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Generals Chase Journalist Over Blood Diamonds Investigation

Journalist and human rights defender Rafael Marques de Morais was interrogated today in connection with 11 criminal complaints arising from his book Blood Diamonds: Corruption and Torture in Angola. The complaints were lodged on March 14 by seven generals whom the book names as responsible for crimes against humanity that occurred in the Lunda diamond mining region in north-eastern Angola. The complainants are led by the Minister of State and head of the Intelligence Bureau in the Presidency, Manuel Hélder Vieira Dias “Kopelipa”. The other complainants are Adriano Makevela Mackenzie, António Emílio Faceira, Armando da Cruz Neto (an MPLA parliamentarian), Carlos Alberto Hendrick Vaal da Silva (Inspector General of the General Staff of Angolan Armed Forces), João Baptista de Matos, and Luís Pereira Faceira. The private security company Teleservice, owned by the same generals, laid a collective complaint, in addition to the complaint brought by the civilian shareholder José Carlos […]

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Journalist Faces Trial for Incitement to Civil Disobedience

The  Luanda Provincial Court  adjourned today, June 14, the trial of journalist Domingos da Cruz, accused of inciting civil disobedience, for an article he wrote in 2009. Judge Salomão Filipe called upon the defense lawyer, Walter Tondela, and informed him of several irregularities in the case, which prevented him from proceeding with the trial today. According to the judge, the public prosecution pressed criminal charges against Domingos da Cruz based upon a revoked law on Crimes against State Security. It also failed to notify the defendant on the charges against him, and summoned the defendant by telephone. On August 8, 2009, the journalist published an article entitled “When War is Necessary and Urgent”, in the independent weekly newspaper Folha 8. In response, the deputy prosecutor of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (DNIC) brought charges against the journalist, accusing him of disruption of the public order and of incitement to […]

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International NGOs Urge Attorney General to Drop Charges Against Journalist

Over a dozen democracy, human rights and anti-corruption groups have written to Angola’s Attorney General urging for an end to “politically-motivated” charges of defamation and libel against journalist and activist Rafael Marques de Morais. Mr. Marques de Morais has been summoned to answer charges of defamation following the publication of his book, “Blood Diamonds: Corruption and Torture in Angola”, which catalogues allegations of human rights abuse in Angola’s diamond areas. The complainants are civilian business partners of Angolan generals, the alleged perpetrators of the crimes outlined in the book. In a letter presented on Thursday, June 6, to Attorney General João Maria de Sousa, the group said: “We believe that the alleged charges of defamation and libel against Mr. Marques de Morais are politically motivated. The petitioners point out that the investigation process against Mr. Marques de Morais has been fraught with multiple irregularities, including the potential threat to the […]

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Arresting the Short and Shabby Journalist

In a repressive state with the veneer of democratically elected institutions, such as Angola, the ways in which abuse is rationalized can sound like a parody. Journalist Coque Mukuta, 28, experienced such a parody on January 4, 2013, while interviewing women street vendors about how they had been arbitrarily beaten by the police while selling in the streets of Viana, in the outskirts of Luanda. “I personally saw, while doing my work, six police officers severely lashing women street vendors with electric wires with the plastic insulation removed (fios eléctricos descascados),” said Mukuta. Rather than leaving the area, the journalist, who is the correspondent for the Portuguese service of Voice of America, remained adamant in finishing the recording of his third interview on site. “They [the six police officers] came straight at me, hauled me off into their vehicle, confiscated my equipment, and slapped me several times, and told me […]

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Arresting the Shabby and Shorty Journalist

