Editing UNITA (section)

==Independence and civil war==
{{Main|Angolan Civil War}}
After the Portuguese withdrawal from Angola in 1974–75 and the end of their colonial rule, the MPLA and UNITA splintered, and civil war began as the movements clashed militarily and ideologically. MPLA leader [[Agostinho Neto]] became the first president of post-colonial Angola.  Backed by Soviet and Cuban money, weapons and troops, the MPLA defeated the FNLA militarily and forced them largely into exile.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/World-Leaders-2003/Angola-POLITICAL-BACKGROUND.html|title=Political background&nbsp;– Angola&nbsp;– area, power|publisher=Nations Encyclopedia|access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref> UNITA also was nearly destroyed in November 1975, but it managed to survive and set up a second government, the [[Democratic People's Republic of Angola]], in the provincial capital of [[Huambo]]. UNITA was hard-pressed but recovered with South African aid and then was strengthened considerably by U.S. support during the 1980s.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13036732|title=Angola country profile&nbsp;– Overview|work=[[BBC News]]|date=11 April 2011 |access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref> The MPLA's military presence was strongest in Angolan cities, the coastal region and the strategic oil fields. But UNITA controlled much of the highland's interior, notably the [[Bié Plateau]], and other strategic regions of the country. Up to 300,000 Angolans died in the civil war.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/>

===Guerrilla movement===
{{Covert United States involvement in regime change}}
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Savimbi sought out vastly expanded relations with the U.S. He received considerable guidance from [[The Heritage Foundation]], an influential conservative research institute in Washington, D.C. that maintained strong relations with both the [[Reagan administration]] and the U.S. Congress. [[Michael Johns (policy analyst)|Michael Johns]], the Heritage Foundation's leading expert on Africa and Third World Affairs issues, visited Savimbi in his clandestine southern Angolan base camps, offering the UNITA leader both tactical military and political advice.<ref name=MichaelJohnsSavimbiVictory>{{cite web |url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r101:E26OC9-320 |title=Savimbi's Elusive Victory in Angola |work=[[Human Events]] |via=[[Congressional Record|U.S. Congressional Record]] |last=Johns |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Johns (policy analyst) |date=26 October 1989 |access-date=20 January 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> 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, UNITA gained strong backing from the Reagan administration.<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' Blood 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=13 April 2016 |access-date=28 August 2021 |quote=Updated on 6 November 2017.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |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=3 March 1986 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=18 April 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 news |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 (magazine)|Time]] |date=3 March 1986 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=26 February 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=22 May 2008 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=9 March 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=22 May 2008 |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=16 April 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=28 August 2021 |quote=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&nbsp;– 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 DAMNED."}}</ref>

In 1986, [[American conservatism|U.S. conservatives]] convinced President [[Ronald Reagan]] to meet with Savimbi at the [[White House]].  While the meeting itself was confidential, Reagan emerged from it with support and enthusiasm for Savimbi's efforts, stating that he could envision a UNITA "victory that electrifies the world," suggesting that Reagan saw the outcome of the Angolan conflict as critical to his entire [[Reagan Doctrine]] foreign policy, consisting of support for anti-communist resistance movements in Central America, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jun/08/usa.comment|title=Terrible legacy of the Reagan years|last=Aaronovitch|first=David|author-link=David Aaronovitch|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=7 June 2004|access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref>

Under Savimbi's leadership, UNITA proved especially effective militarily before and after independence, becoming one of the world's most effective armed resistance movements of the late 20th century. According to the [[United States Department of State|U.S. State Department]], UNITA came to control "vast swaths of the interior (of Angola)".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/6619.htm|title=Angola|work=U.S. Department of State|access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref> Savimbi's very survival in Angola in and of itself was viewed as an incredible accomplishment, and he came to be known as "Africa's most enduring bush fighter"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1399488/Angola-Key-Figures.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1399488/Angola-Key-Figures.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Angola: Key Figures|date=8 August 2002|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=20 January 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref> given assassination attempts, aided by extensive Soviet, Cuban, and East German military troops, advisors and support, that he survived.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-980554.html|title=Angolan peace talks stall over alleged attempt to kill Savimbi|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|last=Taylor|first=Paul|date=19 December 1993|access-date=27 January 2020|archive-date=29 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329152848/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-980554.html}}</ref>

