The guerilla and the journalist. Exploring the murderous legacy of Jonas Savimbi
Published in
Johannesburg
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Fred Bridgland reported on the Angolan civil war and the Border War from the 1970s. In 1975, he revealed the secret invasion of Angola by the South African Defence Force SDAF in support of the UNITA rebel forces. Their leader Jonas Savimbi was known for his charisma, charm and brio, he convinced millions of his fellow countrymen and also international statesmen that he was Angola's and the West's best hope for democratic rule. More than 30 years after writing a sympathetic biography of Savimbi, Fred Bridgland sets the record straight. Based on new evidence that has come to light, he reveals the rebel leader's murderous legacy. In the 1970s and 1980s, when Angola was a hotbed of the Cold War, few people would have believed that Jonas Savimbi was a manipulative and paranoid tyrant willing to kill anyone he viewed as a threat to his power. Tito Chingunji, the foreign secretary of the UNITA movement, risked his life to help the author to tell the true story of what was going on behind the scenes. This is an account of the intense friendship that developed between the two men, the adventures they shared and the terrifying challenges they faced as they revealed Jonas Savimbi's true face.
