Now for Some Diplomacy

With the civil war virtually stalemated because of the rainy season, the action in Angola last week shifted to the diplomatic front. Both sides sought to line up support before the Organization of African Unity's emergency summit meeting on Angola this weekend in Addis Ababa.

The strategy of the American-backed coalition of the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (F.N.L.A.) and National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), which is in danger of losing a long war on the ground, called for an immediate ceasefire and formation of a government of national unity. In addition, UNITA'S Jonas Savimbi appealed for an all-African peace-keeping force under O.A.U. control. The Soviet-backed Luanda government of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (M.P.L.A.), which has already been recognized by 17 of the O.A.U.'s 46 members, rejected such proposals. Moreover, M.P.L.A. Leader Dr. Agostinho Neto threatened not to go to Addis at all unless the O.A.U. recognized him in advance as Angola's sole leader. At week's end, the Soviet Union, which has come under attack for its support of the M.P.L.A., vigorously denied that it was seeking to establish a naval base on Angola's coast and called for "the termination of foreign armed intervention" in the country.

Holding Off. Washington, still smarting from a pre-Christmas Senate vote to cut off aid to the F.N.L.A. and UNITA, mounted its own diplomatic offensive. William E. Schaufele Jr., the new U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, made a five-country swing through Zaire, Gabon, Cameroon,

Ivory Coast and Senegal. His goals: 1) to prevent any more governments from recognizing the M.P.L.A. before the summit and 2) to round up an O.A.U. majority for a resolution opposing all foreign interference in Angola. He had no trouble convincing Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, who has at least 1,000 army regulars fighting with the F.N.L.A. Felix Houphouet-Boigny of the Ivory Coast and Senegal's Leopold Senghor also went along. Washington also persuaded Ethiopia to hold off recognition at least until after the summit, on the ground that as host to the O.A.U., it should remain neutral.

The most pressure was put on South Africa. The fact that at least 1,000 South African regulars and mercenaries are fighting alongside UNITA and the F.N.L.A. is the main reason such key countries as Nigeria and Ghana have recognized the M.P.L.A. Washington told Prime Minister John Vorster, in effect, that he was defeating his own purpose by staying involved. In a New Year's message to his country, Vorster appeared to reject the pleas. In fact, he called for a bigger Western involvement in Angola "not only in the diplomatic but in all other fields." Defense Minister Piet W. Botha hinted, however, that South Africa might pull out of Angola in return for a guarantee against incursions by the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), whose Angola-based guerrillas have killed a score of South African soldiers in

South West Africa over the past two months. O.A.U. headquarters in Addis rejected such a quid pro quo.

Although some slow progress has been made by UNITA forces toward Teixeira de Sousa and Henrique de Carvalho (see map page 17), the military sit uation on the ground remained relative ly unchanged last week. Despite Soviet military aid and the help of 7,500 Cu bans, the M.P.L.A. holds only about a quarter of the country. But State De partment officials concede that Neto's leftist government has a big lead over the other two factions not only in fire power but in organization and experi ence. Assessing the three groups, one U.S. diplomat observes: "The M.P.L.A.

has the best organization and a lot of people who know how to run things.

UNITA has some good people at the top, but not far down. The F.N.L.A. has no good leadership at any level."

By and large, those assessments have been borne out on the battlefield. Al though UNITA troops are given good marks for their fighting ability, Savimbi's administration and logistics are a shambles. UNITA battle claims are of ten embarrassing when not ludicrous. As for the F.N.L.A., its military is so oblivious of civilian suffering that starvation has become widespread. One mercenary who has been to Ambriz, F.N.L.A. Leader Holden Roberto's operations capital of the moment, reported that civilians were evacuated from the town and then simply dumped in the bush and left to their own devices.

Shootout in Huambo. The F.N.L.A.-UNITA coalition is one purely of military necessity -- and a tenuous one at that, since the two groups have strong tribal rivalries. The F.N.L.A. is almost to tally Bakongo, UNITA almost totally Ovimbundu. In 1961, at the start of the guerrilla war for independence in north ern Angola, the Bakongo savagely murdered and mutilated hundreds of the Ovimbundu tribe, which has never forgotten or forgiven.

When Roberto's plane was late arriving for ceremonies inaugurating the two groups' joint government in Huambo last month, UNITA airport officials, tired of waiting, turned off the runway lights and went home. A furious Roberto was forced to return to Kinshasa. Recently there have been fistfights, stone-throwing and open fighting between soldiers of the two allies. In one Shootout in Huambo two weeks ago, 25 were killed. Although UNITA and F.N.L.A. commanders meet to plan strategy, there is no joint field command, and no soldier from one movement will take an order from an officer of the other.

In such circumstances, is a government of national unity feasible? Noone, obviously, could say for sure. But with an estimated 20,000 dead since hostilities broke out a year and a half ago and a dozen countries now directly or in directly involved in the fighting, it certainly seemed worth a try.

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