Cuba's last troops in Angola flew home Saturday, a U.N. official said. The pullout came six days before the planned signing of accords to end one of Africa's longest and bloodiest civil wars.
The departure ended 16 years of direct Cuban support for Angolan government forces in the civil war against U.S.-backed guerrillas and South African invaders.The 116 Cubans who boarded a Soviet-build Ilysushin-62 transport plane for Havana on Saturday morning were the last of a force that once numbered 50,000, said Brazilian Gen. Pericles Ferreira Gomes, head of the U.N. verification force. He spoke with journalists at Luanda's airport.
The final Cuban contingent was seen off with pomp and ceremony.