Search Results for: State Intelligence and Security Service

My Trial and The Law to Allow Money Laundering

I am due back in court on May 21 for exposing corruption. The corrupt former attorney general of the Republic, General João Maria de Sousa, is the plaintiff. He has failed to appear in court for the past two months. He even demanded that the trial be moved from the courtroom to the Office of the Attorney General, claiming immunity and privileges. But on April 25, he fled to Portugal and became, for the third time, a runaway plaintiff. There is a great irony in this trial that exposes the farcical anti-corruption discourse of President João Lourenço. On May 17, his ruling MPLA, in power for the past 42 years, passed the Law for the Repatriation of Capital. This new law might as well be aptly named the Law on Money Laundering, for that is what it is. According to this law, those who have siphoned off funds from the […]

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Refugees: A Sore Point for Dos Santos and Kabila

More than 30,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are housed in two temporary reception camps, Kakanda and Mussunga, in Lunda-Norte province. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that about 500 refugees are arriving in these camps each day. Congolese citizens are continuing to cross the border to escape the current conflict in the Kasai region, which erupted in April last year. Last April, in addition to the refugees, around 180 armed men from the Congolese armed forces and police also escaped from the clashes between government forces and the Kamwina Nsapu militia, according to the data this website received from the local authorities. The same sources say that more than 100 members of the Congolese forces managed to escape the control of the defence and security forces, and ‘disappeared’ in the Angolan town of Dundo, while the rest were repatriated. In the same month, […]

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Abuse of Power in Angola (Part I): How the MPLA Elite Clears Land for Their Own Use

Earlier this month graphic pictures emerged from Angola of the killing of 14-year-old Rufino António, shot in the head at close range by a soldier enforcing demolitions in the poor neighbourhood of Walale, south of the capital, Luanda. This is not an isolated incident. The Angolan authorities have commonly resorted to sudden mass demolitions of entire neighbourhoods to clear the land for redevelopment, with little or no regard for residents’ legal rights, or even their lives. Sometimes there are legal grounds for these actions, such as slum clearance within the ambit of the Luanda Development Plan – a scheme praised by international urban planners unfamiliar with the reality of how it is being executed. All too often, however, the mass demolitions are ordered by unscrupulous and greedy members of the ruling elite who see the chance to grab choice portions of land for their own ends. Bound by blood to […]

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The Tertulia and the Luanda Book Club

Some countries, Portugal and Brazil amongst them, have a vibrant cafe society where philosophical and political views can be expressed, debated and dissected without fear or favour.  All-comers are welcome to interject or just listen and learn.  These are the political salons of the streets, where lecturers, students, journalists, politicians, workers and passers-by can drop by and join in. In Portuguese these encounters are called “tertulias”. It’s been one of life’s great pleasures to take part in these public “tertulias”, whether over coffee and pastries in Lisbon, or caipirinhas in Rio de Janeiro.  So why not in Luanda, that other major Lusophone city where political scandal is the order of the day? Linked by their shared colonial history and language, Portugal, Brazil and Angola have all experienced periods of political turbulence but today all three boast modern democratic constitutions guaranteeing freedom of expression and of association. Unfortunately, in Angola the […]

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The Luanda Book Club: The Viana Three

Reports from Luanda today (April 13) say that the Angolan National Director of Prison Services, Commissar António Fortunato, has responded to international outrage over the inhumane conditions in the prisons to which the 17 prisoners of conscience, sentenced in what has come to be known as the Luanda Book Club trial.  Commissar Fortunato told Angolan National Radio (RNA) that the authorities would be moving all the imprisoned dissidents to one jail, Viana, one of the municipalities on the eastern outskirts of Luanda. Three of the jailed prisoners of conscience are already being held in Viana – the two female activists Rosa Conde and Laurinda Gouveia are in the women’s wing, while Laurinda’s partner, Nito Alves is in the male wing. Name: Manuel Baptista Chivonde Nito Alves Age: 19 years old Birthplace: Huambo Education: Law student, Instituto Superior Politécnico São Francisco de Assis Occupation: Student Charged with conspiracy to plot a […]

