1.
GV Colours and flags around palace (3 shots)
0.14

2.
SV Political posts
0.18

3.
SV Police on horseback
0.29

4.
SV Flags flying outside airport
0.35

5.
SV More flags being put up around airport
1.00



Initials BB/2130 DE & AMN/PN/BB/2300



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In Luanda, on Sunday (9 November) the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) was preparing to take over the reins of power alone after five hundred years of Portuguese rule.

The streets of the capital were decorated with MPLA flags and posters and patrolled by MPLA troops.

Fifteen hundred foreign dignitaries were expected to attend a simple independence ceremony....the lowering of the Portuguese flag. They were to include representatives from several African states and from former and existing Portuguese overseas territories.

With only hours to go until independence at midnight on Monday, there seemed little chance of the formation of a unified government involving the three liberation groups: MPLA and its rivals, the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

On Monday (10 November), fighting among the three nationalist armies was continuing on at least three fronts.

While the MPLA troops were preparing to take over in Luanda, the other two rival groups had similar plans for the areas they occupy. The FNLA is based in Carmona and UNITA in Nova Lisboa. Both plan separate independence celebrations.