Category: Articles

Cybersecurity: Angola’s Latest Tool of Authoritarian Consolidation

Angola’s proposed cybersecurity law, presented as a modern response to digital threats, instead deepens the country’s authoritarian drift by centralising state power, weakening judicial oversight and expanding surveillance across the entire digital sphere—posing a direct threat to the already fragile constitutional guarantees that remain in place. Angola has yet to experience a real democratic movement at all. What exists instead is a formal democratic Constitution that permits to entrench an increasingly authoritarian system of power, sustained by the absence of real political democratic alternation, weakened institutions and a systematically shrinking civic space. This system is usually referred to as an anocracy, combining elements typical of democracies with dictatorial practices. These systems are inherently unstable and prone to arbitrariness. Within this context, the proposed cybersecurity legislation must be read not as neutral regulation but as an instrument of authoritarian consolidation. It forms part of a broader legislative package designed to expand […]

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War on Civil Society, Continuity of Plunder

Unable to halt Angola’s structural plunder, the government of João Lourenço has declared war on civil society. The new NGO law turns popular dissent into an enemy of the State and uses “security” as a smokescreen to protect a failing regime and the impunity of plunder. The proposed Law on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that the ruling MPLA is preparing to approve on January 22, 2025, is an act of political desperation. It is designed to conceal the disastrous governance of João Lourenço and to divert attention from Angola’s ongoing structural plunder. It is the latest manoeuvre by a party that has ruled the country without interruption since independence in 1975 — after five decades of state capture. From its preamble to its final chapters, the law abandons the constitutional framework of freedom of association (Article 48 of the Constitution of the Republic of Angola) and places NGOs under a permanent […]

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Angola’s “Fake News” Law Risks Criminalising the Internet

Under the banner of fighting “fake news”, Angola’s new bill would expand state control over the internet — putting platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp under pressure and turning independent websites into targets. Civil liberties remain mostly on paper. Angola’s proposed law against “false information on the internet” is a deeply flawed piece of legislation. It is presented as a response to disinformation, yet it reads more like a blueprint for state control of digital speech. In a country where civil liberties are legally established on paper but routinely constrained in practice, this bill accelerates an already dangerous trend: eroding legally established civil liberties through expansive enforcement powers, vague standards and punitive sanctions.  The government claims existing legal tools are insufficient. But if gaps existed, they could be addressed by amending current offences to cover online conduct, preserving proportionality and legal certainty. Instead, the executive proposes a sweeping new regime that […]

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Angola: A Spy Network That Exists Only on Paper

From Africa Org to “Ciência Política de Angola,” the state constructs a chain of imaginary organisations to accuse journalists and opposition youth of espionage. None of the entities exist, and not a single act meets the legal definition of espionage.If Angola truly believed Russia was behind a coup attempt, it would expel diplomats and sever military ties — not keep a Russian general inside the Presidential Palace. The accusation serves internal politics, not national security. This text examines the espionage charges within Case File 3846/25-CE, the same case in which Judge António Negrão uncritically validated the terrorism theory already dismissed by the Public Prosecutor. If the claim of terrorism was absurd, the accusation of espionage is nothing short of a parody. According to the official narrative, two Russian citizens — Igor Ratchin Mihailovic and Lev Matveevich Lakshtanov — allegedly travelled to Angola to set up a clandestine espionage operation, assisted […]

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Angola: When the State Needs Terrorists, It Creates Them

The Public Prosecutor confirmed the taxi strike involved no crime, no violence and no terrorism — yet the court insisted on a fabricated “state of terror.” The real danger was not in the streets, but in a judiciary willing to turn protest into national security fiction. The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) has formally confirmed in writing that the alleged “terrorist conspiracy” connected to the Luanda taxi strike of 28–30 July 2025 never existed. There was no incitement, no violence, no material damage and no criminal plan orchestrated by the leaders of the taxi associations and cooperatives that called the strike. The accusation collapsed entirely, leading to the immediate release of those who had been detained. What had been presented as a national security threat was, in reality, a case of preventive repression and the political manipulation of criminal law.  On 12 December 2025, Public Prosecutor […]

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How Angola Turned a Fashion Designer into a “Terrorist”