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The Unfair Trial and the Unjust Minister

In the face of what is turning out to be the trial that is defining the true nature of the Angolan state, the Minister of Justice, Rui Mangueira, and his colleagues went on a spirited international public relations offensive. His main argument was that by citing the country’s recurring human rights abuses, ill-intentioned people were defaming Angola’s good name abroad. In Angola, the trial of young activists accused of preparing a rebellion and an attempt on the president’s life has been going on for the last three weeks.  Someone in the Angolan government seems bent on permanently staining its good name. The accused have been treated so poorly that they are suggesting they may go on a collective hunger strike if their trial is drawn out. Of the 17 accused, only nine have been heard so far in the 15 daily sessions. The activists have certainly not turned out to […]

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Solidarity Meeting With Political Prisoners Gathers a Thousand People

More than a thousand people took part in a meeting to express their solidarity with detained Angolan political prisoners.  Human rights defender Rafael Marques, and Radio Despertar organized the event on 12 September. The event was broadcast live by the radio station and live streamed through various social networks for nearly four hours. Deolinda Luisa, mother of the 26-years old political prisoner Benedito Jeremias,  in tears and with a cracking voice, said she had not been able to take food to her son for three days because she had no money.  The mother, currently living in Moxico province, is in Luanda to support her son who has been detained since 20 June.  He has been accused of plotting to overthrow the state as part of the so-called 15+1 prisoners. The mother of 19-year old political prisoner Nito Alves, Adalia Chivonde, told the gathering that her son was showing signs of […]

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Cabinda Activist Set to Stand Trial on Bogus Charges of Rebellion

José Marcos Mavungo was arrested without a warrant on March 14 as he left morning mass in oil-rich Cabinda, the capital city of the Angolan province with the same name. The 57-year-old human rights activist remains jailed five months later. His trial on the charge of rebellion is scheduled to begin on August 25. Due to his cardiac problems, his imprisonment is a serious threat to his life. The protest Mavungo organized for the same day against bad governance and human rights violations was banned by the governor and did not take place. Arão Bula Tempo, a human rights lawyer, was arrested on the same day as Mavungo. He stands accused of “collaboration with foreigners to constrain the Angolan state” apparently in connection with the planned protest. He still hasn’t been formally charged, but is prohibited from leaving the province to receive medical treatment or to speak at conferences. Since […]

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Violence and Arrests Thwarted Another Protest in Angola

On July 30, the Angolan authorities played a game of cat and mouse regarding the whereabouts of nine activists who were detained on Wednesday during a demonstration in support of 15 political prisoners. When approached by Maka Angola, the Luanda provincial police commander, Commissioner-Chief António Sita, started by saying “we haven’t detained anyone. [The activists] were being collected and directed to [the activist] David Salei’s home [in Viana municipality]. Adão Bunga “MC Life”, Adolfo Campos, Agostinho Epalanga, Kika Delegado, Laurinda Gouveia, Manuel José Afonso “Feridão”, Mário Faustino, Raúl Mandela and Valdemiro Piedade were held incommunicado since they were “collected” by the National Police at Largo da Independência (Independence Square). Commander Sita declared that the activists “want to create a political fact. They are playing a dirty game. They have switched off their mobile phones and are hiding at Kilometre 30 [in Viana] at Paposseco’s house.” He added that in order […]

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Intelligence Officer Arrested in Connection with the Alleged Coup Plot

Captain Zenóbio Lázaro Muhondo Zumba, 34 years old, became the first collateral victim of searches being carried out by the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) and by Intelligence Services on computers, writings and other documentation seized from the 15 people arrested for allegedly plotting a coup. On June 30 past, the captain arrived at the headquarters of the Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISM), where he is an analyst at the Information and Analysis department attached to the General Staff of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA). He thought it was just another normal day at work. According to information given by his wife, Suzana Zumba, members of the Military Police showed Captain Zumba a photograph of Lieutenant Osvaldo Caholo, who had been arrested at home on June 24. “Zenóbio said that he knew him, since they had both been classmates in the International Relations’ degree program in UTANGA [Technical University of […]

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