received anonymous phone calls warning him not to talk to Human Rights Watch again or "face the consequences."}
• ^{July 6, 1995. Alexandre Adao was questioned by an Interior Ministry official on how he had funded a cassette of Angolan songs. He was told in the future to get permission prior to recording and not to sing songs critical of the government.}
• ^{August 1995. Radio Nacional journalist Jose Mutambi was detained in Saurimo for publishing on anti-government demonstrations and the growth of opposition party Social Renovation Party (PRS).}
• ^{November 18, 1995. Mario Paiva, a freelance journalist for Reuters and South African Broadcasting Corporation's Channel Africa and linked to the Media Institute in Southern Africa (MISA) had his life threatened by the Interior Ministry's Servico de Informacao (SINFO) agent, Beto, if he continued to write articles critical of the security forces. It was the second threat in November. Paiva's home also came under surveillance at this time.}
• ^{January 1996. Reginaldo de Silva, a freelance journalist for BBC World Service, received several anonymous phone calls warning him that "so-called independent journalists like you should watch out."}

 

^{Hardliners inside the Interior Ministry in particular had become increasingly anxious about Mello's publication of stories dealing with governmental and military corruption at senior levels. De Mello had published an article accusing the then police commander and Interior Minister of failing to account for $30 million that had been allocated to his ministry. De Mello also published a series of classified military documents, including some outlining an army psychological warfare campaign and one featuring the divisions within the MPLA and the military over the signing of the Lusaka Protocol. Just before his assassination Mello was working on a story about a possible political-military coup against President dos Santos.}
 

^{Government and military officials appear to have been deeply split over how to respond to Imparcial Fax, which by January 1995 was growing in confidence and pushing the press boundaries into what were regarded as taboo subjects, particularly the bitter divisions with the MPLA over strategy towards the peace process and UNITA. Two senior ranking MPLA officials warned Mello by phone and in person in the days preceding his death that he was in danger from MPLA hardliners and that he should lie low and not publish controversial stories until the emotions of the hardliners had cooled down. (56)}
 

^{Even after his death, Mello's Imparcial Fax colleagues continued to be intimidated and receive threatening anonymous phone calls. Worried for their safety, the Imparcial Fax staffers were after several attempts able to obtain South African visas in May so that they could leave Angola until the situation stabilized. Imparcial Fax has ceased production in Angola and most of the Imparcial Fax team now reside in Portugal.} 
 

^{In late March Andra Pitra "Petroff" was relieved of his job as police commander, but retained his job as Interior Minister. The persistent allegations about Andra Pitra "Petroff's" possible involvement in Mello's death warrant further investigation. A police investigation ordered by the government has reached no conclusions on who was responsible for the killing. According to at least one source, the police chief in charge of the investigation, Eduardo Sambo, was warned off the case when he began questioning a relative of Petroff. (57)}
 

^{Mello's killing sent shock waves through the community of journalists in Luanda. Although fearful of reprisals, journalists in Luanda spoke openly to Human Rights Watch in March 1995. One journalist called Joao (not his real name) explained:}
 

^{Mello was not clean. He was well-connected with the MPLA and had once been in the security, which is both an advantage and a disadvantage. He already knew too much. Imparcial Fax played an important role in pushing forward press freedoms. His mistake was to do too much, too soon. But his death is not wasted because they can never again kill a journalist in this way. In the long term this weakens those with closed minds.}

^{Another journalist called Maria (not her real name) explained:}
 

^{Mello's death is a set-back. But his death strengthens our anger at the MPLA. Killing will not stop us. The greatest control they have on us is that we need the jobs to keep alive. I have five children to feed and keep in clothing. If I write an article critical of the government I will not be fired. The article will often appear without censorship. However, once published the editor will phone me if there has been an official complaint and I will have to explain myself. If I did it a second time, I lose my job. The system is more of self-censorship. We then do not have any problems. If there were independent papers that could pay us, we would join them and do real work.}
 

^{When President dos Santos visited Washington on his official visit in December, Human Rights Watch asked the president about suppression of freedom of expression and intimidation of journalists in Angola and what the government was trying to do about it. President dos Santos replied:} 
 

^{There is more freedom of the press in Angola than anywhere. There are several papers that criticize the government every day, and when their criticism is fair we accept it. But a lot is unfair -- not only criticism, but insults. Some of these articles could be grounds to take the journalists to court. These journalists aren't harassed because of these articles. The government also controls some mass media -- radio and television -- and their expression is free. You have to read the papers. The government media also criticizes the government. No journalist is harassed. Still, there is some level of criminality, especially in Luanda. Not only journalists are murdered, but other professions too. Even foreigners. We regret the murder of Ricardo de Mello. The government condemned the act. But we're not responsible. The police carried out an inquiry, as they have into other murders. (58)}
 
