Jonas Savimbi was killed on Feb. 22 by soldiers of the Angolan army. Savimbi waged guerilla warfare against governments in Angola for 36 years and became an ally of the United States during the 1980s when Ronald Reagan received Savimbi in the White House. Whatever else he was, Savimbi was skilled at public relations.
At that time, the Soviet Union and Cuba supported the government of Angola, while South Africa supported Savimbi’s UNITA (in fact, it is doubtful UNITA would have survived at that time without South African and then U.S. aid.)
After the Cold War, the United States lost interest in Angola and Savimbi proved once and for all that Washington’s bet on him as a supporter of freedom had been misplaced. In 1991, Savimbi reached a peace treaty in which he was supposed to abandon guerilla warfare in favor of democratic elections in Angola. But after Savimbi was defeated in those elections, he once again returned to guerilla warfare.
The BBC report on Savimbi’s death notes that he died with a pistol in his hand and that the Angolan army unit that tracked him down shot him no less than 17 times. Few people will likely miss him.
Source:
Obituary: Jonas Savimbi, Unita’s local boy. The BBC, February 25, 2002.
Savimbi ‘died with gun in hand’. The BBC, February 25, 2002.