From Exodus to Rout

One stream of refugees chose the inland route across the shifting sands of the Namib Desert into South West Africa. Others boarded fishing trawlers sailing down the southeastern Atlantic's treacherous Skeleton Coast to Walvis Bay. Still others joined a convoy of trucks that crossed the Cunene River and headed along the scorched Namib coastline, known locally as the Coast of Loneliness. The refugees were the vanguard of an estimated 350,000 people who are trying desperately to escape from Angola. As the vicious civil war among the Portuguese territory's three black independence parties has steadily worsened, the exodus of both blacks and whites has become a rout.

For many, the nearest refuge is South West Africa (Namibia), the huge territory administered by South Africa. When South African officials recently opened up one border post in South West Africa, they were confronted with a convoy of nearly 3,000 vehicles carrying about 10,000 homeless Portuguese. In all, perhaps 20,000 have so far crossed the border into South West Africa.

Notorious Coastline. Many of them tell gruesome tales of the civil war. The most terrifying feature of the struggle, said Leona Parsons, a missionary based at Bongo in central Angola, "was the complete breakdown of all normal civilized life. As long as I live, I shall never forget the sight of the bodies in the streets and the pigs eating them." Added Farmer Geres Miljo, a refugee from Sa da Bandeira: "If you get in the way of the soldiers, you die."

Many who attempted the more dangerous escape routes never made it. Several of the 18 fishing trawlers that headed down the coast toward Walvis Bay were swamped by breakers or foundered on the rocks of a coastline notorious for shipwrecks. As of last week, only 14 boats, carrying about 300 refugees, had struggled to safety in Walvis Bay. The South African government has set up army tent towns as reception centers for the refugees. As quickly as possible the exiles are shunted on to Windhoek or Walvis Bay for air and sea passage back to Portugal.

Fetid Shantytown. In Luanda, the capital, some 200,000 returnados have signed up for emergency airlifts to Portugal. The Luanda airport has become a fetid shantytown. American, French, German, British and Portuguese airlines are flying in to remove the refugees, but for many the wait will be weeks.

Meanwhile the civil war in Angola continued without respite last week. The death toll is estimated at more than 4,000. For the moment, at least, the Marxist, Soviet-backed Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (M.P.L.A.) seems to have the upper hand. It has tightened its control over key urban areas, including Luanda, chasing out wings of the National Front (F.N.L.A.), a group armed by China but supported by Western business interests as well. The M.P.L.A. has also gained ground in southern Angola, traditionally a base for the moderate UNITA, perhaps the most popular but also the weakest militarily of the independence groups. The M.P.L.A.'S success in the south has prompted speculation that it may be considering a merger with UNITA. The Lisbon government would probably welcome a pact between the two. It would allow Portugal to hand over control of Angola on Nov. 11--the scheduled date for independence--to groups that theoretically represent two-thirds of the country's black population.

Still, nobody can predict which independence group might win the ultimate confrontation. Reports from Luanda last week said that mercenaries --many of them former Portuguese soldiers--were getting involved in the war, and it seemed they were all fighting against the M.P.L.A. The largest mercenary group--about 600 men--was reportedly fighting for the F.N.L.A. The F.N.L.A. gets steady arms support from neighboring Zaire and has the largest cadre of battle-tested troops. For the moment, it seems content to keep on harassing the M.P.L.A. in urban areas, forcing the rival group to spread its resources thin across the huge 481,367-sq.-mi. territory. The F.N.L.A.'S big push on Luanda will probably not come until Lisbon removes its 26,000 troops in November. Thus the future looks as bloody for Angola as the past--and present.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.