Advertisement

Alarm as Angola deports thousands of Congolese

Friday November 16 2018
joao

Angolan President Joao Lourenco. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

By ARNALDO VIEIRA

Lobby group Human Rights Watch (HRW) is raising the alarm over Angola's mass expulsion of migrants.

HRW says the expulsion of migrants, majority from the the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was characterised by numerous abuses.

Consequently, HRW wants the Luanda authorises to promptly and impartially investigate the alleged abuses by state security forces.

“Angola should stop forcing people to leave the country until it can provide individual assessment and due process guarantees to distinguish irregular migrants from refugees and registered migrant workers,” HRW quoted its Southern Africa director, Mr Dewa Mavhinga, as saying.

“Any deportations of migrants should be in accordance with international law and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”

Over 400,000 people were last month forcibly returned or fled Angola following an operation targeting illegal diamond mining in the northern Lunda Norte Province.

Advertisement

Shot dead

According to the United Nations, Angolan security forces and allied ethnic Tshokwe youth shot dead at least six Congolese during the operation in Lunda Norte Province bordering the DRC and Congo-Brazzaville.

The actual figure is most likely higher, HRW said.

Many of the migrants accused Angolan security forces of beatings, sexual assault, burning down homes, looting and destruction of property, illegal taxation and arbitrary detention, HRW quoted witnesses, humanitarian agencies and media reports as saying.

They also described a climate of fear and intimidation in Lunda Norte.

Angola's so-called Operation Transparency aims to reduce diamond smuggling and reform the world’s fifth-largest diamond industry, Angolan authorities said in a statement. It is part of President João Lourenço’s drive to diversify the economy and reduce the country’s dependence on oil.

Places of origin

Angolan authorities say that smuggling and illegal mining were organised and controlled by irregular migrants, but have produced no evidence to back up this claim. Many of those expelled contend that they were in the country legally.

“Angolan soldiers forced us to leave with just our clothes,” HRW quoted a 40-year-old Congolese diamond digger and father of two as saying on phone.

“I showed them my Angolan residency document, but they tore it apart. Then they forced us onto trucks and we were driven to the border with Congo. Before we were forced to leave, youth from the Tshokwe community attacked the Congolese in our town with machetes and looted our homes.”

Most of the people deported have ended up in Kasai, Kasai Central, and Kwanga provinces. Many do not have the means to return to their places of origin.

The mass arrival of thousands of could further destabilise southern DRC, with national elections scheduled for December 23.

Advertisement