Angola Says S. Africa Aids Rebel Ambush
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LISBON — Angola accused South Africa on Sunday of “forming joint battalions” with Jonas Savimbi’s rebel group and of carrying out an ambush that killed six people and injured 47.
The Marxist government’s news agency said the ambush occurred Jan. 6 in Cuando Cubango province in the southeast as a supply convoy was traveling from Menongue to Cuito Cuanavale. Five vehicles were destroyed, it said.
The Angolans also charged that South Africa reinforced its “combat apparatus” in the provinces of Huila, Cuando Cubango, Cunene and Moxico between Dec. 19 and Jan. 8. They estimated the South African troop strength at three to four battalions, with armored cars and air support. It did not indicate what these estimates were based on.
There was no immediate South African response to the Angolan charges.
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