Rebel forces reported to shell Angolan city

RENEWED fighting erupted yesterday between government and rebels forces in the central Angolan city of Cuito, where more than 370 people have been killed in the past eight days, state radio reported.

The report said about 30 mortar bombs were fired into Cuito, under siege by the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) for more than a year.

The report could not be confirmed.

Aid workers said thousands of people died of starvation while Cuito, capital of the central highlands province of Bie, was cut off from food supplies last year.

The government and UNITA have been fighting since 1975. The war halted briefly after a peace accord in May 1991 but UNITA took up arms again after losing a United Nations-supervised election in September 1992.