Editing Jonas Savimbi (section)

==Military career==
Savimbi sought a leadership position in the MPLA by joining the [[Youth of MPLA|MPLA Youth]] in the early 1960s.<ref name="Savimbiobituary">{{cite news|title = Obituary: Jonas Savimbi|url = https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/feb/25/guardianobituaries.victoriabrittain|first = Victoria|last = Brittain|work = [[The Guardian]]|date = 25 February 2002|access-date = 11 December 2012|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131208062910/http://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/feb/25/guardianobituaries.victoriabrittain|archive-date = 8 December 2013|df = dmy-all}}</ref> He was rebuffed by the MPLA, and joined forces with the [[National Liberation Front of Angola]] (FNLA) in 1964. The same year, he conceived UNITA with [[Antonio da Costa Fernandes]]. Savimbi went to China for help and was promised arms and military training. Upon returning to Angola in 1966, he launched UNITA and began his career as an anti-Portuguese guerrilla fighter. He also fought the FNLA and MPLA, as the three resistance movements tried to position themselves to lead a post-colonial Angola. Portugal later released [[PIDE]] (Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado, a Portuguese security agency) archives revealing that Savimbi had signed a collaboration pact with Portuguese colonial authorities to fight the MPLA.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3821/is_200610/ai_n17195875 |work=Journal of Third World Studies |title=Contested Power in Angola: 1840s to the Present |year=2006 |first=David |last=Jervis |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527223006/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3821/is_200610/ai_n17195875 |archive-date=27 May 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4362364,00.html | work= The Guardian | location=London | title=Jonas Savimbi | first=Victoria | last=Brittain | date =25 February 2002 | access-date=7 May 2010}}</ref>

Following Angola's independence in 1975, Savimbi gradually drew the attention of [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]] and, ultimately, [[United States|American]] policymakers and intellectuals. Trained in China during the 1960s, Savimbi was a highly successful [[guerrilla]] fighter schooled in classic [[Maoist]] approaches to warfare, including baiting his enemies with multiple military fronts, some of which attacked and some of which consciously retreated. Like the [[People's Liberation Army]] of [[Mao Zedong]], Savimbi mobilized important, although ethnically confined segments of the rural peasantry – overwhelmingly [[Ovimbundu]] – as part of his military tactics. From a military strategy standpoint, he can be considered one of the most effective guerrilla leaders of the 20th century.<ref>{{citation |last=Malaquias |first=Assis |title=Rebels and Robbers: Violence in Post-Colonial Angola |url=http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn%3Anbn%3Ase%3Anai%3Adiva-501 |year=2007 |place=Uppsala |publisher=Nordiska Afrikainstitutet}}.</ref>

===Civil war===
As the MPLA was supported by the [[Soviet bloc]] since 1974, and declared itself [[Marxist-Leninist]] in 1977, Savimbi renounced his earlier Maoist leanings and contacts with China, presenting himself on the international scene as a protagonist of [[anti-communism]]. The war between the MPLA and UNITA, whatever its internal reasons and dynamics, thus became part of the Cold War, with both [[Moscow]] and Washington viewing the conflict as important to the global balance of power.<ref name=Abramoff>{{cite web | last = Verini|first=James | date = 17 August 2005 | url = http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/feature/2005/08/17/abramoff/ | title = The tale of 'Red Scorpion' | newspaper = Salon | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080222194803/http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/feature/2005/08/17/abramoff/ | archive-date = 22 February 2008 | df = dmy-all }}.</ref>

