In Search of Enemies - A CIA Story - John Stockwell

[148] IN SEARCH OF ENEMIES
can never be sure the messenger will not be captured or killed. You
don't know until you get an answer back one week, two weeks later.
Before, we sent messages in the hands of runners on foot."
A system as old as Africa itself. A wiry runner carrying a letter
wedged in the end of a split stick, detouring around lion prides and
elephant herds in the very old days. Around Portuguese patrols in
recent times. Now around the MPLA.
Savimbi spoke sharply to the driver and we skidded to a stop. He
got out with me close on his heels and hurried to the roadside where
a small group of serious-looking soldiers rose up from ambush positions
in the waist-high grass. Savimbi talked animatedly with the
leader, a young man of perhaps twenty-two.
He turned to me. "This is Ilunga! He is a swimmer! He saved my
life when we were crossing the Cassai, when the Portuguese were
chasing us."
He stood looking at Ilunga who returned his gaze with great
dignity; the bond between them was almost tangible. Savimbi broke
the spell by giving instructions on how to improve the ambush,
kneeling beside an anthill and looking down the road, pointing his
own automatic rifle.
As we drove on, Savimbi told me how Ilunga had saved himyears
ago. It was a harrowing tale of encirclement and flight.
"We had been on the run for ten days," he recalled," with Portuguese
troops on every side and closing in. Only three of us were
still alive, Ilunga ran in front and N zau Puna came behind. Puna was
wounded and bleeding."
I pictured them running along a grassy ridgeline, like the one we
were driving over. Savimbi would have been leaner, in tattered khaki
shorts, instead of his splendid green uniform.
" We had run almost thirty kilometers since the day before but
there was still no safety. We would have been caught but for Mama
Tshela. She and her sister walked fifteen miles to feed us and stood
guard while we slept. When the Portuguese came she fired her rifle
the way I had taught her, so we could run away.
"The Portuguese had horses and dogs and an airplane. Every time
we would slip away they would find us again. They drove us into
open country and the plane watched us while a Portuguese squad
chased us. Other times we could outrun the Portuguese easily, but
we were already tired, and they had black scouts with them.