![\"Angola](\"https:\/\/cdn.ghana-mma.com\/2019\/06\/01171341-696x464.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Angola](\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/01171341-696x464.jpg\" "\\"Angola")
<\/div>\nThousands of supporters of Angola\u2019s former rebel leader Jonas Savimbi rallied for his public reburial on Saturday, 17 years after he was killed by troops in a shootout that marked the end of the country\u2019s devastating civil war.<\/p>\n
Wearing T-shirts printed with an image of Savimbi\u2019s face, supporters placed his coffin on a hexagonal monument designed by one of the guerrilla leader\u2019s sons in Savimbi\u2019s native village of Lopitanga. It was then buried in accordance with his wishes.<\/p>\n
The ceremony was touted as a symbol of national reconciliation after decades of war.<\/p>\n
Savimbi, known as the \u201cblack rooster\u201d, died in February 2002 during a clash with the army in central Angola.<\/p>\n
Soldiers buried him there and his public funeral and reburial came after long negotiations between Angolan authorities and Savimbi\u2019s UNITA, now an opposition party.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis moment should have happened 17 years ago,\u201d Raul Danda, vice-president of UNITA, told AFP.<\/p>\n
A portrait of the charismatic but divisive rebel leader was placed before the coffin, which was drapped with UNITA\u2019s green and red flag.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have come to Lopitanga to pay homage and to confirm that we are here to continue your fight,\u201d said UNITA chief Isaias Samakuva.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe bow before the defender of noble causes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Angola, a former Portuguese colony, became a Cold War battleground after independence in 1975 when the Marxist-Leninist People\u2019s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) seized control.<\/p>\n
The United States lined up behind Savimbi\u2019s National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebels and the former Soviet Union and its allies like Cuba backed the MPLA.<\/p>\n
At least half a million people died in the conflict for the vast, oil-rich southern African nation, which played out over more than a quarter of a century.<\/p>\n
Early in 2002, soldiers pursued the 67-year-old Savimbi across the province of Moxico in central eastern Angola. On February 22, they caught up with him. He fought back but was soon killed.<\/p>\n
His body was taken to the provincial capital Luena and hurriedly buried in a cemetery, with a cross of iron on the mound of red soil.<\/p>\n
The public funeral is \u201can important sign of national reconciliation,\u201d said Raphael, one of Savimbi\u2019s 30 children. But no representative of the Angolan government was present at Saturday\u2019s ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Divisive figure \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n After his death, the rival sides swiftly moved towards a ceasefire in a conflict that had lasted 27 years.<\/p>\n But his public funeral has rekindled the divisive debate over a man described as both charismatic and authoritarian.<\/p>\n \u201cHe fought for the interests of the people, we are here for one last farewell,\u201d said Jorge Kangajo, a driver at the ceremony.<\/p>\n In the capital Luanda, opinions were more divided.<\/p>\n Jonas Savimbi \u201cmade war and killed Angolans\u2026. He does not deserve a dignified funeral,\u201d said a soldier, Adao Fortunato.<\/p>\n This year, after long talks, the MPLA government agreed with UNITA and the Savimbi family to hold a funeral in Lopitanga, where Savimbi\u2019s father is buried.<\/p>\n The deal was unlocked after President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Savimbi\u2019s sworn enemy, stepped down in 2017 and was replaced by his defence minister, Joao Lourenco.<\/p>\n In August 2018, a commission was set up to organise the exhumation. The body was exhumed in January 2019. In May, DNA tests confirmed that the remains were those of the former UNITA leader.<\/p>\n \u2013 \u2018Betrayed his people\u2019 \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n Typically dressed in a green combat uniform, with a walking stick in his hand and a revolver on his hip, Savimbi led an army of more than 30,000 troops.<\/p>\n Backed for many years by apartheid South Africa, his forces were also accused of atrocities and he himself was described as having carried out summary executions.<\/p>\n Authoritarian and intransigent, Jonas Savimbi was also \u201cvery intelligent and very charismatic\u201d, according to Fred Bridgland, author of the biography \u201cJonas Savimbi: a Key to Africa\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cSavimbi betrayed his people, he ruined his movement because of his paranoia and his sexual appetite,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n \u201cHe killed to eliminate people in his party, those whom they considered a threat (\u2026), and he killed because of sexual jealousy.\u201d<\/p>\n Reports emerged of women who had dared to refuse his sexual advances being burned in public, along with their children.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n