Truce Violation Discounted in Angola Copter Downing

LUANDA, Angola — The government accused UNITA rebels Saturday of shooting down an army helicopter and killing 22 soldiers on board, but said it was not a major violation of the current truce.

The official Jornal de Angola newspaper said the helicopter was downed Friday in southeastern Cuando-Cubango province while carrying sick and wounded soldiers. An accompanying editorial indicated that the government did not consider it a major incident.

A UNITA spokesman said the helicopter might have been hit accidentally by rebel fire but insisted it was not an intentional violation of a peace treaty signed last Sunday to end Angola’s 19-year war.

After signing the treaty in Lusaka, Zambia, the government and UNITA, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, declared a truce Tuesday to end fighting that has killed 500,000 Angolans since war erupted on the eve of independence from Portugal in 1975.

The cease-fire has generally held. Negotiations on a power-sharing agreement are to intensify this week when rebel leaders are expected to return to the capital for the first time in two years.