War Among Liberators

"You can't call this civil strife anymore," said one Portuguese official in Luanda last week. "This is war." The latest and bitterest round of bloodletting between rival liberation groups had, in fact, left the Angolan capital a shambles. As thousands of whites sought to get out of the country, entire families crowded into the airport, waiting for any available flight out. Thousands of others, mostly blacks, jammed into the downtown section of the city in an effort to escape the fighting in outlying muceques (slums). After two hospitals closed down for lack of staff, medical teams were simply unable to cope. The wounded lay by the dozens in blood-smeared hospital corridors. Water was in short supply, and Portuguese troops had to escort convoys of trucks from food-growing areas south of Luanda.

At week's end Portuguese officials estimated that 300 had died and 1,000 had been wounded in six days of heavy fighting. So far, more than 3,000 people have been killed since Portugal announced last year that it would grant independence to Angola. The largest and richest of Lisbon's African territories and the only one still to be freed, Angola is due to become independent in November following elections to choose a representative government.

Third Truce. Unlike Portugal's other former territories--Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, the Cape Verde Islands, S`ao Tome and Principe--the transfer of power in Angola has been complicated by the fact that there are three rival liberation groups. To patch up their differences, Agostinho Neto, 52, head of the Moscow-oriented Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (M.P.L.A.), Holden Roberto, 50, leader of the Peking-backed National Front for the Liberation of Angola (F.N.L.A.), and Jonas Savimbi, 40, head of the moderate National Union for Total Independence of Angola (U.N.I.T.A.), met in Kenya last month. Their agreement to keep peace in Angola--the third truce in the past year--lasted only three weeks.

The latest fighting broke out when the M.P.L.A. decided to wrest control of Luanda from the bigger and better armed F.N.L.A. Using the truce as a cover, M.P.L.A. troops attacked and destroyed F.N.L.A. offices in Luanda, forcing its leaders to flee to the north of the country. Fearful for their lives and property, storekeepers and many industries shut down. As food and fuel ran out, the Portuguese High Commissioner, General Antonio da Silva Cardoso, appealed to the United Nations for emergency relief supplies.

The government in Lisbon, which in the past has generally favored the M.P.L.A., was not anxious to get involved. But last week in an emergency meeting, Lisbon's Revolutionary Council agreed to send 2,000 reinforcements to beef up its 24,000 troops still in the territory. At the same tune, Portuguese Foreign Minister Ernesto Melo Antunes flew to Luanda to plead for peace.

Meanwhile, the rush was on to get out. More than 100,000 of Angola's 500,000 whites have already left the territory, and most of the others are desperately eager to leave. Regular commercial flights to Lisbon were augmented by Portuguese air force shuttles. Swissair agreed to evacuate 3,000 people immediately and 10,000 within the next month. A steady stream of black Angolans, many of whom had retreated to Luanda when they were caught in M.P.L.A.-F.N.L.A. fighting in the north and east, were fleeing southward. There, U.N.I.T.A., which has remained neutral in the fighting, is in control, and the countryside is still peaceful.

"The F.N.L.A. won't take this lying down," said a diplomat in Luanda. "They'll be back for another go." Indeed, at week's end some 5,000 F.N.L.A. regulars were reported massing north of the capital.

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