As Savimbi gained ground despite the forces aligned against him, American conservatives pointed to his success, and that of Afghan [[mujahideen]] and the Nicaraguan [[contras]], all of which, with U.S. support, were successfully opposing Soviet-sponsored governments, as evidence that the U.S. was beginning to gain an upper hand in the Cold War conflict and that the Reagan Doctrine was working.  Critics, on the other hand, responded that the support given to UNITA, the contras, and the Afghan mujahideen was inflaming regional conflicts at great expense to these nations. Furthermore, UNITA, like the Angolan government it fought, was criticized for human rights abuses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Urgent_Action/apic_92699.html|title=Angola: Human Rights Watch Report, 9/26/99|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|editor=Ali B. Ali-Dinar|date=26 September 1999|access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref>

===1980s===
UNITA gained some international notoriety in 1983 after abducting 66 Czechoslovak civilians and detaining a third of them for about 15 months.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.radio.cz/en/section/czech-history/the-angola-abduction|title=The Angola abduction|work=[[Radio Praha]]|last=Falvey|first=Christian|date=8 February 2011|access-date=15 November 2018|language=en}}</ref> Belgium eventually negotiated the release of the civilians. Fighting in Angola continued until 1989, when, with UNITA advancing militarily, Cuba withdrew its support, removing several thousand troops that it had dispatched to Angola to fight Savimbi's UNITA.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cuban-troops-begin-withdrawal-from-angola|title=Cuban troops begin withdrawal from Angola|work=[[History (American TV channel)|History.com]]|date=10 January 1989|access-date=27 January 2020|archive-date=8 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308040539/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cuban-troops-begin-withdrawal-from-angola}}</ref> With many commentators and foreign policy specialists seeing that the [[Cold War]] might be drawing to an end, Savimbi's U.S. support, which had been strong, began to be questioned, with some in Congress urging the end of U.S. support for UNITA.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kora.matrix.msu.edu/files/50/304/32-130-FD9-84-GMH%20ACAS%20Angola89-5.pdf|title=Congress to Act Soon on Angola: Urgent Lobbying Needed|work=[[Association of Concerned Africa Scholars]]|last=Root|first=Christine|date=5 May 1989|access-date=27 January 2020}}</ref> Matters were further complicated by repeated reports that Soviet General Secretary [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] had raised U.S. support for UNITA in several formal and informal summit meetings with President [[George H. W. Bush]], placing further pressure on the U.S. to end its support for UNITA.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/02/world/us-soviets-bridge-gap-conventional-weapons-plan-for-summit-soon-bush-hails.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|title=U.S. and Soviets Bridge Gap on Conventional Weapons and Plan for Summit Soon; Bush Hails Accord|work=[[The New York Times]]|last=Riding|first=Alan|author-link=Alan Riding|date=2 June 1991|access-date=27 January 2020}}</ref>

[[File:Unitaprop.jpg|thumb|left|200px|A UNITA sticker, issued for its 20th anniversary celebrations in 1986. The sticker carries the UNITA symbol and the slogan 'Socialism&nbsp;– Negritude&nbsp;– Democracy&nbsp;– Non-Alignment']]As the war began to include both military and diplomatic components, Johns and leading U.S. conservatives urged Savimbi to make a ceasefire contingent on the MPLA's agreement to "free and fair elections."<ref>Michael Johns, [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r101:E16OC0-475: With Freedom Near In Angola, This is No Time to Curtail Unita Assistance] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810210840/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r101:E16OC0-475: |date=10 August 2014 }}, Heritage Foundation Executive Memorandum 276, 31 July 1990, as entered in ''U.S. Congressional Record''.</ref> When the UNITA demand was originally rebuffed by the MPLA, Savimbi vastly intensified his military pressure, while alleging that the MPLA was resisting free and fair elections because they feared a UNITA electoral victory. Meanwhile, an [[New York Accords|agreement]] was reached that provided for the removal of foreign troops from Angola in exchange for the independence of [[Namibia]] from South Africa.  In Angola, however, Savimbi told Johns and conservative leader [[Howard Phillips (activist)|Howard Phillips]] that he had not felt adequately consulted on the negotiations or agreement and was in opposition to it. "There are a lot of loopholes in that agreement. The agreement is not good at all," Johns reported Savimbi telling both of them during a March 1989 visit with Savimbi in Angola."<ref name=MichaelJohnsSavimbiVictory/>