 
 

^{Many print and radio journalists acknowledged that self-censorship was the common approach, and that except for Imparcial Fax, the local media is tightly controlled. Even the so-called "independent" radio stations survive with discreet financial support from government supporters.} 
 

^{Even benign incidents could attract press censorship in 1994. The publication of a cartoon in Jornal de Angola about the ruinous economic management of Prime Minister Marcolino Moco prompted the editor's dismissal. He was reappointed as editor of a sports supplement published by the same paper. (59)}
 
 
 

^{The government controlled media is given "political direction" each week by an Information Council made up of ministry officials from the Ministry of Social Communication and the director-generals and editors-in-chief of all the state media each week. Radio remains the most important medium in Angola. The most powerful state-controlled media source is Radio Nacional de Angola, a national radio station with forty-nine stations and 830 employees nationwide. There are only four privately-owned radio stations: Luanda Antenna Commercial (LAC), Radio Cabinda Commercial in Cabinda, Radio Morena for Benguela and Radio 2000 for Lubango. They were set up just before the 1992 elections with financial support from MPLA sources in order to assist it during the election campaign. Although these are technically independent, their programs avoid directly criticizing the government. The U.N. has been among the targets of hostile programs on government-controlled radio. Government radio in Uige province broadcast a program in November which urged the population to "prepare for war against UNAVEM," resulting in hostile demonstrations against UNAVEM's regional headquarters in Uige.}
 

^{Other government-controlled media outlets include: Televisao Popular de Angola (TPA) which broadcasts eight hours a day and employs 900 people with four regional stations; ANGOP, the official and only news agency; Jornal de Angola; and Correio da Semana, the weekly newspaper which like LAC was set up just before the 1992 elections as part of the same MPLA strategy. Several journalist attached to this paper in 1993-94 tried to reduce their dependency on the MPLA, but failed and left for Comercio Externo, an economics magazine. In January 1994 the publishers of Comercio Externo launched a weekly news magazine, Comercio Actualidade, which is less bland than the original product and which embarked on mild criticism of government corruption. In mid-1994 a glossy magazine called ECO started to be distributed, although it has to date avoided covering controversial political issues. In 1995, a weekly, Tempos Novos, was launched as were two new fax publications, Folha 8/Expresso, edited by William Tonet, and Actual Fax, edited by Leopoldo Baio (one of the old Imparcial Fax editorial team). A group of journalists called the Media Grupo, some of them attached to Comercio Actualidade, are considering launching a new independent daily newspaper. Mario Paiva was one of these; his efforts with this paper and with MISA may have made him the target for the death threats. (60)}
 

^{From February 1992, during the interim period before the September 1992 elections, Angolan journalists tried to form a more independent journalistic forum by breaking away from the "official" Union of Angolan Journalists (UAJ) and forming the independent Sindicatos dos Jornalistas Angolanos (SJA) union. Some journalists from UNITA zones also joined the SJA during this pre-election period. However, with the return to civil war after the elections SJA members were renewed targets for intimidation and acquiesced for the most part in self-censorship. There were nevertheless some positive developments. In February 1994 the SJA began publishing a newsletter, Jornalismo Hoje, which discussed amongst other questions, censorship. Imparcial Fax was also launched in the same month. Funding for this venture appears to have come from Portuguese and liberal MPLA sources.} 
 

^{The SJA union has recently accused U.N. Special Representative Beye of yielding to government pressure by demoting UNAVEM's Acting Spokesperson, Joao Carlos Gomes, following the showing of two television debates on media freedom. The first program was aired on national television on September 18, 1995 during a time slot allocated to the U.N., and was an unprecedented, open debate with participation by both private and state media representatives. The lively exchange resulted in public criticism of Gomes by an MPLA member of Parliament, Costa Andrade, who also runs Correio da Semana and the LAC radio station. The second debate, aired on September 24, was boycotted by the state media. In November, Gomes was replaced by Paulo Nascimento, the current UNAVEM Spokesperson. (61)}

