The former Angolan rebel leader, Jonas Savimbi, buried 17 years after his death

Luanda:

Thousands of supporters of former Angolan rebel leader, Jonas Savimbi, rallied on Saturday for their public rebury, 17 years after his death by troops during a shootout that ended the devastating civil war from the country.

Wearing t-shirts bearing an image of Savimbi's face, supporters placed his casket on a hexagonal monument designed by one of the guerrilla leader's sons in Savimbi's native village, Lopitanga. He was later buried according to his wishes.

The ceremony was presented as a symbol of national reconciliation after decades of war.

Savimbi, nicknamed the "black rooster," died in February 2002 during a clash with the army in central Angola.

The soldiers buried him there and his public funeral and reburial took place after lengthy negotiations between the Angolan authorities and Savimbi's UNITA, now in opposition.

"This moment should have happened 17 years ago," Raul Danda, vice president of UNITA, told AFP.

A portrait of the rebellious but divisive rebel leader was placed in front of the coffin, which was draped with the green and red flag of UNITA.

"We have come to Lopitanga to pay tribute and confirm that we are here to continue your fight," said UNITA leader Isaias Samakuva.

"We bow down to the champion of noble causes," he said.

Angola, a former Portuguese colony, became a Cold War battlefield after independence, in 1975, when the Marxist-Leninist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) took control of it.

The United States stood behind the rebels of UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) of Savimbi and the former Soviet Union and its allies, such as Cuba, supported the MPLA.

At least half a million people have died in the conflict for the benefit of this vast oil-rich country of southern Africa, which has played for over a quarter of a century.

In early 2002, soldiers sued Savimbi, 67, in the province of Moxico, in east-central Angola. On February 22, they caught up with him. He fought back but was quickly killed.

His body was transported to the provincial capital, Luena, and was hastily buried in a cemetery, with an iron cross on the red mound.

Public funerals are "an important sign of national reconciliation," said Raphael, one of Savimbi's 30 children. But no representative of the Angolan government was present at the ceremony on Saturday.

Division number

After his death, rival parties quickly turned to a ceasefire in a 27-year conflict.

But his public funeral revived the debate around a man qualified as charismatic and authoritarian.

"He fought for the interests of the people, we are here for a last goodbye," said Jorge Kangajo, a driver of the ceremony.

In the capital Luanda, opinions were more divided.

Jonas Savimbi "went to war and killed Angolans … He does not deserve a dignified funeral," said a soldier, Adao Fortunato.

This year, after lengthy discussions, the MPLA government has agreed with UNITA and the Savimbi family to hold a funeral in Lopitanga, where Savimbi's father is buried.

The agreement was unblocked after the resignation in 2017 of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Savimbi's arch-enemy, and his replacement by his defense minister, Joao Lourenco.

In August 2018, a commission was set up to organize the exhumation. The body was exhumed in January 2019. In May, DNA tests confirmed that it was the remains of the former leader of UNITA.

"Betrayed his people"

Usually dressed in a green combat uniform, with a cane in his hand and a revolver in his hip, Savimbi led an army of over 30,000 men.

Supported for many years by South African apartheid, his forces were also accused of atrocities and he himself was accused of summary executions.

Authoritarian and uncompromising, Jonas Savimbi was also "very intelligent and very charismatic," according to Fred Bridgland, author of the biography "Jonas Savimbi: A Key to Africa."

"Savimbi betrayed his people, he ruined his movement because of his paranoia and his badual appetite," he told AFP.

"He killed to eliminate members of his party, those whom they considered a threat (…), and he was killed for badual jealousy."

It has been reported that women who have dared to refuse that his badual advances are burned in public, as well as their children.

(With the exception of the title, this story was not changed by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)