Savimbi

Jonas Félix Savimbi (3 July 1934 – 22 February 2002) was an Angolan political and military leader who founded the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) in 1966. He played a central role in the Angolan War of Independence against Portuguese rule and, after independence in 1975, in the ensuing civil war.

Under Savimbi, UNITA received support from the United States and apartheid-era South Africa, while the ruling MPLA government was backed by Cuba and the Soviet Union. Savimbi led a guerrilla movement that sought to shape Angola’s post-colonial future and positioned UNITA as a counterweight to the MPLA-dominated state. His leadership was controversial; critics accused him of human rights abuses and the recruitment of child soldiers, while supporters portrayed him as a defender of Angolan sovereignty and a voice for rural populations.

In 1992, multiparty elections were held under international supervision. The MPLA won the vote, but UNITA disputed the results and resumed armed conflict after the initial rounds of negotiations. A peace process culminated in the 1994 Lusaka Protocol, though fighting continued intermittently into the late 1990s. Savimbi was killed on 22 February 2002 during a clash with government forces in Moxico Province. His death shifted the military balance and contributed to the end of the civil war later that year.

Following his death, UNITA abandoned its status as an armed faction and reoriented toward politics, emerging as the main opposition party in Angola’s subsequent political landscape. His legacy remains divisive in Angola, reflecting decades of conflict and competing visions for the country’s future.

---