July 2015

Protesters in Quibaxe Demand the Resignation of Police Commander

25 de July de 2015 Maka Angola

Yesterday afternoon, hundreds of people joined the funeral procession to bid farewell to Estêvão Venâncio, 24 years old, shot dead by a police officer while on his motorbike, in Dembos, the Northern province of Bengo. The funeral was also turned into a peaceful protest against police violence. On July 20, Estêvão Venâncio, 24 years old, was going home from school on his motorbike when he was intercepted by National police officers in Quibaxe, the main village of the municipality of Dembos. According to information given by his cousin, Neves Luciano Ganga, “we don’t know exactly what happened. An officer shot Estêvão at point blank range, hitting him between the heart and lung. Estêvão died instantly.” Neves Luciano Ganga also added that “the same bullet hit the pillion passenger, a young student who was getting a lift and was sitting behind Estêvão.” According to his statement, corroborated by other sources, the […]

Being Friends Can Be Dangerous in Angola

24 de July de 2015 Maka Angola

The attorney general of the Republic, General João Maria de Sousa has unleashed a new campaign of harassment against his critics. Several people are being currently questioned by the National Directorate of Investigation and Penal Action (DNIAP) to establish the sources of leaks about his actions. On Monday, the activist José Gama was interrogated by DNIAP, under suspicion of having links with the Club-K website and the journalist Rafael Marques de Morais, following a complaint lodged by General João Maria de Sousa. José Gama told Maka Angola that the DNIAP, a branch of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR), “wants to know if I know Mr Rafael Marques.” According to the activist, detective Elizeth Paulo showed him two articles from the Club-K site – “PGR Strangles the Valentim Amões Group,” from June 16 past and ”PGR takes revenge on Lídia Amões,” from June 24 – and […]

The Real Danger: Letter to President José Eduardo dos Santos

20 de July de 2015 Rafael Marques de Morais

Mr President José Eduardo dos Santos: Since we are unlikely to meet, I have decided to attempt a conversation with you by this medium. I hope you respond to me. It is time to talk. Although I am sharply critical of how you govern, and of the suffering this causes the majority of the Angolan people, I admire you for staying in power so stoically; and, I understand very well your anxiety when faced with the prospect of losing power. Father António Vieira wrote: “Pulvis es, tu in pulverem reverteris”. Dust you are, and to dust you shall return. You are dust. That is the present. To dust you shall return. That is the future. That is the future that you are trying to avoid at any cost, and which results in the anxiety that I mentioned. For a while during my childhood, you cultivated a fear of yourself. In […]

The Chimera: A Case for the Angolan Legal System

16 de July de 2015 Rui Verde

In 1982, faced with irreconcilable internal problems, the Argentinian dictator, Leopoldo Galtieri, decided to employ diversionary tactics and invaded the Falkland (Malvinas) islands, a British overseas territory. Once the initial excitement had died down, the dictatorship inevitably collapsed. At the moment, the Angolan panorama bears a marked resemblance to the Argentinian panorama of 1982. In addition to the crisis of prolonged power due to the complete breakdown of State institutions, there is a deep economic and financial recession, in which the symbol of power and wealth in Angola, Sonangol, arises like a giant with clay feet, on the brink of collapse, with all the appearance of having been the subject of complete mismanagement (to say the least). Faced with this situation, the president, more adept than the dictator of the Galtieri farce, fostered a chimera. It is not a coup d’état, it is not an attempted coup d’état, rather it […]

Intelligence Officer Arrested in Connection with the Alleged Coup Plot

15 de July de 2015 Rafael Marques de Morais

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 […]

Sharks or Crocodiles: How to Get Rid of an Activist in Angola

10 de July de 2015 Rafael Marques de Morais

Since June 20, much has been said and written about the detained Angolan book club activists, accused of attempting to bring about a coup d’état. State officials, including Attorney-General Joao Maria de Sousa and Interior Minister Angelo Tavares, have emphasised In their statements to the media that they will zealously uphold the law, make arrests or take any and all other appropriate action against those who conspire to overthrow President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s government. But their treatment of another activist, 28 year-old Mario Faustino, detained since May 27, exposes the shambolic nature of the Angolan Justice system. In an exclusive interview for Maka Angola, from his prison cell in the National Police provincial headquarters in Luanda, Mr Faustino alleges that when he was detained, he was subjected to torture at a military installation, carried out in person by a Brigadier in the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA). According to the […]

President José Eduardo dos Santos’ Regime is Afraid of Books

8 de July de 2015 Rafael Marques de Morais

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 […]

Putin-Style Presidential Decree Ends NGO Independence in Angola

2 de July de 2015 Rui Verde

Civil society in a democratic state is generally defined as the space filled by non-governmental organisations and institutions that represent citizens’ interest and the public will and which are independent from the state. Hegel, the philosopher of the modern state, considered that civil society, with all its differences, made the nation state more efficient. If Angola is consolidating its democracy under the 2010 Constitution, Presidential Decree 74/15 of 23 March 2015, which regulates non-governmental organisations (NGOs), raises a matter of grave concern. This decree echoes the legal technique used by the Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin, who in 2012 introduced legislation obliging foreign NGOs to register with the Foreign Ministry as “foreign agents”. This effectively turned all NGO staff into hypothetical “spies”. The Angolan presidential decree includes a series of provisions that make it practically impossible for NGOs to work in an independent and impartial manner as the representatives of civil […]