LIKUA, ANGOLA


1.
GV Sign reads "Welcome to Angola" as UNITA patrol walks past
0.09

2.
GV PAN Huts where captives held
0.17

3.
GV Brazilian family outside hut (2 shots)
0.27

4.
SV Two UNITA men walk towards huts
0.30

5.
SV Spanish couple with child (2 shots)
0.39

6.
SCU UNITA medical officer
0.43

7.
GV/SV Interview given by Swiss nurse, Mary Burnier (SOT) (2 shots)
1.10

8.
SV PULL BACK GV UNITA political officer, George Valentin speaks to captivates who are sitting in front of banner of Dr. Jonas Savimbi (SOT) (3 shots)
1.24

9.
SCU PULL BACK TO GV Guards around camp
1.47

10.
GV Captives on verge of release watching tribal dance and mingling with performers (5 shots)
2.14


MACUSSO, ANGOLA:


11.
GV South African boats arriving at bank of Kavango River to collect released captives (2 shots)
2.24

12.
SVs Released people shaking hands with UNITA men (2 shots)
2.33

13.
SV South African boats on beach with released people climbing aboard (3 shots)
2.49

14.
SV & GV PAN Boats leave bank and released people wave (4 shots)\
3.17


NAMIBIA:


15.
SV PULL BACK TO GV, Released people congratulating each other on other side of river (2 shots)
3.41


SPEECH TRANSCRIPT (SEQUENCE SEVEN):



REPORTER: "How were you treated?"



SWISS NURSE, MARY BURNIER: "After my capture I was all the time very well treated, very well treated."



REPORTER: "All the time.....?"



BURNIER: "All the time. Since the first minute I was with UNITA I have nothing bad to say of them. It was very full of all respect and for love and everything was really good."



SPEECH TRANSCRIPT (SEQUENCE EIGHT):



UNITA POLITICAL OFFICER, GEORGE VALENTIN: "We are fighting against one enemy, known in the world. The Russian and Cuban imperialists with their puppets, those who are helping the oppression of the Angolan people. We are fighting for freedom, liberty, democracy and justice."





Initials RdeL/BB





Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: UNITA, (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), the anti-government guerrilla force in Angola, has released 15 foreign civilians captured during operations against the leftist government in Luanda. The prisoners -- six Portuguese, three Brazilians, four Spaniards, an Argentine and a Swiss nurse, were held by Dr. Jonas Savimbi's force at Likua about 200 kilometres (124 miles) from the border with Namibia. Most were missionaries, priests, nurses and doctors working in parts of Angola overrun by the 35,000 strong group of UNITA irregulars who now say they control nearly half the country. Swiss Red Cross nurse, Mary Burnier, was captured while travelling with a government convey and obliged to walk hundreds of kilometres (several hundred miles) through the bush with her captors. But Nurse Burnier said she had nothing bad to say about UNITA who had treated her well. Before being released, the captives were briefed by UNITA political officer George Valentin. He explained that the rebels have one enemy, the Cuban and Soviet personnel supporting the leftists government. After the lecture the prisoners were taken to the border town of Macusso. There they took photographs of and mingled with their captors as they performed a tribal dance. Then South African boats arrived to take them to freedom across the Kavango River to South African-controlled Namibia. The hostages' release followed several weeks of negotiations involving UNITA, the International Committee of Red Cross and the South African Red Cross.