UNITA Spokesman Blasts Soviet Role In Angolan War

The Angolan conflict is "not a civil war but a war for liberation against an army of occupation," consisting of Cuban and Russian troops, an official of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), one of three warring Angolan factions, said yesterday at a Center for International Affairs (CFIA) luncheon.

Jorge I. Sangumba, Secretary of Foreign Affairs for UNITA, speaking to about 50 people, said "The Soviet Union is fighting this war mainly by proxy. Castro is mainly paying off his debts from the sixties."

Sangumba denied allegations that UNITA, a former ally of the National Front for the Liberation of Angola in the fight against the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola troops, received direct aid from the United States.

'We got the assistance of the United States through individual African nations," he said.

Before the speech, five protestors from the Spartacus Youth League (SYL) demonstrated outside the CFIA building. "UNITA is a tool of American and South African imperialism, clearly a reactionary force that, given a chance, would crush workers in Angola," Brian Mendez '75, a SYL member, said yesterday.

The protestors moved inside the building where they were warned by University police that any disruption of the luncheon would result in immediate expulsion from the meeting.