^{Journalists working in UNITA-held zones faced, and continue to face, even greater difficulties. All information is censored and visits by foreign correspondents are tightly controlled and stage-managed. Human Rights Watch was also tightly controlled during its visit to UNITA zones in May 1994. UNITA's only paper, Terra Angolana, is published in Portugal. Its editorial line is strictly pro-UNITA although Savimbi criticized it for not being loyal enough during UNITA's 1995 congress in Bailundo. UNITA also has a short wave radio station, the Voice of the Resistance of the Black Cockerel (Vorgan). Based in Jamba (UNITA's former headquarters), Vorgan is completely partisan, and often disseminates extreme propaganda against the government and other targeted groups even though it is specifically called in the Lusaka Protocol not to disseminate negative propaganda.}
 

^{UNITA is also responsible for the assassination of journalists. A mirror image of the Mello killing occurred on December 4, 1992 in the UNITA stronghold of Huambo. David Bernardino, a doctor and editor of the weekly Jango magazine, was gunned down by unidentified assassins. He, like Mello, had published articles critical of authority, in this case UNITA. Human Rights Watch spoke to a journalist sympathetic to UNITA in UNITA zones in 1994 who admitted to Human Rights Watch that self-censorship is how UNITA journalists work and that no alternative is possible. (62)}

^{Eduardo (not his real name) explained:}

^{We can only think silently what we feel. This is a war, what you think and what you say are different things in war. Our task is to expose the MPLA's lies, not to look at problems in the movement. That would weaken our task in fighting the enemy. When this war is over, we can be more thoughtful. Until then we follow what we are told by O Mais Velho (Savimbi) and free ourselves from the slavery of Futungo (the Angolan presidency).}
 

^{The widespread control of information has resulted in Angolans only trusting foreign radio, especially the Portuguese services of Voice of America and the BBC World Service. The result is a country in many ways still frozen in a cold war mentality in which freedom of expression remains illusory.}
 

^{U.N. Radio Station}

^{One of the great failures during UNAVEM II was the absence of a neutral independent source of information in which people could have confidence. The May 1991-September 1992 period was notable for the dissemination of hostile propaganda by Radio Nacional and Vorgan. This contributed to feelings of hostility and encouraged violence and a lack of tolerance. Interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Margaret Anstee, the former U.N. Special Representative in Angola from 1991-1993 underlined the importance of setting up an independent U.N. radio station, saying, "If I looked back and changed two things in UNAVEM II, it would be to have an effective human rights monitoring component and an independent radio station. Both are critical ingredients for a success in Angola." (63)}
 
 
 

^{U.N. Security Council Resolution 976 of February 1995 endorsed the Secretary General's call in his February 1 report "for UNAVEM III to have an effective information capability, including a United Nations radio station to be established in consultation with the Government of Angola." (64) Section 13 of Security Council Resolution 1008 of August 1995 "stresses the need for dissemination of objective information through radio UNAVEM and for the Government of Angola to provide all facilities for the prompt functioning of the radio."}
 

^{It has, however, not been easy to set up a U.N. radio station. Sporadic negotiations between UNAVEM III and the government about setting up such a radio station took place over ten months. Under increasing U.N. pressure the government finally responded by claiming the issue was outdated. Angolan Minister of Information, Hendrik Vaal Neto stated in a December 1995 interview on Angolan radio:}
 

^{I do not think it is necessary for the United Nations to operate its own radio service independent from Radio Nacional. We are willing to allocate any time the United Nations requires. Regarding the opening of a private radio station, one should realize Angola has a constitution which we must uphold. The constitution bans private radio stations, particularly short wave stations. The United Nations needs to be heard throughout the country, and for that we have Radio Nacional. (65)}
 

^{In his report to the Security Council, U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali raised the issue on December 7, 1995. He said, "Although UNAVEM III has been offered more time on national radio and television, no adequate response has been received so far from the Government regarding the United Nations' own radio, and the situation essentially remains as described in my last report in October." (66)}
 

^{Answering a question from Human Rights Watch in December 1995, President dos Santos defended his government's position against a U.N. radio station, saying, "UNAVEM has its own radio program. They use Angolan radio and TV without any restriction or control. It is a way we found for UNAVEM to send its message, which is cheaper for UNAVEM, which has to pay expenditures. I'm not saying that we're in the Guinness Book of World Records in terms of press freedom, but we're doing our best."} (67)
 
 
 

^{Asked by Human Rights Watch whether the government was doing its "best" about press freedom, a senior UNAVEM official, who did not want to be named, replied emphatically, "They are doing their least, not their best on press freedom. They would win the Guinness Book of Worst Records." (68)}
 

