About Jonas Savimbi
Jonas Malheiro Sidónio Sakaita Savimbi was an Angolan revolutionary, politician, and rebel military leader who founded and led the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, also known as UNITA. UNITA was one of several groups which waged a guerrilla war against Portuguese colonial rule from 1966 to 1974. Once independence was achieved, it then became an anti-communist group, which confronted the ruling People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, also known as the MPLA, during the Angolan Civil War. Savimbi was killed in a clash with government troops in 2002. Neto, who was studying medicine with Savimbi in Portugal, later became president of the MPLA and Angola's first president after the end of colonial rule in Angola. At age 24, he was awarded a scholarship from the United Church of Christ to study medicine at the University of Lisbon. Facing growing pressure from the Portuguese secret police, known as PIDE, Portuguese and French communists aided Savimbi in escaping Portugal for Lausanne, Switzerland, where he secured a new scholarship awarded by American missionaries.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.