====United States support====
[[File:Ronald Reagan and Jonas Savimbi.jpg|thumb|right|Savimbi with [[President of the United States|President]] [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1986]]
[[File:Bush Contact Sheet P16285 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Savimbi greeting [[President of the United States|President]] [[George H. W. Bush]] in 1990]]
In 1985, with the backing of the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration and through the lobbying efforts of [[Paul Manafort]] and his firm [[Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly]] which was paid $600,000 each year from Savimbi beginning in 1985,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Swan |first1=Betsy |last2=Mak |first2=Tim |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-trump-aide-led-the-torturers-lobby |title=Top Trump Aide Led the 'Torturers' Lobby' Bloody Money: Paul Manafort and the partners at his firm made a fortune repping some of the most despicable dictators of the 20th century. |work=[[Daily Beast]] |date=April 13, 2016 |access-date=August 28, 2021 |quote=Updated on 6 November 2017. |archive-date=29 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829030153/https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-trump-aide-led-the-torturers-lobby |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Thomas |first=Evan |author-link=Evan Thomas |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,960803-1,00.html |title=The Slickest Shop in Town |page =1 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=March 3, 1986 |access-date=August 28, 2021 |archive-date=April 18, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418033553/http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,960803-1,00.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Thomas |first=Evan |author-link=Evan Thomas |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,960803-2,00.html |title=The Slickest Shop in Town |page =2 |magazine=Time |date=March 3, 1986 |access-date=August 28, 2021 |archive-date=February 26, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226060300/http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,960803-2,00.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Shear |first1=Michael D. |last2=Birnbaum |first2=Jeffrey H. |author1-link=Michael D. Shear |author2-link=Jeffrey Birnbaum |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052103006.html |title=McCain Adviser's Work As Lobbyist Criticized: Charles Black, John McCain's top political strategist, is now retired from a 30-year |page= 1 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=May 22, 2008 |access-date=August 28, 2021 |archive-date=March 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309131432/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052103006.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Shear |first1=Michael D. |last2=Birnbaum |first2=Jeffrey H. |author1-link=Michael D. Shear |author2-link=Jeffrey Birnbaum |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052103006_2.html |title=McCain Adviser's Work As Lobbyist Criticized: Charles Black, John McCain's top political strategist, is now retired from a 30-year |page =2|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=May 22, 2008 |access-date=August 28, 2021 |archive-date=April 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416161838/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052103006_2.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Levine |first=Art |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qnVC8yS4N_AC&pg=PA62 |title=Inside Washington's Propaganda Shops: Publicists of the Damned |work=[[Spy (magazine)|Spy]] (volume 6) |pages=52–60 |date=February 1992 |access-date=August 28, 2021}} See page 60. The full title of the article is "Believe it or not, there are Americans out there who have nice things to say about Saddam Hussein, Nicolae Ceaucescu, and the murderous governments of Zaire, Myanmar, and El Salvador – and they have better access to your congressman than you do. They're lobbyists, and they earn hundreds of thousands of dollars flacking for fascists and schmoozing on behalf of tyrants blithely waltzing through life as Publicists of the Dammed."</ref> [[Jack Abramoff]] and other U.S. conservatives organized the [[Democratic International]] in Savimbi's base in [[Jamba, Cuando Cubango|Jamba]], in [[Cuando Cubango Province]] in southeastern Angola.<ref name = Abramoff /> Savimbi was strongly supported by the influential, conservative [[The Heritage Foundation|Heritage Foundation]]. Heritage foreign policy analyst [[Michael Johns (policy analyst)|Michael Johns]] and other conservatives visited regularly with Savimbi in his clandestine camps in Jamba and provided the rebel leader with ongoing political and military guidance in his war against the Angolan government.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fyzsTGPTkOIC&dq=%22Michael+Johns%22+Savimbi&pg=PA53 ''The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism''], {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180221092306/https://books.google.com/books?id=fyzsTGPTkOIC&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=%22Michael+Johns%22+Savimbi&source=bl&ots=KlSwhsbw-l&sig=O7689UUb32B2dHrlD48O5JfhPsI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjP7vOvzYrOAhXLGR4KHT8gD7U4ChDoAQgbMAA |date=21 February 2018}} by Russ Bellant, South End Press, 1988 and 1991, pp. 53–54.</ref><ref>{{unfit|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160919224609/http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1990/07/with-freedom-near-in-angola-this-is-no-time-to-curtail-unita-assistance "With Freedom Near in Angola, This is No Time to Curtail UNITA Assistance,"]}} by Michael Johns, The Heritage Foundation, 31 July 1990.</ref>

Savimbi's U.S.-based supporters ultimately proved successful in convincing the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] to channel covert weapons and recruit guerrillas for Savimbi's war against Angola's Marxist government. During a visit to [[Washington, D.C.]] in 1986, Reagan invited Savimbi to meet with him at the [[White House]]. Following the meeting, Reagan spoke of UNITA winning "a victory that electrifies the world."<ref name=Heritage>{{citation|url=http://www.heritage.org/Research/Africa/HL217.cfm |title=The Coming Winds of Democracy in Angola |publisher=Heritage |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080101103015/http://www.heritage.org/Research/Africa/HL217.cfm |archive-date=1 January 2008 }}.</ref>

Two years later, with the Angolan Civil War intensifying, Savimbi returned to Washington, where he praised the Heritage Foundation's work on UNITA's behalf.<ref name = Heritage />