^{The importance of press freedom and initiatives like the U.N. radio station is evident. Angolans have had little tradition of, or exposure to, free expression. An independent non-partisan radio station able to broadcast across the country is crucial for breaking the monopoly of control of information by both sides. As an Angolan journalist, Mario (not his real name) explained to Human Rights Watch in March, "We are ready to be brave and campaign for our rights. But we need your funding and support. The government and UNITA will never help us. They have grown fat on misinforming us. Our job is to make them diet. We must expose the true extent of their grossness."}
 
 

^{The Lusaka Protocol, under Annex 3, Agenda Item II.1, I-3, guarantees that "The reestablished cease-fire shall guarantee the free circulation of persons and goods throughout the national territory." This right remains far from guaranteed. Even FAA Chief of Staff de Matos argued that, "We do not want peace only for Luanda, we want peace for all Angola. Twenty-five kilometers from the capital there are peasants who die. The roads are mined, there is no freedom of circulation. Ask these peasants whether this is peace." (69)}

^{A peasant farmer interviewed by Human Rights Watch near Caxito explained his vision of peace in March 1995: "Peace means to us the right to be left alone. When I can go anywhere and not be stopped by soldiers, then I know the war has ended for sure."}
 

^{When Human Rights Watch interviewed over sixty people in Bengo and Luanda in March 1995, we found that every person interviewed yearned for the right of freedom of movement. U.N. military officials have stated that by the end of 1995, about 45 percent of their recorded cease-fire violations were attacks on civilians designed either to control the movement of food aid in contested areas or to stop people from moving into areas controlled by the other side. Mines were laid overnight on roads previously cleared, either to keep the roads closed, to delay U.N. patrols, or to channel traffic along certain roads so that it can be taxed at checkpoints.}
 

^{In late 1995, for example, the FAA established random checkpoints between Caxito and the Lodge River bridge, hindering traffic. In Uige FAA units only prevent people from moving towards UNITA zones. Leaving them is encouraged. The pattern varies across the country. In Luanda Sul both sides are engaged in the diamond trade and movement is not blocked except when fighting breaks out. In other areas, such as Menongue, passage has been tightly controlled by town authorities, troops, or police manning "border" checkpoints in order to limit movement from a government controlled area to a UNITA controlled zone or vice versa. Free circulation is also inhibited by checkpoints within the cities and their immediate surroundings, where the police harass and rob the population.}
 

^{These are not "borders" between UNITA and the government; they have an economic function, extorting women going to market to sell their produce and other commercial traffic before allowing them to continue their journey. One market trader Maria Zala told Human Rights Watch in June 1995 about her journey from UNITA occupied northern Nambuangongo municipality in Bengo province to Luanda:}
 

^{I pass FALAs (UNITA soldiers), FAPLAs (government soldiers), Ninjas, militias and other police. They all stop me, ask me for papers, and then ask me what I have for them. Then they let me pass. We don't let our men do this route, they would be killed or taken to be soldiers. Its normal for me. I'm much too old to be of much interest to these men. Age has advantages in this place.}
 

^{UNITA Areas}

^{Freedom of movement within UNITA areas is even more tightly controlled. In Cuando Cubango province, around Jamba, UNITA's former headquarters, the civilian population, some 40,000, is in a dreadful state. Although UNITA claims that it has invited the international community to evacuate them, UNITA has blocked attempts to do this. People still flee, mostly to Zambia, where relatives have settled along the border. Victor, who fled Jamba in June 1995, was one of ten people interviewed by Human Rights Watch the following month:}
 

^{Life is very difficult for us in Jamba. We are hungry and UNITA does not allow us to leave. Many people have already left on their own feet. UNITA fears we will go to government areas if we could and warns us that it is against the peace accords to travel to government zones. UNAVEM and the MPLA will kill us with guns with silencers, like the last time UNAVEM was here. We therefore choose to leave for Zambia because Namibia can be dangerous too these days for us. It is true that many of our young men have been moved north. Savimbi has forgotten us in Jamba, he only wants the young to fight for him. Planes and marches have for a long time been moving people north. The Lunda provinces are a major destination.}
 

^{Human Rights Watch has also learnt from the Namibian police (Nampol) that several UNITA commanders based in Jamba are involved in the illegal trade of guns for second-hand clothing and food through Rundu on the Angolan border. Further north, however, Angolan refugees in Meheba refugee camp in Zambia are showing greater confidence about returning to Cazombo and other towns and villages in Alto Zambeze. Their hope is that they can start self-repatriating some family members to prepare for a return of the rest of the family if all goes well.}
 

