Rememberance of the Activist Shot Dead by the Presidential Guard

24 de November de 2015 Arlete Ganga

Your Excellency, the president of Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos, By 23 November 2015, my brother Ganga will have been dead for two years. Your presidential security unit killed my brother. The National Police issued a statement the next day, in defense of my brother’s killer that read as follows: “The Police General Command would like also to inform that in the early hours of the [November] 23 [2013] , around 01.30, here was a violation of the presidential security cordon, at Rua do Povo, by eight elements of CASA-CE, who were unlawfully posting subversive propaganda against the state and it’s leaders, the same having been promptly neutralized by a patrol unit from the presidential palace guards, resulting in their detention. “Meantime, during the transfer of this group to the Presidential Security Unit, to be presented to the officer in charge, who would have forwarded them to the National Police, one of the group, […]

How Sonangol is Fabricating its Profits

7 de November de 2015 Rui Verde, MakaAngola Legal Analyst

For many years Sonangol was the main support of the Angolan system – especially the ruling regime, prompting many authors to refer to it as “a state within the state”, the repository of real power. Recently, there have been reports questioning the financial soundness of Sonangol; other reports have referred to a possible presidential commission meant to come up with proposal for internal changes within the company. In October 2015, the Angolan Ministry of Finance reported that income from oil exports had fallen by 44 percent in September of the same year. The figures presented by Sonangol need, therefore, to be taken seriously. The present work resulted from an analysis of the Sonangol 2013 financial report. These raise many questions and call for a far-reaching restructuring of the company. The key question is whether the results are reliable and sustainable. In 2013, Sonangol’s results were not based on its activities, […]

Lawyer Faces Up to 5 Years in Jail for Inviting Congolese Journalists

30 de October de 2015 Lisa Rimli

Human rights lawyer Arão Bula Tempo has been formally charged with the crimes of attempted “collaboration with foreigners to constrain the Angolan state” and rebellion. He faces a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment for the first indictment, and 12 years for rebellion. The court informed Tempo, and other defendant Manuel Biongo of the charges on October 22. Arão Tempo, who is the chair of the Angolan Bar Association in Cabinda, was given a conditional release in May after two months in jail. He had been arrested and jailed on March 14 at the border town of Massabi, along with his client Manuel Biongo, a businessman who has also been charged with attempted collaboration with foreigners. The public prosecutor António Nito accused them of inviting foreign journalists from the Republic of Congo to cover a protest against human rights violations and poor governance in the exclave. The protest was going […]

Feeding Hungry People with More Weapons

25 de October de 2015 Moiani Matondo

In his recent address to the nation, President Dos Santos conveyed the idea that the Angolan Armed Forces and the National Police must produce their own food and uniforms to tackle the current economic crisis. He made no mention of a more practical solution. One obvious way to solve this problem is to purchase less military equipment. In the end it comes down to a question of priorities and values. For many years Angola (in peacetime) has spent more money on military equipment than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa. Also, one has to question why Angola needs to maintain an army of 100,000 soldiers and not, for example, 50,000 or 25,000? Under no imminent military threat near or far, the President has prioritized spending on military equipment over feeding and clothing his soldiers and police. In some African countries this has been a recipe for a coup! It is important […]

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 […]

I Believe in the Power of Solidarity

20 de March de 2015 Rafael Marques de Morais

With an award comes a greater responsibility. It is therefore my privilege to accept this journalism award [from Index on Censorship], and dedicate it to my fellow Ethiopian colleagues Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemo, and the Zone 9 bloggers. They are in jail, currently serving some of the harshest sentences in Africa, for the crime of exercising their right to freedom of expression. For over a year, the Ethiopian government has denied adequate health care to Reeyot Alemu, who is in desperate need. Ethiopia is the seat of the African Union, and its regime is one of the worst offenders for upholding the freedoms of the press and of expression. When a regime in Africa succeeds in trampling their citizens’ rights with impunity, and enjoys such good international standing and legitimacy as Ethiopia, it becomes a textbook case for other authoritarian regimes. I believe in the power of solidarity. I have […]

The MPLA: Speeding Angola up or holding it back?

3 de April de 2014 Rafael Marques de Morais

The MPLA Political Bureau has welcomed the governments program to speed up the diversification of the national economy, beyond its current domination by the petroleum industry. The Politburos statement on 31 March made a special recommendation: that the government should train the personnel necessary to put the plan into practice. However, there is a contradiction here that needs to be analyzed. Lets start with the idea of speeding up. As long ago as 12 February 2009, President José Eduardo dos Santos said it is necessary to speed up economic diversification by making and promoting investments in other areas of production. Four years later, the idea of speeding up economic diversification was incorporated into the National Development Plan for 2013-2017, of which implementation began last year. If it is indeed a process of acceleration, it has been a very slow one. As its priorities for economic diversification, the plan aims to […]

Opinion

The Logic of Democracy in Angola

13 de March de 2014 José Eduardo Agualusa

I am reading this and I can’t believe it. So I read it again: “When people, including some politicians, say that there is a dictatorial regime in Angola, this is not true”, says Paulo de Carvalho, professor of the Faculty of Social Science of the Agostinho Neto University, in Luanda. He made this statement at a conference organised by the Centre for African Studies of the Institute of Political and Social Science in Lisbon (ISCSP), under the theme “Democracy and citizens’ rights in Angola”. In order to substantiate his belief, Paulo de Carvalho referred to an event which had taken place a while back in the Mário Soares Foundation in Lisbon, where the journalist and human rights activist had criticised the Angolan regime, and the scholar had replied to him thus: “If there was a dictatorial regime in Angola, you, my friend, Rafael Marques, would not be here speaking on […]

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