UKRAINIAN PLANE DOWNED IN WAR-TORN ANGOLA.

The general staff of the Angolan army confirmed yesterday that a Ukrainian AN-12 plane was shot down on December 14 by a surface-to-air missile over a combat zone. Aboard the plane were five Ukrainian crewmen, five Angolan officers and an unspecified cargo. The Kyiv-based Khors company had leased the plane, complete with its crew, to the Angolan government forces for transport missions. The regular Angolan army is fighting UNITA rebel forces in the south of the country. The Ukrainian plane was hit shortly after takeoff from the town of Kuito during a rebel offensive in that area (UNIAN, December 16). Earlier this month, another war-torn African country–Uganda–received a massive consignment of Ukrainian tanks (see the Monitor, December 14). –VS

GEORGIAN AUTHORITIES CLAIM CHECHNYA IS A TERRORIST HAVEN.