^{Attacks on Civilians}

^{Human Rights Watch has received a series of reports from Uige province that troops from both sides are committing human rights violations against the civilian population. As the province is very fragmented between UNITA and government forces, a complicated game of brinkmanship occurred throughout 1995, with the government seeking to draw UNITA into a serious military confrontation so as to legitimize its attempt to recapture the strategic Negage airbase and town. Both sides embarked on aggressive patrolling and abuses of the civilian population, a situation further muddled by both actively trying to depict the other as the cause of Lusaka Protocol violations. A government military official who served in Northern Region for much of 1995 depicted the situation as follows: "We have various strategic objectives to complete. The Lusaka Protocol denied our immediate realization of these priorities. We therefore have to engage in a longer-term strategy. We can not afford to allow UNITA to occupy strategic military locations, like Negage, indefinitely." (70)}

^{In such a climate, obtaining credible information is difficult. But the incidents that can be confirmed indicate the types of human rights violations that continue in Uige province. On May 20, 1995 UNITA troops attacked Dambi, looting the village until a military unit from neighboring Calumbo responded. On May 24, FAA soldiers looted goods and animals from villagers in Banza Luanda and trucked out all they confiscated. This type of incident occurs regularly in Uige when troops from both sides move into new areas.} 
 

^{There continue to be occasional abductions and killings. Fonseca Joao Lucas, a 34-year-old former FAPLA captain, was reported abducted by UNITA on April 24, 1995 from Calumbo and has not been heard of since. In June UNITA supporters Jorge Sukuata and Antonio Mateus were killed by government forces. On April 15 in M'banza Luanda village, near Songo, UNAVEM arrived at the village ten minutes after a women had been killed by FAA troops in connection with their looting of the village. In late 1995 the FAA Northern Region continued to claim that this incident was being investigated although no action has been taken except to relocate the unit responsible elsewhere in the region.} 
 

^{The journalist Karl Maier also witnessed a number of violations of the Lusaka Protocol in March 1995 when he travelled in Huambo province. Maier reported abuse of the local population and the government's release of intentionally false information about an alleged UNITA violation:}
 

^{Yesterday, I went to Dondi via Bela Vista (Cachiungo) and Vila Nova with UNAVEM, an Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) official and another from UNITA. It is very clear that the town was never occupied by UNITA. This story is false. The Government troops, who came from Chinguar, invaded Bela Vista. The FAA conceded the point. It is clear that the government troops are advancing little by little, trying to get closer to UNITA positions. For example, in Boas Aguas, government troops, coming from Chinguar, also entered Bela Vista and did many bad things to the population. They robbed people and attacked and raped some women. Yesterday, I saw many drunken soldiers. (71)}
 
 
 

^{Also in March, a film crew from the International Broadcasting Trust travelled to Huambo province and filmed illegal road blocks and troop movements by both UNITA and the government--clear violations of the Lusaka Protocol. (72)}

^{Both sides continue to conscript men forcibly and arbitrarily into their armed forces. The latest incident which Human Rights Watch was able to confirm involved twenty unidentified young men taken against their will in October 1995 by Northern Region FAA for military service under the supervision of Brig. Chilloya. In Luanda the government has stopped sweeping the city center for recruits, but it still happens in some suburbs.} 
 

^{One resident in Samba musseque, who preferred not to be named, explained one method: "The FAA commanders pay police to find new recruits. The more people, the more money. We can avoid being taken by paying a higher price. It is business. There is no demand for the very young these days. You can become rich in this business." (73)}
 

^{Accounts of forced conscription are equally widespread in UNITA zones. Many are conscripted for portering jobs. Luisa is a seventeen-year-old from a village in Malange. She lived near Cacuso, which had been under UNITA control since late 1992, although her family had voted MPLA in the elections:}
 

^{I was grabbed by soldiers and taken away in December 1992. I then worked for UNITA as a porter until recently. This year I carried with sixty other women supplies from Zaire for UNITA in Santa Cruz (Uige province). The supplies were in boxes which we carried on our heads. They included food, medicines, guns and ammunition. I finally was able to escape and make my way home. For my safety and that of my family I have moved to government areas. I wait till there is true peace. (74)}
 
 
 

^{Child Soldiers}

^{The general service requirement for all Angolan males is that they should be over twenty years of age. But many recruits are under this age and forced recruitment of teenagers occurred throughout 1995 in Northern Region. According to UNAVEM, on May 23, 1995, its observers saw 200 young men at the Uige airport guarded by FAA troops, all taken against their will.}
 

