Algeria

The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) has been ruling the country since the liberation in 1975. The MPLA was confirmed in the legislative elections of 2008, the first general elections since 1992. Despite this victory in elections, the government still is exercising a tight control of the media, civil society, human rights defenders and political dissidents. Abductions, arbitrary arrests, unlawful killings, torture, rape, beatings, lengthy detention, unfair trials and harsh prison conditions were criticized in 2010/2011 by human rights organisations. Human rights defenders faced increasing harassment. The prominent human rights organisation “Mpalabanda” was forbidden in 2006 and the “Association for Justice, Peace and Democracy (AJPD)” was closed down in September 2008 under pressure of the authorities. Violations of the freedom of assembly and demonstration, the denial of housing rights and forced evictions have created an atmosphere of fear and protest, especially in the capital Luanda. Despite a peace agreement the situation in the oil-rich enclave Cabinda remains volatile and armed conflict in the former Portuguese colony continues.

Harassment of protesters

Some 41 anti-government protesters were arrested during a public protest on September 3, 2011, in Luanda. At least 30 people were injured due to the excessive use of force by the security forces. The demonstration was organized by a youth organisation comprising university students and artists to protest against poverty, high university tuition fees and the lack of democracy in the country. Police refused to confirm the whereabouts of the arrested or to allow relatives to visit them. Twenty four of the arrested protesters were sentenced on September 14 to jail terms ranging from 45 days to three months each. Two protesters, a 60-year old woman and a young man who became ill, were released for humanitarian reasons. After the protests against the 32 year rule of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos the authorities banned demonstrations in the capital’s main squares and announced that new protests legally only could be organized in the outskirts of the town.

Seventeen rap musicians were arrested in March 2011 in the capital because they were reading poems on a public square and distributing political pamphlets calling for protests against the government. They had to stay one night in custody before they were released.

A coalition of small opposition parties which had planned a vigil against government policy on March 6, 2011, was forbidden by the authorities the right to organize the event under the pretext that only religious groups are permitted to organize vigils. To counter the protests of anti-government groups the authorities organized a pro-government “Peace March” in Luanda and several other cities on March 4, 2011. Public servants and teachers were forced to participate in the demonstrations. The teachers were urged to call on their students to join the events to avoid more “problems”.

Housing rights and forced evictions

Non-adequate housing and forced evictions in different cities have caused much criticism among the population, civil society organisations and the churches. Some 25.000 residents in Huila province were evicted by force from their houses between March and October 2010. Many people were forced to leave their homes to make room for infrastructure projects. Most of them didn’t receive any adequate compensation and were forced to resettle in the outskirts without any infrastructure and access to clean water. Due to public protests the planned eviction of 3,500 people in Lubango (Huila Province) in August 2011 got cancelled.

Denial of press freedom

National and international journalists were frequently harassed or became victims of politically motivated violence. Censorship is widespread. After the attack on Togo’s national soccer team in Cabinda in January 2010, which caused the death of two people, the Angolan authorities pressured Catholic-run Radio Ecclesia and state media not to report on the testimonies of the witnesses of the attack who had raised considerable doubt about the protection of the soccer team by Angolan security forces.

Independent journalists such as Rafael Marques with his website “MakaAngola” have openly criticized corruption and mismanagement of the Angolan government. He was repeatedly harassed by the authorities and received death threats. State-run and private companies were urged by the authorities not to advertise in critical media as the “Semanario Angolense” which faced financial problems due to massive pressure.

Critical journalists were targeted in attacks. During the anti-government protest on September 3, 2011, several US-American, Portuguese and Angolan journalists were attacked by Angolan security forces. Unidentified men in plain clothes knocked them down or destroyed their cameras. A few days before, on August 2, the journalist Adao Tiago was arrested and held incommunicado for 23 hours after he had been reporting on a nationwide wave of mass fainting. On September 5, 2010, the radio reporter Alberto Graves Chakussanga was killed by unknown gunmen. On September 22, 2010, the TV reporter Norberto Abias Sateko was attacked by gunmen after he had reported on forced evictions. In October 2010 the radio commentator Antonio Manuel Da Silva was stabbed by an unidentified assailant after criticizing the corruption. None of the attackers has been identified and arrested. Nobody has been brought to justice.

