Editing Jonas Savimbi (section)

===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>