Jonas Savimbi

Who is Jonas Savimbi?

Jonas Malheiro Savimbi was born on 3 August 1934 in Munhango, Bié Province, the son of a railway stationmaster who also worked as a Protestant lay preacher. He studied medicine and later political and legal science on scholarship in Portugal and Switzerland, graduating with honors from the University of Lausanne in 1965 while engaging in anti-colonial politics that drew the attention of the Portuguese secret police. In 1966 he broke from rival independence leader Holden Roberto and founded the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), initially fighting Portuguese colonial rule and, after 1975, the Marxist MPLA government, drawing support chiefly from the Ovimbundu people of southeastern Angola. Fluent in several languages and a forceful orator, he led UNITA through decades of civil war, briefly entering multiparty elections in 1992 before returning to armed conflict after his defeat at the polls. He was killed by government troops in February 2002, and a peace agreement between UNITA and the government followed soon after, ending Angola's 27-year civil war.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Jonas Savimbi," biography entry · BlackPast.org, "Jonas Malheiro Savimbi (1934-2002)" · South African History Online, "Jonas Malheiro Savimbi"