Fighting in Angola

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33804, 29 March 1975, Page 15

Fighting in Angola

(X'.Z. Press Assn —Copyright; LISBON. March 28.

Fighting between African nationalist factions and mass executions in which more than 100 people have been killed have occurred in the last three days in the Portuguese territory of Angola, according to reports reaching Lisbon.

Observers speak of the possibility of civil war in the oil-rich former colony ini South-West Africa, which is! due to become fully indepen-i dent in November. > The news agency, A.N.L.i says that Portuguese troops i I intervened in the fighting! ; around Luanda yesterday in; lan attempt to restore order. ; The bodies of 12 men,; apparently executed by one; .of the African factions! have! 'been found in a ditch in a! Luanda suburb. This in-' creased to more than loo! the death toll in the last! :three days, the news agency! Isays, adding that the hospi-i ■ tai's in Luanda are over-! icrowded with wounded. I An A.N.I. correspondent: Isays that at least 51 mem-' bers of the Angolan Popular Liberation Movement were I taken to a valley near ; Luanda by members of the ' Angolan National Liberation Front, and were machine(gunned to death. Sixteen survivors of the!; massacre are in a local hos-i pital. Agence France Presse re- >i ports from Luanda that the: capital was placed under a! strict curfew from 6 p.m. to!: 9 a.m. from last Wednesday.! coinciding with the arrival i of a Portuguese delegation!! including the new Foreign;] Minister (Major Ernesto!' Melo Antunes) and the Min-'i

lister for Territorial Co-ordi-;nation ("Mr Antonio de Al-; media Santos). ' Since the clashes, mixed units made up of Portuguese 1 soldiers and members of the ■ third Angolan 'liberation” . movement, Unita, have pat- , rolled the streets of the capital during the day, while ; during the curfew Portu- ! guese patrols alone have : guarded the streets. From Lisbon, N.Z.P.A.- . Reuter reports that Portuguese Ministers and leaders l of the three “liberation”

movements in Angola's transitional Government are try- > ing to save the delicate i agreement on independence 11 signed in January. >| Major Melo Antunes and ■[Mr Almeida Santos met all ■ day yesterday with the Presidential Council of three, ilmen that heads the transi-i ;|tional Government. ij Portuguese television re- , ported that the talks were J still going on late last night, ■land quoted the M.P.L.A.'S representative on the couni cil, Mr Lopo de Nascimento, ; las saying that agreement !had been reached on some: points. : In another report from: ! Lisbon. N.Z.P.A.-Reuter re- ! ports that violent dis-: ; agreements have arisen! ; within the African-led tran-‘ sitional Government leading; the tiny Atlantic islands of; Sao Tome and Principe to-; wards independence. The hitch in the independence process of Portugal’s smallest African possession i comes against the back- ' ground of the mounting! 'trouble in Angola, the rich-; lest and largest Portuguese: colony. Colonel Pires Veloso. the; Portuguese High Commis-! isioner in Sao Tome, blames, ! the troubles on two Minis-! ters. Mr Gastao Torres, who. ‘holds the labour and justice ' ’portfolios, and Mr Pedro :U m b e 1 i n a (information),!' whom he describes as being'

at odds with the leadership of the Gabon-based Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe. The colonel told a press conference that Mr Torres had been kept under house arrest for 24 hours last week after insulting the Prime Minister (Mr d’Alva) and firing a shot in the air when accosted by a policeman outside the Prime Minister’s residence.