A ceasefire ultimately was negotiated and MPLA leader [[José Eduardo dos Santos]] and the MPLA's Central Committee rejected its Marxist past and agreed to Savimbi's demand for free and fair elections, though UNITA and its supporters viewed the promises skeptically, especially because the MPLA's relations with the Soviet Union remained strong.<ref>{{cite web |last=Johns |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Johns (policy analyst) |url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1990/02/angola-testing-gprbachevs-new-thinking |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108083158/http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/1990/02/Angola-Testing-Gprbachevs-New-Thinking |url-status=unfit |archive-date=8 January 2011 |title=Angola: Testing Gorbachev's 'New Thinking' |work=[[The Heritage Foundation]] |date=5 February 1990 |access-date=28 January 2020}}</ref>

===1990s===
[[File:Jonas Savimbi.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Unita leader [[Jonas Savimbi]].]]
Following the 1991 [[Bicesse Accords]], signed in [[Lisbon]], United Nations-brokered elections were held, with both Savimbi and dos Santos running for president in 1992. Failing to win an overall majority in the first round of balloting, and then questioning the election's legitimacy, Savimbi and UNITA returned to armed conflict.  Fighting resumed in October 1992 in Huambo, quickly spreading to Angola's capital, [[Luanda]].  It was here that [[Jeremias Chitunda]], UNITA's long-time vice-president and other UNITA officials were killed while fleeing the city culminating in the [[Halloween Massacre (Angola)|Halloween Massacre]].  Following Chitunda's death, UNITA defensively moved their base from Jamba to Huambo.  Savimbi's 1992 decision to return to combat ultimately proved a costly one, with many of Savimbi's U.S. conservative allies urging Savimbi to contest dos Santos electorally in the run-off election.  Savimbi's decision to forego the run-off also greatly strained UNITA's relations with U.S. President [[George H. W. Bush]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/22/world/former-rebels-in-angola-shun-unity-meeting.html|title=Former Rebels in Angola Shun Unity Meeting|work=[[The New York Times]]|agency=[[Reuters]]|date=22 November 1992|access-date=20 January 2015|archive-date=28 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128035424/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/22/world/former-rebels-in-angola-shun-unity-meeting.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm}}</ref>

As Savimbi resumed fighting, the U.N. responded by implementing an embargo against UNITA through [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1173]].  The UN-commissioned [[Fowler Report]] detailed how UNITA continued to finance its war effort through the sales of diamonds (later to be known as [[blood diamonds]])<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/202/41606.html|title=Final Report of the UN Panel of Experts ("The "Fowler Report")|last1=Fowler|first1=Robert|last2=Mollander|first2=Anders|author1-link=Robert Fowler (diplomat)|publisher=[[Global Policy Forum]]|date=10 March 2000|access-date=10 March 2010}}</ref> and resulted in further sanctions in the form of [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1295]] and action to end to the trade in blood diamonds through the [[Kimberley Process Certification Scheme]]. In late 1992 following the [[1992 Angolan general election|general elections]], the U.S. government, which had never recognized the legitimacy of the MPLA, finally recognized the Angolan government and stopped supporting UNITA, further alienating Savimbi.<ref name=BBC25022002/> After failed talks in 1993 to end the conflict, another agreement, the Lusaka Protocol, was implemented in 1994 to form a government of national unity.  In 1995, U.N. peacekeepers arrived. But UNITA broke away from the Lusaka agreement in 1998, citing violations of it by the MPLA.  In late 1998, a militant group calling itself ''UNITA Renovada'' broke away from mainstream UNITA, when several UNITA commanders dissatisfied with the leadership of [[Jonas Savimbi]] ended their allegiance to his organization. Thousands more deserted UNITA in 1999 and 2000.<ref name="resolutions">{{cite book |last=Hodges |first=Tony |title=Angola: Anatomy of an Oil State |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |date=2004 |edition=second |pages=15–16 |isbn=978-0253344465}}</ref>