^{Human Rights Watch believes that children under the age of eighteen should not take part directly or indirectly in armed conflict. (75) Under the rules of war (Protocol II to the 1949 Geneva Conventions), recruitment, voluntary or involuntary, of soldiers under the age of fifteen is illegal. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, those who recruit soldiers between the ages of fifteen and eighteen must endeavor to give priority to those who are the oldest. (76)}

^{Although it is not yet in effect, the African Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits recruitment of anyone under the age of eighteen.}
 

^{However, it is clear that the practice of underage recruitment and use of children and teenagers by UNITA and the government is widespread, even if it has declined from the record levels of 1994.}
 

^{Antonio is a father of three living near Caxito. Interviewed by Human Rights Watch in March 1995, he described how government soldiers forcibly conscripted his fourteen- and sixteen-year-old sons on March 17. When contacted again in November, Antonio confirmed his sons had been sent to the Northern Region for military service. Antonio commented, "They tell me that military service employs the young, but my sons were happy to help me in the fields. There is no justice. The military are accountable to no one."}
 

^{Government conscription into local units of the underaged continues across the country. Human Rights Watch has received reports in 1995 of underage conscription in Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Zaire, Uige and Cuanza Norte and Bengo province. It does seem, though, that military officials are weeding out those that look very young. An eleven-year-old, Manuel, picked up near Sumbe, reported to Human Rights Watch in March 1995 that he had been freed and sent home when the commander looked at him and said he was too young. Three boys, Jose Tembo, Paulo Demba and Joao Kimbu, who were underage but looked older, were retained.}
 

^{UNITA is less discriminating when conscripting children into its military forces. NGOs and UNAVEM officials report that UNITA uses child combatants extensively and that young boys remain targets for forced conscription especially in the northern provinces of Zaire and Uige in 1995. Antonio Jose told Human Rights Watch in March 1995 how his eleven-year-old brother, Francisco, was taken by UNITA from their village near Quipedro on the border of Uige and Bengo provinces on February 11:}
 

^{A unit of ten UNITAs came to the village and told me that my brother had reached the time for his work for the party. Col. Bravo led the group. Francisco then was taken off to Sanza Pombo for training. UNITA is always looking for new recruits. We get visited frequently. The government does the same. As I look after my mother and produce food for the soldiers when they come through, they do not take me. Everybody knows who is who around here.}
 

^{UNITA has also redeployed some children to work as bonded labor in its diamond areas. There are no precise figures on the numbers. A diamond merchant who has just returned from Lunda Norte and visited some UNITA diamond zones in November 1995 described the situation as the following:}
 

^{Street children have also suffered abuses in Angola's urban areas. UNICEF estimates that Luanda alone has 4,000 street children. (77) The majority of these are boys and their daily life is characterized on the streets by sexual exploitation, forced labor, and arbitrary underage military conscription.}
 
 

^{The war since 1992 destroyed most of the courthouses in the country. In many cases judges, prosecutors and lawyers have fled their jobs due to the war. The result is that the judicial system in some provinces stopped functioning during the war. For example, in Uige there was neither a court nor a functioning judge until late 1995. Decisions regarding the type of punishment and length of sentence were taken for lesser cases (such as theft) by a commission made up of the police, the city government and the army. Serious cases were referred to Luanda. While investigations were taking place, the prisoners were kept in detention for at least five days before a decision on imprisonment was made. When sentence was decided, the individual was brought to prison. Many prisoners did not know what their exact sentence was and how long they would stay in prison. Nobody received a sentence in writing. (78)}
 

^{Prison conditions across the country remain very bad. The most recent published study on prison conditions is that of January 1994 by the Associacao Angolana dos Direitos Humanos (AADH), which visited three prisons in the Luanda area, the Cadeia Central de Luanda, Cadeia de Sao Paulo and Campo de Trabalho Prisional de Viana. (79) Its report highlights the appalling conditions. Of 1,513 inmates interviewed, only 175 had been formally charged. Some of those, such as Domingos Sebastiao, had been detained for more than three years for causing a minor disturbance. The prisons also held many street children, thrown into jail for street vending, or simply to clean the streets up. In the Trabalho Prisional de Viana, AADH found some 720 FAA soldiers and police, almost all charged with homicide by firearms in the Luanda area.}
 

^{The physical conditions inside the prisons were no better. Some cells had four people to a bed; others, built for four, housed over twelve people. Sanitary conditions were inadequate. Sao Paulo prison had been transformed into a prison hospital with a death rate of between two and four a day. In 1993 there were on average three deaths a month in the Cadeia Central de Luanda, and there was a total of 148 deaths in Vianna.}
 

