Angola Revolts

Trim and tan, polished and polite, former South African secret agent and commando Eeben Barlow is the very model of a modern mercenary. At 38, he heads Executive Outcomes, a multimillion-dollar corporation that employs 500 or so fellow soldiers of fortune, including a motley crew of former assassins, spies, saboteurs and scoundrels. They hail from half a dozen nations and are veterans of combat around the globe.

Negotiators for the Angolan government and rebels agreed to a peace treaty Monday to end their 19-year civil war, pledging a cease-fire, disarmament and creation of a new army. Alioune Blondin Beye, the U.N. special representative who mediated the negotiations, said the 10-point agreement seeks not just to silence the guns but to heal the divisions that have led to the deaths of more than half a million Angolans.

Angola's UNITA rebels have dropped demands to govern their stronghold province of Huambo, breaking an impasse in talks aimed at ending nearly 20 years of civil war. A letter handed to U.N. mediators and obtained by the Reuters news agency said the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola had agreed to all points proposed by the mediators for a power-sharing arrangement, including allowing the government to name the governor of the strategic central highlands province.

Four African presidents met in Pretoria to seek an end to Angola's civil war, but South African President Nelson Mandela said the conflict could not be settled without participation by Angolan rebels. Mandela gathered Angola's Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Mozambique's Joaquim Chissano and Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire for talks on Angola, where rebels have been fighting the government for nearly 20 years.

Eighty-nine children were killed and their school destroyed when an Angolan air force plane accidentally opened fire on them, Angolan national radio reported. The radio, quoting an armed forces communique, said the aircraft misread its course in thick fog. Thinking he was above his target, the pilot attacked, hitting the school. The Angolan military expressed deep regret.

Angola and UNITA rebels have agreed on a cease-fire in their war that has been killing about 1,000 people a day, but they have not decided how to announce it, negotiators said Saturday. Details of the pact, including when it would take effect, were not disclosed. Previous reports had said the mediators were aiming for a Dec. 20 cease-fire, but a UNITA spokesman said it could take longer.

Angola's civil war foes appeared Friday to be inching toward a truce to halt the world's bloodiest conflict after meeting for direct talks without their U.N. mediator, diplomatic sources said. Top officials of Angola's government and UNITA rebels met over breakfast at a hotel in Zambia's capital, Lusaka, to discuss critical political questions that could derail a proposed cease-fire. It was the second meeting within a week between the two sides that did not include U.N.

From a penthouse with no roof or walls, running water or electricity, Jose Goncalves has a unique view of this wartime capital. The bone-thin former chef lives high atop Kinaxiyi Tower, a 17-story building that was abandoned, half-finished, in downtown Luanda two decades ago. About 500 refugees from Angola's raging civil war now live in the high-rise construction site, a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of people made homeless by fighting this year.

Angolan government officials and UNITA rebels will meet in Zambia for "exploratory talks" on ending the African country's 18-year civil war, the United Nations said Saturday. A terse statement released by the U.N. mission in Angola said the two sides will meet Monday in the Zambian capital of Lusaka. Also participating will be U.N. envoy Alioune Blondin Beye and diplomats from Portugal, the United States and Russia.