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Reports say Angola's rebel chief slain

The Angolan government yesterday said it would prove veteran UNITA rebel leader Jonas Savimbi was dead by bringing his body to the capital.

It announced Savimbi was killed on Friday in a battle with Luanda's troops, fuelling hopes for an end to one of Africa's longest-running wars.

The elusive 67-year-old guerrilla fighter -- who combined charisma and guile to wage a decades-old struggle for power -- died in a clash with army troops in Moxico province, the government said.

"The government of the Republic of Angola would like to inform the national and international public of the death of Jonas Malheiro Savimbi," it said in a statement.

There was no official reaction from UNITA, but an unofficial UNITA contact in Lisbon, Rui Oliveira, said: "We are waiting for our forces in the interior to get in contact with us, only after that can we talk."

State radio said Savimbi's body would be flown to the capital on Saturday from Moxico and displayed in public.

A senior Angolan intelligence officer said Savimbi was "shot several times" during a battle with government forces.

Savimbi and some of his troops had been surrounded by the army since Monday, the intelligence officer said, adding that up to two dozen people died in the battle.

A regional military source in Pretoria said that Savimbi actually died earlier in the week but that Luanda had delayed announcing his death to coincide with President Eduardo dos Santos's visit to the US tomorrow.

"Of all the reports over the years of Savimbi being killed, this one sounds the most credible," the source said.

"Our information is that he actually died early in the week on Monday or Tuesday. But the government wanted maximum propaganda out of the killing ahead of the president's visit to Washington next week," the source added.

The whereabouts of Savimbi's two most senior aides, vice-president Antonio Dembo and secretary-general Paulo Lukamba Gato remained unknown, fuelling speculation they too may have been caught up in the fighting along the Zambian frontier.

News of Savimbi's death was greeted with celebrations in the poorer outlying slums of Luanda on Friday evening, but the capital was quiet early yesterday as people waited for fresh announcements from the government or UNITA.

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