ANGOLA Military Leave

The effort to end Angola’s 16-year-old civil war quickened last week when Cuba removed its remaining troops, five weeks ahead of a June 30 deadline for a complete withdrawal. The evacuation of nearly 2,000 Cuban soldiers added a grace note to this week’s scheduled signing in Lisbon of a peace treaty between Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and Jonas Savimbi, leader of the U.S.-backed rebel group UNITA. The pact paves the way for the establishment of a multiparty democracy in the formerly Marxist state and elections in 1992.

U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh are expected to be on hand to congratulate Dos Santos and Savimbi — as well they might. Since Angola won independence from Portugal in 1975, $ Moscow has spent as much as $1 billion a year to prop up the regime, while the U.S. has contributed up to $60 million annually to the rebels.