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GV PAN DOWN Luanda building TO Newsmen at entrance (2 shots)
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CU INTERIOR MPLA Director of Information, Luis De Almeida, speaking to newsmen in Portuguese (3 shots)
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CU Television pictures showing troops marching through street (3 shots)
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Initials CL/1627



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: At a special news conference in Luanda on Friday (12 September), the Information Director of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), Mr. Luis De Almeida, announced that only foreign journalists who speak Portuguese will be allowed into the country in future.

Mr. De Almeida launched a sharp attack on a number of foreign news service for allegedly distorting the facts about the situation in Angola.

The attack came only two days after victorious MPLA forces succeeded in taking the strategically important town of Caxito, some fifty Kilometres (31 miles) north of the capital, Luanda. The capture of the town consolidates MPLA superiority over the rival Zaire-based National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) in the north, and strengthens the movement's position throughout the country.

Mr. De Almeida accused all major international news organisations and at least one television station of misrepresentation of the facts concerning Angola's civil strife and economic problems. He also strongly criticised a European news service for reporting its Angolan stories from Zaire ... headquarters of the FNLA.