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dam-l Namibian dams/LS

This is from the September 11, 1998 edition of The Namibian.


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       Battle for Gove rages

       LUANDA - Unita troops fought a fierce battle against Angolan government
       police for the possession of the dam at Gove in the central Huambo
province,
       where shellfire was heard, press reports said yesterday.

       Gove is the site of a hydropower project which is closely linked to the
       operation of Namibia's proposed Epupa energy project on the lower Kunene
       river.

       The heaviest fighting took place on Wednesday some 120 kms south of the
       provincial capital Huambo, where the Jornal de Angola reported that
"police
       forces are being subjected to long-range artillery fire by the
troops of Jonas
       Savimbi stationed on high ground overlooking the Gove dam".

       "Gove, an enclave among mountains, is favourable terrain for the
guerrilla"
       forces of Savimbi's Unita, the pro-government daily added.

       The rival sides were battling for control of the hydro-electric dam,
a passage
       the rebels want on the Huambo road, according to the paper.

       The fate of the Gove dam is a key factor influencing the decision as
to which
       site the Namibian and Angolan governments will chose for the Epupa
       project.

       The smooth running of the Gove dam, which has been war damaged
       previously, is especially important if the smaller site in the Baynes
       mountains is chosen. However, the other option of a larger site at Epupa
       itself is less dependent on Gove, which is much further upstream on the
       water course which feeds the lower Kunene.

       A final decision on the Epupa site is expected soon from the
Permanent Joint
       Technical Commission set up by two countries.

       Meanwhile, government radio said that government troops and police
       clashed with Unita forces for three hours on Wednesday evening at Puri in
       the northern Uije province, where five people, including two of Luanda's
       soldiers, were killed.

       Four police officers and two members of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA)
       were reported missing at Puri.

       The FAA is a joint defence force of government troops and ex-Unita rebels
       set up under peace protocols signed in Lusaka in November 1994 to end
       almost two decades of post-independence civil war between Savimbi's men
       and the ruling MPLA.

       Unita has this month seen the emergence of a major breakaway "peace"
       faction which has disavowed Savimbi's leadership and charges that
the rebel
       chief, who has consistently refused to join aides in Luanda since
the peace
       pact was signed, is determined to continue with the war.

       According to Luanda, some 35 000 Unita troops have failed to disarm
in line
       with the protocols signed in the Zambian capital almost four years
ago, some
       of them being elite units.

       In Puri, the radio said the main police base and several other
buildings were
       destroyed.

       On Monday, "armed gangs" attacked border guards' posts at Mbanza-Zuzu
       on the northern frontier with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the
       media reported, while police said that they had killed 20 ex-rebels
on Sunday
       in clashes around Kwima, south of Huambo.

       Seven Unita soldiers were killed in fighting at Kawita in the
south-western
       Benguela province, according to other reports which gave no details.

       The Luanda government of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos charges that
       more than 700 people have been killed since Unita resumed fighting last
       March in much of the country.

       Last month, Angolan troops, tanks and aircraft were deployed to back up
       DRC President Laurent Kabila against rebel forces, as part of an
operation
       which was also aimed at securing Angola's own neighbouring oil-rich
       territories and getting at rear bases of Unita in the former Zaire.

       Some regional military analysts have said the DRC intervention has
in part
       been aimed at forestalling the renewal of all-out war inside Angola
between
       the MPLA and Unita, which already has come under UN sanctions for
       failing to abide by terms of the Lusaka accords. - Nampa-Sapa-AFP-Own
       Reporter

       Also:

       'Disarm Unita's backers'
       Epupa up-date









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      Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
        and Editor, World Rivers Review
           International Rivers Network
              1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
                  Tel. (510) 848 1155   Fax (510) 848 1008
                        http://www.irn.org
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