Angola Rivals to Meet; Runoff Vote Due
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Times Wire Services
LUANDA, Angola — President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi are expected to meet Monday to try to resolve the political crisis that has threatened to revive Angola’s civil war. The outlook is for a runoff election.
The crisis arose when Savimbi challenged the tentative results of the Sept. 29-30 election, which showed Dos Santos getting more than half the vote. Savimbi, who was running against Dos Santos for the presidency, charged election fraud and implied that his rebel group, UNITA, would renew the fighting.
Savimbi appeared to calm down when it became clear Thursday that Dos Santos had fallen short of an absolute majority, and that a second round of voting would be needed to decide the winner.