How the fighting spread

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THE INSIDE VIEW

Angola’s politicians are battling it out as parliamentary polls loom on 5 September, the first elections of any kind for 16 years. It is the country’s biggest political test since its civil war ended in 2002. With oil and gas riches, and strategic relations with China and the USA, Angola is one of Africa’s fastest growing regional powers. Much depends on the credibility of these elections. Opposition UNITA leader Brigadier Isaías Samakuva has ruled out a return to war but tensions are growing between the parties and, significantly, within factions of the government. Supporters of the gaoled former intelligence chief Fernando Miala say the security services have been undermined by factional intrigues since his arrest in February 2006, accused of coup-plotting. A disturbing letter from a claimed intelligence officer, Manuel Carvalho Kindissuka, details some of these battles around the ruling triumvirate of President José dos Santos, General Hélder Vieira Dias ‘Kopelipa’ and Army Chief General António José Maria. Kindissuka claims that prominent Angolans – including the gaoled Miala, opposition leaders, and civic activists – have been targeted for assassination. Ruling party supporters dismiss this as paranoid fantasy but the Bakongo-supported PDP-ANA party, which published the Kindissuka letter, has bitter memories. Its own leader, Victor Mfulumpinga, was assassinated outside the party’s offices in Luanda in 2004. The killer has not yet been found.