In an unfair trial the “Voice of America” journalist Armando Chicoca has been sentenced on March 3, 2011, to one year in prison in for defamation of a judge. Chicoca was sentenced at a hearing without the presence of his lawyer. He was found guilty in alleging corruption of a local judge in his radio broadcasting..

Human rights violations in Cabinda

Despite a peace agreement signed in 2006 armed conflict is persisting in the oil-rich enclave Cabinda. Impunity still prevails regarding the massive human rights violations which were committed in Cabinda since the independence of Angola. In the year 2010 the Angolan authorities used the armed attack on the Togolese National Soccer Team on January 8 of that year as a pretext for arbitrary arrests and the harassment of Cabindan human rights defenders, dissidents and intellectuals. The lawyer Francisco Luemba and the Catholic priest Raul Tati - two leading human rights defenders - were sentenced to five years jail in August 2010. The human rights activist and university professor Belchior Lanso Tati and a former police officer were sentenced to six and three years of imprisonment in August 2010. The authorities successfully urged the Vatican to ensure that the Cabindan priests Alexandre Pambo, Jorge Casimiro Congo and Raul Tati were relieved from all their duties in the Catholic Church in Cabinda and replaced by Angolan church representatives. Furthermore the authorities continued their campaign of criminalization of the Cabindan human rights movement “Mpalabanda”. The human rights defenders were targeted by the Angolan Government after publishing several reports which documented massive human rights violations in the enclave. Their calls to end impunity were countered the authorities by forbidding “Mpalabanda” in 2006.

Some 40.000 soldiers maintain a tight control of the tiny enclave of Cabinda which is home to only 300.000 people. They are creating an atmosphere of fear and terror among the civilian population. Former prisoners who recently were released from custody reported about torture, lengthy detention without trial and inhuman conditions of detention. Much concern has been raised about extrajudicial killings prominent Cabindan personalities living in exile. In March 2011 the former commanders of the Cabindan liberation movements Mauricio Lubota and Estanislau Miguel Boma were arrested and died under suspicious conditions in custody a short time later. The former commander of the liberation movement “FLEC” was taken in custody in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on March 2, 2011, and died in prison. On June 29, 2011, the leading human rights defender and former president of “Mpalabanda” Agostinho Chicaia was arrested in DRC. Due to international pressure he was released after staying several weeks in jail. On July 10, 2011, the prominent commander of the liberation movement FLEC/FLAC Joao Batista Junior was put in jail. On July 31, 2011, some 23 presumed supporters of the liberation movement FLEC were taken into custody by Angolan soldiers. On August 14, 2011, the commander Lembranca of the FLEC was arrested. These arrests and the desperate situation of Cabindan activists living in exile document, that peace and basic human rights still are under threat in Cabinda.

The United Nations Human Rights Council should urge the Angolan Government to:

• end arbitrary arrests and the harassment of human rights defenders and anti-government protesters;

   

   

• offer adequate housing and to refrain from forced evictions;

   

   

• guarantee the freedom of press, assembly and demonstration;

   

   

• respect basic human rights in Cabinda and to search for a genuine and sustainable peace.

   

  The OHCHR should offer technical assistance to Angola to end impunity and corruption. Furthermore it should provide technical assistance to the Angolan authorities to achieve more transparency in the oil industry.

  The European Union and Germany should:

   

• raise human rights concerns in their meetings with their “strategic partner” Angola;

   

   

• refrain from supplying patrol boats to Angola which might be used in the armed conflict around Cabinda. These patrol boats could be misused to transport military personnel to the enclave or to block the access by sea to Cabinda.