LUANDA, Feb 25: Jonas Savimbi, the flamboyant Angolan rebel leader and relic of the Cold War, died on Friday in a gunbattle with government forces in remote Moxico province. He was 67.

Television pictures on Saturday showed the bullet-riddled corpse of the bearded guerilla leader, lying on a rough table under a tree, flies buzzing around his head.

The charismatic UNITA leader, nicknamed the “Black Rooster” and once feted by American presidents in the fight against communism, had not been seen for years.

Big and barrel-chested with matching ivory-handled pistols at his hip, Savimbi combined charisma, guile and a profound understanding of Angola’s history to motivate his army to fight in a war that has dragged on since 1975.—Reuters