Angola's war
Sir: I feel that I must reply to Xan Smiley's 'Angola's forgotten war' (16 October), which contained sev.eral serious errors of fact.
Firstly, there is no evidence that 'UNITA has severed Angola's main commercial artery, the Benguela railway'. The most reliable information available indicates that, on the contrary, trains are running throughout southern Angola to Dilolo on the border with Zaire. It is true that work on the bridges over the Luau at Dilolo took longer than expected but the official reopening of the railway has been delayed, not because of guerrilla activity, but for political reasons connected with the slow restoration of Angola's diplomatic relations with Zambia. Moreover, UNITA activity in Angola is now limited to 'nuisance value', a judgment for which we must thank BOSS, the South African intelligence organisation. And they should know, for it is BOSS which reorganised UNITA after its defeats in Angola.
The second point with which the facts must take issue is Mr Smiley's romantic attachment to UNITA, and to the persuasive figure of Dr Jonas Savimbi. It is simply not true that UNITA's 'aims are actually much the same as MPLA's, but its methods gentler, less doctrinaire, more laissez-faire'. Words cost nothing, and Dr Savimbi has been no more parsimonious with them than
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