Rapper MCK Forbidden to Leave Angola

The Angolan immigration services have barred the well-known rapper MCK, from leaving Luanda’s International Airport, to perform at a Rap Festival in Brazil on November 26. MCK told Maka Angola that the immigration officials told him that they had “superior orders” to prevent him from leaving the country. According to the rapper, he asked the immigration authorities “whether this order was based on some legal procedures, whether there was a problem with his passport or visa.” ” They only told me that these were ‘superior orders’ and that the instructions were that they should return my passport only after the TAAG [Angolan airliner]  flight for Rio de Janeiro had left,” said MCK. Once the plane had taken off, the immigration officials returned the passports and the boarding passes of MCK and his back up singer, Toy Fox. Maka Angola tried repeatedly to speak to the immigration services authorities but none […]

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Rapper MCK in the Banana Republic

Eight years ago, a brutal murder committed by members of President José Eduardo dos Santos’ praetorian guard served to bring an Angolan rapper known as MCK into the political limelight at the young age of 22. On November 26, 2003, soldiers from the Presidential Guard Unit (UGP) tied up and dragged a man called Arsénio Sebastião “Cherokee”, into the sea at Mussulo quay in Luanda. They drowned him, ignoring the pleas for mercy from the crowd gathered at the scene. What crime could Cherokee possibly have committed to deserve such a public, summary execution? The soldiers heard Cherokee humming “A Téknika, as Kausas e as Konsequências” (Techniques, Causes and Consequences), by MCK, which was a scathing criticism of the Dos Santos government. The guards killed Cherokee on the spot as a lesson to everyone. MCK’s album was an improvised, underground production, distributed by street vendors. Minivan drivers, who transport the […]

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The Regime’s Diplomatic and Propaganda Offensive Abroad

In the last several weeks, the Angolan government has engaged in an international propaganda campaign to counter what it has called a coordinated effort to smear its alleged good reputation. Indeed, the newly-appointed Ambassador-at-large, Luvualu de Carvalho, has been in Portugal pointing accusatory fingers at supposed ill-meaning interest groups that were misrepresenting the country’s political leaders. The issue gaining the most exposure currently — and the one causing Luanda the biggest headache — is the prolonged detention of the young political prisoners.  One of them, Luaty Beirão, recently concluded a 36-day hunger strike to protest his unjust treatment.  Ambassador Luvualu argued that matters were being blown out of proportion, that the state had a solid case against him and the so-called Angola 15, and that there would be a free, fair, and openly transparent trial. Supporters of the Angola’s 15 insist that, firstly, their prolonged detention contravenes Angolan Law.  Secondly, […]

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President José Eduardo dos Santos’ Regime is Afraid of Books

A Maka Angola reader has raised a pertinent question concerning the detention on 21 June of 13 activists who were busy discussing methods of peaceful protest against what they consider to be a dictatorship. Two more activists were detained in the following days, and all fifteen were accused of plotting a coup d’etat. Most of these activists are known for their ill-fated attempts to organize anti-government demonstrations, which have been brutally suppressed. But how is it possible, the reader asks, that people who cannot manage even the most basic protest without being violently clamped down and detained, could have the means to organize a coup d’etat? Tired, perhaps, of being the punching bag for the authorities and of being accused by a part of civil society of being disorganized, the young people decided to form a study group. They armed themselves with books on peaceful forms of protest in order […]

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Angolan Authorities Detain Youth Protesters as “Coup Plotters”

For the Angolan authorities, the very thought of an Angola without President José Eduardo dos Santos at its helm, let alone any protest against his rule, continues to be a matter of crime and punishment. President dos Santos has been in power for 36 years and wants to be celebrated as the architect of peace and guarantor of stability, though opponents say he is ruining the country. On Wednesday the attorney general of the Republic, Army General João Maria de Sousa, confirmed the detention of 15 youths for allegedly preparing acts of collective disobedience to overthrow the government, and unseat president Dos Santos. “These acts constitute crimes against the security of the state, as a crime of rebellion. As such, the competent bodies of the state must take action to avert the worst”, General João Maria de Sousa told the press. Several youths have been undergoing interrogation sessions since Monday […]

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Measures In Favor and Against Mosques in Angola

As an illustration of Maka Angola’s investigation into the treatment of Islam in Angola, here is a chronological list of measures taken by the government regarding Islamic practice in the provinces of Luanda, Lunda Norte, Zaire, Bié and Malanje. The last of these mechanisms were decreed on January 29, 2014 by the Luanda Provincial Court. With reference to Case no. 005713-C, the court ordered the temporary closure of the Nurr Al Islamia Mosque in the Mártires de Kifangondo area of Luanda, because of a dispute between two Imams: Diakité A’dama, a Malian, and Alhaji Fode, a Gambian. Created in 1995, the mosque is the second largest in Angola, large enough to accommodate over 1,500 worshippers. In his ruling, the judge emphasised that the Islamic Community of Angola (CISA) had a request for recognition under consideration by the Religious Affairs Department of the Ministry of Justice. This statement is incorrect. CISA […]

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Rapper and Activist Luaty Beirão Released

The Angolan activist rapper Luaty Beirão was released from custody by the Portuguese police on the evening of June 12. The day before, the rapper travelled to Lisbon, in a flight from Luanda, and was swiftly arrested at the airport upon collecting his luggage, which contained cocaine. Luaty was released without charges. While the investigations continue, the rapper, who has dual citizenship, including the Portuguese, must report to the police, if he is to be absent from the country for more than five days. According to his producer and friend, Pedro Coquenão, customs officials found a packet of cocaine inside the tyre of his bicycle, which he had checked-in from Angola, wrapped in plastic, in order to exchange it in Lisbon, where he had previously bought it. Pedro Coquenão explained that when the rapper collected the bicycle wheel from the luggage carousel, he noticed a bulge in the tyre and […]

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The (Un)popularity and Success of Dos Santos

The electoral campaign kick-off held by the MPLA last Saturday, June 23, remains a topic of concern due mainly by its propaganda coverage by the state media. The rally, in the November 11 Stadium in Luanda, sought to demonstrate the popularity of the MPLA’s presidential candidate, José Eduardo dos Santos. Since March 2011, the image of the president of the MPLA has been damaged by symbolic and successive protests, held by a handful of youths, who have demanded his resignation after 32 years in power. The significance of these protests can be found on the international stage, especially in North Africa, where three dictators – Ben Ali, Mubarak and Ghaddafi – were deposed by popular uprisings. Initially, the MPLA reacted with counter-demonstrations, as the one held March 5, 2011, when more than 100,000 people were mobilized, in a multi-million dollar investment. This reaction was caused by the first demonstration against […]

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