United States Foreign Relations Angola

Although he is neither an American secret agent nor a political hostage, Joseph F. Longo was released Sunday from 10 weeks' detention in Angola with all the trappings of a long-held and famous prisoner being freed. Four U.S. congressmen flew into Luanda aboard a U.S.

The United States will support new United Nations sanctions on Angola's longtime rebel leader, Jonas Savimbi, and his UNITA movement, according to the Washington Post. The newspaper, quoting unidentified senior officials, said the Clinton administration also is prepared to sell military transport planes to the government. The sanctions--which U.S. officials expect to be imposed by the U.N. Security Council this week--and the possible aircraft sale reflects Washington's exasperation with Savimbi.

Representatives of the two warring factions in Angola met Thursday with three outside mediators, and a joint statement issued afterward reported "significant progress" toward a cease-fire in the country's civil war. Joining the Angolans at the talks were officials from the United States, the Soviet Union and Portugal, the former colonial power in Angola and site of the five rounds of peace talks held thus far this year.

International diamond dealer Maurice Tempelsman, a generous contributor to the Democratic Party, has won unusual support from high Clinton administration officials for a business proposal that could position him as a key marketer of billions of dollars of Angolan diamonds, interviews and classified government cables show.

Negotiations to end the Angolan civil war will resume this week in Cairo, the South African Press Assn. reported, quoting South African Foreign Minister Roelof F. (Pik) Botha. Earlier rounds were held last month in London and Brazzaville, Congo. The talks are also aimed at achieving independence for South African-ruled Namibia. The parties expected to attend the Cairo meeting are South Africa, Angola, Cuba and the United States.

Declaring that "progress was made," four nations involved in talks to end the 13-year-old Angolan civil war agreed Wednesday to meet again in Africa within the next few weeks. "The principle involved in an Angola-Namibia settlement does exist," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Chester A. Crocker, who headed the negotiations, the first of their kind in one of the world's longest regional conflicts. "It's ready to be pursued."

Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko met Sunday with Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi and a senior U.S. envoy in southern France in his most serious bid yet to revive a peace accord to end Angola's 14-year civil war. Mobutu talked with Savimbi and Herman Cohen, assistant secretary of state for African affairs. Cohen played a key role in talks in Washington earlier this month when President Bush persuaded Savimbi to return to the conference table.

Angola's 1994 peace accord, in which the United States played a major role as negotiator and guarantor, appears to be on the verge of collapse, according to U.S. and U.N. officials. "The peace is not dead but it's close," a U.S. official said. Mounting tensions have erupted into open clashes between factions loyal to the government of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and those loyal to the former UNITA rebels, the officials said.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher flew Monday to this war-ravaged capital to try to jump-start the process to end one of the world's deadliest conflicts. But the visit from the highest-ranking U.S. official since Angola became independent in 1975 was marred by the nonappearance of Jonas Savimbi, leader of the rebel movement known as the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, or UNITA.

In a step that removed one of the last vestiges of Washington's Cold War-era Africa policy, President Clinton extended diplomatic recognition to the elected, formerly Marxist government of Angola on Wednesday, ending American patronage of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi. "This decision reflects the high priority our Administration places on democracy," Clinton told reporters as he posed for pictures in the Oval Office at the start of a meeting with South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

President Clinton has been advised by the State Department and the National Security Council to recognize the Angolan government headed by Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who is under sharp military challenge by rebel forces formerly backed by the United States, Administration officials said Tuesday night.

Jonas Savimbi's UNITA opposition movement called Friday on the United States to intervene to end fighting in Angola, saying the latest carnage has caused 15,000 deaths. There was no independent confirmation of the figure. UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) appealed to its former patron as it prepared to meet government officials in U.N.-brokered talks after a week of heavy fighting that has threatened to revive the 16-year civil war. The top U.N.

Ending a 16-year civil war that took more than 300,000 lives and ravaged their country's economy, the leaders of Angola's two major factions signed a peace agreement Friday that commits them to lay down their arms and compete in multi-party elections.

Representatives of the two warring factions in Angola met Thursday with three outside mediators, and a joint statement issued afterward reported "significant progress" toward a cease-fire in the country's civil war. Joining the Angolans at the talks were officials from the United States, the Soviet Union and Portugal, the former colonial power in Angola and site of the five rounds of peace talks held thus far this year.

In a dramatic symbol of joint American and Soviet efforts to settle regional conflicts, Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze each met simultaneously here Wednesday with representatives of an opposing side in the Angolan civil war. The two meetings in Washington provided strong new impetus for a cease-fire that would end Angola's 15-year-old civil war.