In 1999, a MPLA military offensive known as [[Operation Restore]] damaged UNITA considerably, essentially destroying UNITA as a conventional military force and forcing UNITA to return to more traditional guerrilla tactics.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/29/world/world-briefing.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|title=World briefing|work=[[The New York Times]]|agency=[[Agence France-Presse]]|date=29 December 1999|access-date=20 January 2015|archive-date=20 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120232509/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/29/world/world-briefing.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/dec/28/chrismcgreal?INTCMP=SRCH|title=Rebels lose former HQ to Angolan army|last=McGreal|first=Chris|author-link=Chris McGreal|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=27 December 1999|access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref> In October 1999, UNITA alleged that the FAA [[Embraer EMB 312 Tucano]]s used during Operation Restore were crewed by Brazilian pilots on contract to the Angolan government. UNITA subsequently declared "that anything within the Angolan national territory, identified as Brazil's interest, is... considered a target and will not be spared" from their attacks.<ref name="WSWS">{{Cite news|last=Mason|first=Barry|date=1999-11-16|title=Angola: MPLA inflicts new defeats on UNITA|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1999/11/ango-n16.html|work=World Socialist Website}}</ref><ref name="Brazilian pilots">{{Cite web|url=https://irp.fas.org/world/para/docs/unita/en0510991.htm|title=Kwacha Unita Press – The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola – Unita Standing Committee of the Political Commission 1999 – Year of Generalised Popular Resistance – COMMUNIQUE NO. 39/CPP/99|website=Federation of American Scientists|access-date=3 December 2022|archive-date=5 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805192503/https://irp.fas.org/world/para/docs/unita/en0510991.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

===2000s===
The Angolan civil war ended only after the death of Savimbi, who was killed in an ambush on 22 February 2002.  His death was shocking to many Angolans, many of whom had grown up during the Angolan civil war and witnessed Savimbi's ability to successfully evade efforts by Soviet, Cuban and Angolan troops to kill him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1836737.stm|title=Angolan rebel leader 'killed'|work=[[BBC News]]|date=23 February 2002|access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref>

Six weeks following Savimbi's death, in April 2002, UNITA agreed to a ceasefire with the government. Under an amnesty agreement, UNITA soldiers and their families, comprising roughly 350,000 people, were gathered in 33 demobilisation camps under the "Program For Social and Productive Reintegration of Demobilized and War Displaced People". In August 2002, UNITA officially gave up its armed wing, and UNITA placed all of its efforts on the development of its political party. Despite the ceasefire, deep political conflict between UNITA and the MPLA remains.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/2700295/Angola-opposition-will-contest-election-result.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/2700295/Angola-opposition-will-contest-election-result.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Angola opposition will contest election result|date=7 September 2008|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=20 January 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Savimbi was immediately succeeded by [[António Dembo]], who died shortly after Savimbi. Following Dembo, in elections contested by General [[Paulo Lukamba Gato]], [[Dinho Chingunji]] and [[Isaías Samakuva]], Samakuva won the UNITA election and emerged as UNITA's new president.

In November 2019, [[Isaias Samakuva]] resigned as president and was replaced by [[Adalberto Costa Júnior]] with [[Arlete Leona Chimbinda]] as the new vice-president.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Arlete Chimbinda indicada Vice-Presidente da UNITA|url=https://www.club-k.net/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=38270:arlete-chimbinda-indicada-vice-presidente-da-unita&amp;catid=23:politica&amp;lang=pt&amp;Itemid=641|access-date=25 January 2021|website=CLUB-K ANGOLA&nbsp;– Notícias Imparciais de Angola| date=16 November 2019 |language=pt-pt}}</ref>