SAVIMBI, JONAS MALHEIRO

born Aug. 3, 1934, Portuguese Angola Angolan politician, the leader of a long-continuing guerrilla insurgency against the postindependence government of Angola. The son of a railroad stationmaster, Savimbi was educated in mission schools and then won a scholarship to study abroad. He studied medicine at the University of Lisbon in Portugal and then obtained a doctorate in political science at the University of Lausanne, Switz. In 1961 Savimbi joined the Angolan independence leader Holden Roberto's Popular Union of Angola (UPA), which was the rival of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). He broke with the UPA's leader in 1966, and in that same year he formed the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), which fought against Portuguese colonial rule of the country. Savimbi was the only Angolan guerrilla leader who remained fighting within Angola until the nation reached independence from Portugal in 1975; by this time he had expanded his initially small band of supporters into a guerrilla army numbering in the thousands. UNITA was based in southeastern Angola and relied for its support on the Ovimbundu people, who were the largest tribal group in the country. At various times, Savimbi obtained support from China, South Africa, and the United States as a counter to the Marxist, Soviet-supported MPLA, which controlled the central government. Savimbi continued to wage a disruptive guerrilla war against the MPLA throughout the 1970s and '80s. In 1991 he signed a peace agreement with the MPLA-led Angolan government that halted the civil war and resulted in free, multiparty national elections in 1992. After losing these elections, Savimbi and UNITA resumed their military struggle for control of the country.