Cubans intervened, stopping UNITA and South African advances, leading to the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale from 13 January to 23 March, the largest battle in African history since World War II. The MPLA and the U.S. had been in negotiations for a peaceful solution since June 1987. The U.S. agreed to include Cuba in direct talks. Cuba joined the negotiations 28 January 1988; South Africa joined 9 March. Angola, Cuba and South Africa signed the Tripartite Accord on 22 December 1988, in which the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola was linked to the retreat of South African soldiers from Angola and Namibia. The Bicesse Accord in 1991 spelled out an electoral process for a democratic Angola under the supervision of the United Nations. MPLA won the first round with 49% of the votes, against 40% for UNITA. UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi rejected the results and returned to war. From 30 October to 1 November 1992 the Halloween Massacre occurred in which thousands of UNITA and FNLA supporters in Luanda were killed by MPLA troops. Estimates for the death toll nationwide reach 25,000 to 30,000. A second peace accord, the Lusaka Protocol, was brokered in Lusaka, Zambia and signed on 20 November 1994. The peace accord between the government and UNITA provided for the integration of former UNITA insurgents into the government and armed forces. However, in 1995, localized fighting resumed. A national unity government was installed in April 1997, but serious fighting resumed in late 1998 when Savimbi renewed the war for a second time, claiming that the MPLA was not fulfilling its obligations. The UN Security Council voted on 28 August 1997, to impose sanctions on UNITA. The Angolan military launched a massive offensive in 1999 that destroyed UNITA's conventional capacity and recaptured all major cities previously held by Savimbi's forces. Savimbi then declared that UNITA would return to guerrilla tactics, and much of the country remained in turmoil. The extended civil war rendered hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Up to 1 million lives may have been lost in fighting over the past quarter century. It only ended when Savimbi was killed in 2002. 2000s - 2020s A Russian freighter delivered 500 tons of Ukrainian 7.62 mm ammunition to Simportex, a division of the Angolan government, with the help of a shipping agent in London on 21 September 2000. The ship's captain declared his cargo "fragile" to