====Military and political efforts====
[[File:Savimbiparleur1.jpg|thumb|upright|Savimbi meets two [[Members of the European Parliament]] in 1989]]
Complementing his military skills, Savimbi also impressed many with his intellectual qualities. He spoke seven languages fluently including Portuguese, French, and English.<ref name="fpif.org">{{citation | url = http://fpif.org/jonas_savimbi_washingtons_freedom_fighter_africas_terrorist/ | title = Jonas Savimbi: Washingtons Freedom Fighter", Africa's "Terrorist" | publisher = Foreign Policy in Focus | first = Shana|last= Wills | date = 1 February 2002}}</ref> In visits to foreign diplomats and in speeches before American audiences, he often cited classical Western political and social philosophy, ultimately becoming one of the most vocal anti-communists of the [[Third World]].<ref name="allafrica.com">{{citation | url = http://allafrica.com/stories/200206250743.html?page=4 | title = Angola: Don't Simplify History, Says Savimbi's Biographer | newspaper = All Africa | location = [[Johannesburg]] | date = 22 June 2002 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070608090026/http://allafrica.com/stories/200206250743.html?page=4 | archive-date = 8 June 2007 | df = dmy-all }}.</ref>

Savimbi's biography describes him as "an incredible linguist. He spoke four European languages, including English although he had never lived in an English-speaking country. He was extremely well read. He was an extremely fine conversationalist and a very good listener."<ref name="allafrica.com"/> Savimbi also accused his political opponents of witchcraft.<ref name="Economist"/> These contrasting images of Savimbi would play out throughout his life, with his enemies calling him a power-hungry warmonger, and his American and other allies calling him a critical figure in the West's bid to win the Cold War.

As U.S. support began to flow liberally and leading U.S. conservatives championed his cause, Savimbi won major strategic advantages in the late 1980s, and again in the early 1990s, after having taken part unsuccessfully in the [[1992 Angolan general election|general elections of 1992]]. As a consequence, Moscow and [[Havana]] began to reevaluate their engagement in Angola, as Soviet and [[Cubans|Cuban]] fatalities mounted and Savimbi's ground control increased.<ref name=NYT>{{citation | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE1DE123BF932A1575BC0A96F948260 | title = Angola says rebels are mounting new attacks, jeopardizing accord |first=Kenneth B. |last=Noble| newspaper = The New York Times | date = 21 August 1989}}.</ref>

By 1989, UNITA held total control of several limited areas, but was able to develop significant guerrilla operations everywhere in Angola, with the exception of the coastal cities and [[Namibe Province]]. At the height of his military success, in 1989 and 1990, Savimbi was beginning to launch attacks on government and military targets in and around the country's capital, [[Luanda]]. Observers felt that the strategic balance in Angola had shifted and that Savimbi was positioning UNITA for a possible military victory.<ref name = NYT />

Signaling the concern that the Soviet Union was placing on Savimbi's advance in Angola, Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] raised the Angolan war with Reagan during numerous U.S.-Soviet summits. In addition to meeting with Reagan, Savimbi also met with Reagan's successor, [[George H. W. Bush]], who promised Savimbi "all appropriate and effective assistance."<ref>{{citation | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE5DC103EF931A25752C0A96F948260 | title = Bush pledges Angola rebel aid|first=David |last=Rampe | newspaper = The New York Times | date = January 1989}}</ref>

===1990s===
[[File:Jamba Political Billboard Dec 1995.jpg|thumb|right|Billboard showing Savimbi in [[Jamba, Cuando Cubango]], UNITA's headquarters in southeastern Angola.|350px]] In January 1990 and again in February 1990, Savimbi was wounded in armed conflict with Angolan government troops. The injuries did not prevent him from again returning to Washington, where he met with his American supporters and President Bush in an effort to further increase US military assistance to UNITA.<ref name= savwound>Alao (1994). p. xx.</ref> Savimbi's supporters warned that continued Soviet support for the MPLA was threatening broader global collaboration between Gorbachev and the US.<ref>{{citation | url = http://www.heritage.org/dataconvert/pdf/em0259.pdf | title = Angola: Testing Gorbachev's 'New Thinking' | publisher = The Heritage Foundation | type = executive memorandum | number = 259 | first = Michael | last = Johns | date = 5 February 1990 | url-status = unfit | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081219113759/http://www.heritage.org/dataconvert/pdf/em0259.pdf | archive-date = 19 December 2008 }}.</ref>

