Luanda - The UNITA rebel movement has sharply escalated military activity in Angola with a series of attacks in Uige and Bengo provinces which left more than 100 civilians dead and saw the kidnapping of 60 children aged 10 to 18.
The rebel attacks followed an unprecedented speech by President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, widely interpreted as an olive branch towards the UNITA leader, Mr Jonas Savimbi.
The children, all war orphans, were seized at night from a boarding school at Caxito, 35 miles from the capital, Luanda, by 50 UNITA men dressed in regular police uniforms, and led away into the bush to be used as porters by the rebels.