^{Provincial prisons are also badly overcrowded. The prisoners have little access to food, water and medicine, most surviving on the support of their families--much of which is diverted in payments to prison officials. In Menongue prison, suspected UNITA detainees were refused access to the river to wash while other prisoners were permitted to be clean. On June 6, Jornal de Angola reported in a feature story that many prisoners in Lubango were dying of hunger in its prisons.}
 

^{Many civil prisoners are kept in prison for extended periods. Law no.18-A/92 of July 17, 1992 allows for a maximum imprisonment of 135 days without trial. The lack of personnel in the judicial system makes the use of this preventive law widespread for the smallest of crimes. The maximum time limit of five days under the preventive law before a prisoner is presented to the judicial authorities is often not adhered to. When questioned by Human Rights Watch about this, Angolan officials shrugged it off, claiming they did not have the resources to implement the law. This violates not only Angolan law but also Lusaka Protocol, Annex 5, Specific Principles 2, which states that "any individual suspected of having committed illegal acts and placed under preventative detention by the police shall, in strict compliance with the law, be taken to court." U.N. Civilian Police (CIVPOL) officers that have tried to visit prisons across the country report increasing access but great difficulties in obtaining conditions permitting confidential interviews with inmates.}
 

^{The Lusaka Protocol in its Annex 3, Specific Principles No.10, demands "release of all civilian and military prisoners detained or imprisoned as a consequence of the conflict, under the supervision of the ICRC." (80)}

^{Yet, despite the efforts of the Joint Commission and the ICRC, the government and UNITA have only responded slowly, treating the release as an issue of reciprocity. This is against the terms of the Lusaka Protocol which provides that prisoners should be released rather than exchanged on a reciprocal basis. By January 29, 1995 the ICRC had received 346 prisoners from the government and forty-four from UNITA on thirteen occasions. Most recently, UNITA in January 1996 provided the ICRC with a list of seventy government prisoners, of which twenty-four were released on January 23; a further UNITA release of prisoners of war is anticipated.}
 

^{A few high profile cases of prisoners held by UNITA remain unresolved. The U.N. World Food Program operator in Huambo province, Alfredo Afonso, was arrested without explanation by UNITA on July 12, 1994. UNITA General Paulo Gato and General Albino Sinjecumbi subsequently told a high-level delegation of U.N. agency heads on July 27, 1994 that Afonso had been arrested for "crimes against state security." Despite repeated requests by the ICRC and the U.N., neither organization was permitted to visit Afonso and numerous inquiries about his whereabouts and physical condition went unanswered. Upon UNITA's withdrawal from Huambo on November 8, 1994, the U.N. Department for Humanitarian Affairs presented Gen. Vinama and Estevao "Beja" with a final request for Afonso's release. Gen. Vinama, then head of UNITA's security police, said that Afonso had already been moved out of Huambo. UNITA's leadership now claims that Angolan government forces killed many of UNITA's prisoners on entering Huambo in November, and that Afonso's whereabouts are unknown.}
 

^{On August 26, 1994, suspected UNITA soldiers at a roadblock north of Porto Amboim (Cuanza Sul) stopped a Toyota displaying an Africare logo and abducted its passengers, including two Africare employees, Angolan Oliveira Cafranca Lembe and Congolese Vicente D. Douma. They are still missing and despite attempts by Africare and Douma's wife, a U.S. citizen, to locate them, UNITA has provided little assistance. This is only the second time in twenty-three years in Africa that Africare has had workers taken hostage. (81)}
 

^{Human Rights Watch's inquiries in 1995 with military commanders, NGOs and the local population in Angola, as well as refugees in neighboring states, suggest that not many prisoners of war remain alive in UNITA custody. UNITA tended to kill prisoners, the wounded and those seeking surrender on the battlefield towards the end of 1994 rather than holding prisoners because of shortages of food and logistics. Government soldiers taken earlier in 1993 were sometimes offered the chance of joining UNITA.} 
 
 

^{Mine warfare increased when hostilities resumed in October 1992, with thousands of new mines being laid to obstruct roads and bridges, to encircle besieged towns with mine belts up to three kilometers wide, and to despoil agricultural lands in combat zones. Both government and UNITA forces have continued to lay mines following the Lusaka Protocol cease-fire.}
 

^{The U.N. believes that there are some nine to fifteen million mines throughout the country. Their legacy has had a devastating effect on Angolan society. The U.N. estimates that the number of mine amputees reached 70,000 in 1995. Mines have killed many thousands more. The tremendous toll on civilians ensures that Angola has one of the highest rates of landmine victims in the world.}
 

