LISBON, Portugal -- Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos announced a new peace plan Saturday to end a 14-year-old civil war in his country, offering free elections within five years, but demanding recognition of his Marxist government.
In his New Year message in the Angolan capital of Luanda, Dos Santos outlined a new eight-point peace plan, including proposals for a cease-fire agreement with rebels of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), Portuguese media reported.
In the first two points of the peace plan, Dos Santos demanded Unita recognize the sovereignty of Angola and the legitimacy of the present Marxist MPLA government.
Dos Santos laid down the establishment of a national army, incorporating both government and Unita forces, as a condition for negotiations.
Other proposals in the peace plan include a new law permitting free association and the holding of a national census in preparation for free elections within five years.
The plan, however, 'did not signify the renunciation of Angola's socialist vocation,' nor the abandonment of the one-party solution for the country, Dos Santos emphasized.
Unita spokesmen in Lisbon were not available for comment on the plan.
Led by Jonas Savimbi and backed by the U.S. government, Unita has been fighting the Marxist government since independence from Portugal in 1975.
Dos Santos' announcement came two days after Unita charged the Luanda government had launched a major new offensive against rebel-held positions in the southeastern town of Mavinga, considered a strategic point for a drive on the Unita headquarters at Jamba.
After an 18-nation summit in June in the northern Zairean town of Gbadolite, Dos Santos and Savimbi met face-to-face for the first time and shook hands on a cease-fire mediated by Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko.
The cease-fire, which soon broke down, followed an independence settlement in neighboring Namibia. The Namibian settlement was secured following negotiations last year in which Cuba agreed to withdraw 50,000 troops backing the Marxist Angolan government and South Africa agreed to withdraw from Namibia and cease support for Unita.