In February 1992, Antonio da Costa Fernandes and Nzau Puna defected from UNITA, declaring publicly that Savimbi was not interested in a political test, but on preparing another war.<ref name="Savimbiobituary" /> Under military pressure from UNITA, the Angolan government negotiated a cease-fire with Savimbi, and Savimbi ran for president in the national elections of 1992. Foreign monitors claimed the election to be fair. But because neither Savimbi (40 percent) nor Angolan President [[José Eduardo dos Santos]] (49%) obtained the 50 percent necessary to prevail, a run-off election was scheduled.<ref>{{Citation | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3DA1539F935A25753C1A964958260&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/S/Savimbi,%20Jonas | title = Runoff Now Expected in Angola as Leader Falls Short|first=Kenneth B. |last=Noble | newspaper = The New York Times | date = 16 October 1992}}.</ref>

In late October 1992, Savimbi dispatched UNITA Vice President [[Jeremias Chitunda]] and UNITA senior advisor [[Elias Salupeto Pena]] to Luanda to negotiate the details of the run-off election. On 2 November 1992 in Luanda, Chitunda and Pena's convoy was attacked by government forces and they were both pulled from their car and shot dead. Their bodies were taken by government authorities and never seen again.<ref>{{citation | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE4DA1630F937A35752C1A964958260 | title = Rebels in Angola suffer a setback|agency=The Associated Press | newspaper = The New York Times | date = 4 November 1992}}.</ref> The MPLA offensive against UNITA and the FNLA has come to be known as the [[Halloween Massacre (Angola)|Halloween Massacre]] where over 10,000 of their voters were massacred nationwide by MPLA forces.<ref name = Multiple1992>{{citation | publisher = National Society for Human Rights | title = Ending the Angolan Conflict | place = Windhoek, Namibia | date = 3 July 2000}} (opposition parties, massacres).</ref><ref>{{citation | first = John | last = Matthew | title = Letters | newspaper = The Times | place = UK | date = 6 November 1992 | type = election observer}}.</ref><ref>{{citation | publisher = NSHR | type = press release | date = 12 September 2000| title = MPLA atrocities}}</ref><ref>{{citation | publisher = NSHR | type = press release | date = 16 May 2001 | title = MPLA atrocities}}</ref> Alleging governmental electoral fraud and questioning the government's commitment to peace, Savimbi withdrew from the run-off election and resumed fighting, mostly with foreign funds. UNITA again quickly advanced militarily, encircling the nation's capital of [[Luanda]].<ref>{{citation | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5D9133CF937A15753C1A964958260 | title = Luanda is encircled by former guerrillas |agency=Reuters| newspaper = The New York Times | date = 24 October 1992}}.</ref>

In 1994, UNITA signed a new peace accord. Savimbi declined the vice-presidency that was offered to him and again renewed fighting in 1998.

Savimbi reportedly purged those within UNITA whom he saw as threats to his leadership or as questioning his strategic course. According to [[Fred Bridgland]], Savimbi's foreign secretary [[Tito Chingunji]] and much of his family, possibly numbering more than 60, were murdered in 1991 after Savimbi suspected that Chingunji had been in secret, unapproved negotiations with the Angolan government during Chingunji's various diplomatic assignments in Europe and the United States. Savimbi denied his involvement in the Chingunji killing and blamed it on UNITA dissidents.<ref name="allafrica.com" /> According to Bridgland in his book ''The War for Africa: Twelve Months that Transformed a Continent'', in an earlier incident termed 'Red September', Savimbi oversaw the torture and killing of dozens of people, including many of his own officers, their wives and children, in a witchcraft ritual. Bridgland also stated that Aurora Katalayo (widow of UNITA leader Mateus Katalayo, whom Savimbi had allegedly killed a few years earlier) and her four-year old son were burned alive, accused of witchcraft.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bridgland |first=Fred |title=The War For Africa: Twelve Months That Transformed A Continent |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5152671-the-war-for-africa |access-date=25 October 2021 |archive-date=25 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025160555/https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5152671-the-war-for-africa |url-status=live }}</ref> In May 1992, the high-ranking UNITA members [[António da Costa Fernandes|Tony da Costa Fernandes]] and [[Miguel Maria N'Zau Puna|Miguel N'Zau Puna]] left the rebel group, stating that at least five people had been executed on Savimbi's orders in August 1991. These included Chingunji, his brother-in-law, his sister and the latter's two children (aged 6 and 13).<ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=May 1992 |title=Angola: An appeal for prompt action to protect human rights |url=https://www.amnesty.org/es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/afr120011992en.pdf |website=[[Amnesty International]] |page=6 |access-date=18 February 2025}}</ref>