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GV INTERIOR MPLA military spokesman Commander Ju Ju at table for news conference
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Initials



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Background: Commander Ju Ju, a member of the military wing of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), held a news conference in Luanda on Saturday (15 November) to explain the role mercenaries were playing in the attempt to overthrow "the legitimate government of the new nation".

He said the mercenaries, mainly South Africans, Rhodesians and Portuguese, are fighting alongside the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

He said a joint column of South African, UNITA and FNLA troops succeeded eleven days earlier in capturing two coastal cities about 400 miles north of the border with South West Africa.

Commander Ju Ju disclosed that the MPLA did not have the weapons to fight a column equipped with 64 armoured cars. He said that in three weeks of intense fighting, the MPLA was only able to knock out eight of the sixty-four vehicles.

He said the armoured cars were identified definitely as Panhards made under licence in South Africa.

Commander Ju Ju told the news conference that the Commander of the column was identified as a South African colonel but it was not clear whether he was a regular soldier or a mercenary.

Towards the end of the news conference, two men were brought in and shown to newsmen. Commander Ju Ju said they were Portuguese - and one had been recruited in South Africa, the other in Rhodesia.