Arrested at dawn, stripped of her dignity, and accused of ISIS links without a single act of violence or any evidence, Aisha Lopes became the symbol of a state willing to criminalise faith and invent enemies to justify repression. This report summarizes the case of Aisha Lopes and co‑accused, originally published by Maka Angola in 2017. It demonstrates how the Angolan state fabricated terrorism allegations against innocent citizens — using intimidation, torture, and legal manipulation — in ways that mirror the recent cases of “terrorism” and “espionage” against journalists, youth leaders and association members. The Aisha Lopes case is included here so observers can understand the continuity of abusive investigative methods, the criminalization of religious minorities, and the systematic invention of internal enemies for political purposes. Background of the case On 2 December 2016, just before dawn, more than twenty agents from the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) and associated security […]

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No Money in 2026: Angola Enters a Dangerous Fiscal Year

Angola debates many topics, but often avoids the most fundamental: how the State will finance itself in the immediate future. A close reading of the 2026 General State Budget (OGE), and especially its financing operations, shows a structural and cyclical problem converging — the State is likely to run out of money in 2026. The Ministry of Finance’s Budget Justification Report confirms extreme dependence on both internal and external borrowing to balance the accounts. According to the official “Summary of Revenue by Source,” external financing is expected to account for 23.85% of total resources, and domestic financing for another 21.39%. Nearly 45% of the entire budget is not covered by taxes or fees, but relies on loans that may or may not materialize. Angola will effectively be borrowing continuously to stay afloat. Even more troubling is that part of this borrowing will fund current expenditures, not investment. In practice, the […]

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From Anger to “Rebellion”: How Angola Is Stretching the Law

By treating frustration as rebellion and hyperbole as threat, Angola risks turning political discourse into criminal liability — and justice into theatre. Social activist Osvaldo Caholo has been imprisoned for almost six months for comments he made during a live social media broadcast at an anti-government protest in Luanda on 12 July 2025. Under Criminal Case No. 3807/25, the Angolan Public Prosecutor has charged him with rebellion, public instigation to crime and public apology of crime — accusations that rest entirely on spoken words, not actions, organisation or demonstrable criminal capacity. The indictment cites statements allegedly made by the defendant on social media in a context of evident emotional agitation and broader social unrest. However, expressing indignation, even in harsh terms, does not constitute acts that could be considered crimes against state security. Regarding the crime of rebellion, as defined in Article 329 of the Angolan Penal Code, the prosecution […]

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Angola’s War on Words: Turning Journalism into Espionage

Angola’s case against journalist Amor Carlos Tomé treats opinion as conspiracy, press clippings as espionage, and critical writing as terrorism — exposing the fragility of the state’s narrative, not the danger of the accused. Angolan sports journalist Amor Carlos Tomé has been in custody since August, facing nine serious charges: espionage, terrorism, belonging to a terrorist organization, influence peddling, criminal association, incitement, active corruption, fraud and variations of the same. It is an imposing catalogue. But the weight of the accusation is not matched by the weight of the evidence. Prosecutors claim Tomé was the key operator in a Russian-backed conspiracy to overthrow President João Lourenço. The alleged weapon is not a gun, a militia, or a covert network — but the pen. Angola’s Public Prosecutor says the plot relied on recruiting journalists, analysts and content producers to create “instability” and “social convulsion”. No guns. No clandestine cells. Only texts. […]

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Amor Carlos Tomé: From Journalist to “Terrorist” (Part I)

A public broadcaster journalist is charged with terrorism for texts describing a taxi strike that urged citizens to stay home. The case raises urgent questions about press freedom and criminal law in Angola. The Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses two Russian citizens and two Angolans of jointly committing the crimes of espionage, terrorism, terrorist organization, influence peddling, and criminal association. In this second article of the series, we examine in detail the case of Amor Carlos Tomé, a sports journalist at Angola’s public broadcaster Televisão Pública de Angola (TPA), portrayed in the indictment as the principal executor of an alleged Russian operation of terrorism and espionage aimed at staging a coup d’état against President João Lourenço. On 8 January, the Luanda District Court, 3rd Criminal Section, will begin hearing the defendants in the adversarial pre-trial phase. The accused are the Russian nationals Lev Lakshtanov (65) and Igor Ratchin (38), Francisco Oliveira […]

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