The death of Mr. Jonas Savimbi offers Angola its first real chance for peace in a decade. War has been a constant feature of Angola's history; Mr. Savimbi has been a key antagonist in the fighting. His death deprives UNITA, the rebel group he commanded since 1966, of its chief source of inspiration and its most brilliant tactician. But it is unclear whether the Angolan government will seize the opportunity. War has given the government an excuse to kill its opponents and hide its misdeeds.

Civil war descended on Angola even before the country achieved independence in 1975. Guerrillas first took up arms in 1961 to oust the Portuguese who had colonized the country. By 1975, Portugal had had enough; it withdrew and the country became a Cold War battlefield. America supported Mr. Savimbi and his National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, known by its Portuguese initials UNITA; the Soviet Union, with help from Cuba, propped up Mr. Jose Eduardo dos Santos, the country's current president, and his group, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).

The two men, and their armies, have been locked in a bitter struggle. At its height, UNITA was estimated to have had 60,000 fighters and enjoyed support from the United States and South Africa, whose apartheid government saw the rebel group as a bulwark against the spread of the MPLA's communism in Southern Africa. It is estimated that the Angolan civil war has claimed as many as 1.5 million lives. It has consumed entire generations. Both sides have committed atrocities, and revenge killings have kept the cycle of violence alive. Ever the underdogs, UNITA frequently targeted civilian groups, both to create instability and to feed its troops.