Angola and Rebels Initial Accords to End Long War

ESTORIL, Portugal — The Angolan government and the U.S.-backed guerrilla force it has battled since 1975 initialed agreements Wednesday to end one of Africa’s longest and bloodiest wars.

The 1,500-page accords call for an internationally monitored cease-fire to take effect in June and for the first multi-party elections in the southern African nation in the fall of 1992.

The accords were initialed for the rebels by Jeremias Chitunda, vice president of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), and for Angola by Territorial Administration Minister Lopo do Nascimento. Mediator Jose Manuel Durao Barroso of Portugal also marked the preliminary agreement.

The accord is to be formally signed in late May by UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi and Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

The two sides have until May 15 to communicate final acceptance of the agreement to the Portuguese government. The fighting should end by midnight that day, although the official cease-fire date is two weeks later, Durao Barroso said.

In Washington, the State Department hailed the agreement as a “historic development which offers the possibility of peace for a country which has known only war for more than 30 years.”

The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, or MPLA, has held power in Angola since defeating UNITA after Angola’s war for independence from Portugal ended in 1975. It recently dropped Marxism and approved legislation allowing competing parties in a democracy.

The war has left about 300,000 dead and devastated the economy of the mineral-rich nation of about 8.8 million people.

The Angola war has been among the most savage of Cold War conflicts pitting the United States, which backed UNITA, against the Soviet Union, which supported the Angolan government. South African and Cuban troops also were involved.

Under the accords, the three mediating nations--Portugal, the United States and the Soviet Union--will form a political and military commission with Angolan representatives to prepare elections and monitor formation of a united army, absorbing UNITA rebel fighters. U.N. troops will supervise the cease-fire.

Dos Santos will remain as president until there is an elected successor. Savimbi is expected to be a presidential candidate.