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By Justin Pearce

LUANDA, April 4 (Reuters) - Angola's government and UNITA rebels are set to sign a formal ceasefire in the capital Luanda on Thursday to end one of Africa's longest and bloodiest wars.

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and General Paulo Lukamba "Gato", interim leader of UNITA following the death in February of veteran leader Jonas Savimbi, are to sign the accord, diplomats and officials said.

Heads of state and representatives from neighbouring states, the United Nations, United States, Russia and Portugal would attend the ceremony, officials said.

The last three of these countries form a "troika" set up to observe 1994 Lusaka peace accords, which collapsed in 1998.

Thursday's event follows a preliminary ceasefire signed on Saturday between government armed forces deputy chief General Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda and UNITA chief-of-staff General Abreu Muengo Ukwachitembo "Kamorteiro".

The ceasefire includes a detailed plan for the demobilisation of 50,000 UNITA soldiers, who are to be integrated into the Angolan Armed Forces.

The government said the two sides signed a truce on March 15 and ceasefire talks began five days later. Savimbi's death raised hopes for an end to the 27-year-old civil war.

UNITA confirmed for the first time on Wednesday its number two leader General Antonio Dembo died of diabetes on March 3.

GATO ASSUMES COMMAND

A 1994 accord signed by Luanda and UNITA restored a fragile peace. It fell apart in 1998 when the government, angered by UNITA's lack of compliance, attacked its headquarters.

Military analysts in the region say UNITA's fighting capacities had been reduced to zero.

But Gato disagreed, telling reporters on Wednesday the move by the rebels to sue for peace did not amount to surrender in the wake of Savimbi's death.

"It was a political decision taken by the party leadership in December. For technical reasons it was impossible to implement the programme," Gato told reporters in Luanda, where he arrived on Tuesday after years fighting in the jungle.

Until last week Gato was UNITA's secretary-general and number three figure.

In South Africa, diplomats and officials told Reuters Gato's appearance in Luanda as the head of UNITA's military and political team indicated he had assumed command after Savimbi's death in a clash with government troops on February 22.

The government approved a law on Tuesday granting amnesty to rebel UNITA soldiers.

The U.N. Security Council pledged last week to ease travel sanctions against UNITA and help the government secure financial help if both sides agreed to end the fighting.

Some one million people have died in Angola's civil war. Four million more, around 40 percent of the population, have been driven from their homes.

Gato said a ceasefire, peace and national reconciliation had been Savimbi's wish. Asked if UNITA retained the capacity to continue fighting, Gato replied:

"Absolutely. We did not come to the agreement as our only choice, we did not come with a knife in our backs.

"We came first of all because of the president's (Savimbi's) intentions and after discussion...we decided talks would be the best option, but not the only option. The war could have continued."

In Johannesburg, security officials and diplomats said the future of UNITA, believed to be worth billions of dollars mainly from diamond mining, now lay in the hands of Gato and a few senior aides who had survived a government offensive.

(Additional reporting by Buchizya Mseteka in Johannesburg)

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