^{In its January 1993 survey of landmines in Angola, Human Rights Watch identified thirty-eight types of mines deployed in Angola. These originated from countries such as Belgium, the former Czechoslovakia, China, France, the former West Germany, Italy, the former Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and the former Yugoslavia. (82)}
 

^{In 1995 Human Rights Watch interviewed a series of recent landmine victims from Huambo, Kuito, Luanda, and Caxito. Afonso Lumbala, a 32-year-old farmer, stepped on an antipersonnel mine on a path near Caxito in March 1995. Interviewed by Human Rights Watch about his accident, he commented:}
 

^{All soldiers lay these mines. They don't care about us the people. We suffer for them. They never warn us about mines. We find out by losing our limbs. We want them to clear the mine mess and leave us alone. The leaders and their soldiers are responsible for this. So are the people who make these evil weapons.}
 

^{Despite the hazards to civilians, landmines still continue to be laid, in violation of the Lusaka Protocol as an evident continuation of hostilities and a barrier to freedom of movement. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1008 of August 1995 "urges the two parties to put an immediate and definitive end to the renewed laying of mines." The U.N. reported in December 1995, "Recently, there have been several accidents caused by mine explosions in the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Malange and Lunda Norte on roads that had already been in use for several months. The possibility cannot be ruled out that fresh mines are being laid in some areas, though the demining that took place prior to the opening of many access routes was not systematic." (83)}
 
 
 

^{Asked about the laying of new mines in Angola in 1995, U.N. and NGO officials and local people confirmed that it continued. An Angolan truck driver, Joao Kalulo, survived three explosions from mines set off by his vehicles in 1995 and described the use of mines in economic terms:}
 

^{Many of these mines being laid are economic in nature. They keep roads and fields closed and push prices up. They also force us truck drivers along certain routes which make it easier to control and tax. Both sides use this for revenue earning. You'll find the reluctance of some governors to see mines removed less linked to national security and more to their pockets. Tight control is good business. Some places are different. In the Lundas it's different, encouraging trade is better business for many officials up there. (84)}
 

^{Mines are also being laid in order to mark frontiers in contested zones. Several local villagers from Uige province told Human Rights Watch of new mines being planted by the government and UNITA during their aggressive patrolling along frontiers. Mine clearance personnel in Bie and Malange provinces also confirm that routes cleared of mines have been re-mined to slow down their progress or even to erode confidence in their operations. While the mine clearance organizations may be using this suggestion to cover up occasional cases where they have failed to clear a field or road properly, the consistency of these incidents suggests that both UNITA and government troops continue to use mines.}
 

^{The U.N. and the international community at large have shown interest in assisting Angola with urgently needed mine clearance operations. However, despite some nominal progress, neither UNITA nor the government has demonstrated the commitment and cooperation needed to make significant headway. Indeed, both sides have on occasion been guilty of blocking progress.}
 

^{At the January 1995 Chipipa meeting between UNITA and government military, they agreed to form Joint Mine Clearing Teams and to provide the U.N. with all necessary assistance in terms of mine information, reconnaissance, survey and clearance. Both appointed Mine Liaison officers to the Joint Commission. By April UNAVEM had received limited information from the FAA and UNITA concerning minefields, as well as confirmation that the parties would make available the necessary mine clearance personnel. Both sides believe, however, that the U.N. should equip and train the personnel.} 
 

^{The government and UNITA have pledged to put 800 and 400 personnel, respectively, at the disposal of UNAVEM for mine clearance. The government has allocated $3 million for the procurement of mine clearing equipment. The U.N. reported in December 1995 that, "The government/UNITA mine sweeping operation is still limited, owing mainly to mistrust between the two parties. However, joint activities undertaken in the province of Cuando Cubango have already resulted in the opening of several important roads." (85)}
 

^{On May 19, an engineering company of 206 Indian troops--part of 1,200 men joining UNAVEM III--arrived in Angola. The Indian engineers were to engage in mine clearing and the repair of bridges and roads, among other tasks. An advance party of British engineers which arrived in April also engaged in mine clearance of priority roads and cantonment areas for demobilizing troops. Namibia announced in November 1995 that it would provide 200 troops with mine clearing experience.}
 

^{The U.N. set up a Central Mine Action Office (CMAO) in 1994. In January 1995 the CMAO outlined its four-point strategy. It advocated:}
 

• ^{Extensive surveys of mined areas (with priority given to peacekeeper deployment sites and quartering areas);}
• ^{Public education and awareness about mines;}
• ^{Mine clearance in priority areas; and}
• ^{Training Angolans in all aspects of mine action.}