1 Recce, volume 2. Alexander Strachan
is happening here because we saw a kind of ripple going through the base. He said: “Come, we must go forward. The president is on his way.”’
The Unitas had an old Mercedes truck (a ‘vegetable truck’) and Blaauw’s team were on the truck with an escort. There were two vehicles, and they drove along a bush road. By early afternoon they stopped under the trees. ‘We wait here,’ said Chiwale. The Recces sat waiting under the trees, and at one point there was a movement in the bush. ‘And there the group came! Savimbi was right in front, walking in a majestic manner. He was dressed in his camouflage combat uniform and carried an ivory-handled .375 revolver. It was the revolver he always carried when he was with his entourage.’ Noting the president’s neat and clean appearance, Blaauw suspected he had stopped shortly before to wash himself and change his clothes.
Chiwale and the Unita escort were the first to meet him, with enquiries about one another’s welfare and much exuberant mutual backslapping. Then they came forward and the three Recces were introduced to Savimbi. ‘As we stood there, I saw that we could be in for trouble. One of Savimbi’s bodyguards had recognised Amilcar, and he told his president: “This is Amilcar Queiroz, I know him.”’
Queiroz was a former Unita member. Blaauw saw Savimbi and him looking each other in the eyes. ‘I thought, wow, something is going to erupt here. Savimbi may ask him, “So what are you doing here and why aren’t you with us in Angola?”’ Blaauw waited for the eruption, but the next moment Savimbi came closer, embraced Queiroz cordially and they slapped each other on the back. To Blaauw’s surprise, there was a white man among Savimbi’s group. ‘I looked at the guy and gave him a thumbs-up sign, and he did likewise.’ The man later told Blaauw that when he gave him that sign, he realised they were from Special Forces. He turned out to be a journalist who was an ex-member of the French Foreign Legion.
Everyone got on the vehicles and Savimbi wanted Blaauw to sit in front next to the driver, but he said Savimbi should sit in front. They drove back and as they neared the base, a hullabaloo erupted. ‘There were drums beating, women yelling, each and everyone jubilating and clapping hands. It was quite a commotion when Savimbi got down from the vehicle. He first talked to his people and then went to freshen up.’
A while later the Recces received a message that he wished to address the entire base at 16:00. Everyone had to be present, including the three Recces. ‘The whole camp was assembled, the troops were lined up, the crowd was there, and next to them the women with children everywhere among them. And Savimbi, speaking off the cuff, delivered the most dynamic speech imaginable. I could see how he whipped up the people and enraptured them with his resounding words. The people realised their salvation had arrived, the deliverance they had been waiting for was right here in their midst, in the flesh.’
Once Savimbi had finished, he turned round and looked at Blaauw. ‘Major, do you have a message for my people?’ The unexpected request caught Blaauw off guard. ‘Gosh,’ I whispered to Amilcar, ‘what now?’ ‘Listen, Major, you will just have to say something,’ replied Queiroz. Blaauw knew he had no mandate and could not make any promises.
So he confined his impromptu speech to generalities: They appreciate Unita’s struggle and all the hardships they have to endure. The South African government has sympathy with their plight. Back at home he will report back on everything. As soon as the situation has stabilised they will return and support Unita in its struggle, since South Africa is embroiled in the same struggle against communism, and it is terrible. ‘I just kept it vague because there wasn’t really anything I could say or do.’ The speech was repeated for Savimbi in Portuguese.
That evening they had dinner with Savimbi. All his officials and personnel were present, and the three Recces sat opposite him. He thanked Blaauw and said that he greatly appreciated his speech. He then referred to the inspiration and encouragement they drew from the South Africans’ visit and how it lifted their morale. Blaauw told him it had just been a thought, and Savimbi replied: ‘It will be a long struggle.’ ‘I concurred with that and added: “Rome wasn’t built in one day.”’
The people who were with Savimbi were actually his entire cabinet. His chief of the defence force, Gen. Ben Ben (Arlindo Pena), was there, as well as Gen. Samuel Chiwale, chief of the army, and a senior staff officer who also acted as liaison officer, Gen. Alcides Sakala Simoes. Also present was a young straight-backed captain, Tito Chingunji, who spoke fluent English. He had studied in the United States, and Savimbi regarded him as a future ambassador somewhere.
Tito was then assigned to Blaauw as his liaison officer. In addition, he was given a personal bodyguard named Abel. He was shortish and enormously strong, and also acted as his gun carrier. Abel immediately moved over to the Recces’ hut and ‘he was everywhere and everything’.
The next day they got up early. ‘We were just kicking our heels in the base because nothing much was happening.’ But during the dinner the night before the Frenchman had warned Queiroz that the situation was not nearly as safe as it appeared on the surface. A strong enemy group had been pursuing Savimbi from as far back as the other side of the Benguela Railway. The group of Fapla and Cuban soldiers also had helicopters at their disposal.
That news kept preying on Blaauw’s mind: ‘At around 09:00, the sun had already been up for a while, we heard a fighter jet. We went outside and looked from under the trees, and I saw it was an MiG-21. It flew low over the base, so low that I could clearly see the pilot’s bright white helmet. I saw him diving and he flew around us at an angle, but the base was well concealed. My first thought was the many fires, but by that time of the morning they had luckily finished cooking.’
The fighter jet turned around above the base towards the small stream on the south-eastern side where the women were collecting water and doing their washing. ‘The pilot spotted them, adjusted his plane’s approach and bombarded the women. We heard him firing rockets about 500 m from the base and then he flew off. Although he had not seen the base itself, I knew the base was now compromised.’
Tito came running up to Blaauw. ‘You must join the president immediately!’ They grabbed their kit, ran along with him and joined Savimbi’s group. ‘We must evacuate the base,’ said Savimbi. ‘We must move out!’
At some distance from the base the group came to a halt, and they spent the whole day under the trees. Apart from the fighter jet that had flown over them, nothing else happened. Later Tito rejoined the Recces and said they would move out that evening. They stayed under the trees until about 17:00, after which they first moved back to the base again. There they waited until just before dark when Tito came to collect them.
Together with Tito, the three of them joined the big convoy. It was evident to Blaauw that Savimbi had had the whole base evacuated. ‘Everyone and everything were there: women, children, goats and whatever, anything that moved was gathered. Some of the people had chicken coops with chickens on their heads, but everyone stood neatly lined up. The troops controlled the entire exodus. Once the group was complete and no one was left in the base, the signal was given and the whole lot of us set off into the darkness.’
The idea was that they should move in a westerly direction towards the Little Cunene River. ‘We walked and we walked and we walked, and it was quite a business with children screaming and crying and the mothers trying to shush them.’ It was a clear night. At around 04:00 Blaauw said to Queiroz that according to the Southern Cross, they were walking south. He mentioned this to Tito as well, and asked that the convoy be stopped.
Savimbi was at the front of the convoy and after the message had reached him, he came walking up to them. ‘Yes, Major, what is the problem?’ Blaauw informed him that they were not going in a westerly direction. He showed Savimbi the Southern Cross right in front of them, as well as the dawn that was about to break in the east. Blaauw took out his compass and said he would now set it in a westerly direction. Savimbi reflected for a moment and then said firmly: ‘Major, from now on you do the navigation.’
This meant that Blaauw now had to be at the head of the convoy with Savimbi. It was rapidly turning light, and he made another suggestion. He asked that Savimbi split up the convoy. The dust kicked up by the women and children and the whole group collectively would be