Editing UNITA (section)

===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>