In a repressive state with the veneer of democratically elected institutions, such as Angola, the ways in which abuse can be rationalized make parodies. Journalist Coque Mukuta, 28, experienced such a parody on January 4, 2013, while interviewing women street vendors on the arbitrary police beatings against them, for selling in the streets of Viana, in the outlays of Luanda. “I personally saw, while doing my work, six police officers severely lashing women street vendors with electric wires,” said Mukuta. Rather than leaving the area, the journalist, who is the correspondent for the Portuguese service of Voice of America, remained adamant in finishing the recording of his third interview on site. “They [the six police officers] came straight at me, hauled me off into their vehicle, confiscated my equipment, and slapped me several times, and told me I would be thrown in jail,” he said. At the municipal command of […]

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Alternating Demonstrations: Political Protest and the Government’s Response in Angola

In March 2011, at the height of the North African street protests, an anonymous letter went viral. It called for a mass demonstration in Luanda’s Independence Square, in the capital of Angola, on March 7, 2011. At this symbolic demonstration, the police arrested all seventeen individuals who attended, including three journalists and their driver who were there to cover the event. The ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) politburo accused Western intelligence services, as well as pressured groups in Portugal, Italy, France, Belgium, Great Britain, and Germany, of disseminating the online letter that demanded an end to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s thirty-two year rule. In an anticipated counter-offensive, the MPLA held pro-dos Santos demonstrations in several parts of the country on March 5, 2011, at a staggering cost of over $20 million from the party coffers. State media propaganda claimed that, in Luanda alone, the march […]

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Journalist Ramiro Aleixo on Trial

Angolan journalist Ramiro Aleixo’s trial is scheduled to start on May 11, 2012, at the Luanda Provincial Court. At issue is an editorial Mr. Aleixo wrote in the newspaper Kesongo, in 2007, about General Miala’s case. Mr. Aleixo, formerly the director and owner of the weekly Kesongo, told Maka Angola that he only found out about the notification to be present in court through a notice published in Jornal de Angola. The journalist has not received any formal notification from the authorities. In September 2007, Mr. Aleixo published an editorial denouncing the mock trial of the former Director of the Exterior Information Services, General Fernando Garcia Miala, and three of his staff members. The defendants were convicted for the crime of insubordination and sentenced to jail. In the editorial, Mr. Aleixo voiced his outrage at what he considered to be a manipulation of the judicial system, conducted by the Angolan […]

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President Lourenço: Where Does Angola Go from Here? 

The foundation of Angola’s future prosperity rests upon four pillars. Firstly, empowering and visionary leadership at the executive level, capable of bridging the numerous divides in Angola’s society to unite the country’s citizenry and institutions to work towards common prosperity. Secondly, the presence of strong legal institutions capable of upholding the rule of law. Thirdly, the economic emancipation and continued preservation of the populace’s economic freedom. Lastly, a well-crafted and well-defined blueprint to ensure access to freedom and justice for all.   The foundation of any prosperous nation-state is the presence of robust and fair leadership in its government combined with strong and well-functioning institutions. The aforementioned qualities give rise to a nation that is governed democratically and equitably, with branches of government working in symphony to uphold the rule of law and achieve common prosperity. In such a nation, all branches of government work together to foster a legal climate capable […]

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All the President’s Friends: Who Audits Angola’s Chief Auditor?

Yet more evidence has reached Maka Angola that the Angolan President’s vow to end corruption has continued to falter. Maka has already revealed at length how Exalgina Gambôa, the head of the Court of Accounts of Angola’s national audit office, had embezzled four million dollars from the court’s organizational budget to purchase luxury furnishings for her home. New information has come to light showing that the court cannot afford to send its accountants around the country to audit government spending in the provinces because their travel budget was spent on luxury flights for the three Gambôa offspring. President João Lourenço’s promise to tackle Angola’s kleptocratic culture of corruption has stuttered for a while. His campaign has so far failed not just on account of his narrow focus on the fortunes of his predecessor’s children but due to his inability to call out officials close to the current leadership for their […]

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Justice Capture in Angola

President Lourenço has weaponized the judicial system to mete out political retribution against his personal enemies, principally his predecessor’s family members and closest associates. The unequal application of justice gives every appearance of protection for some of the most notoriously corrupt public officials, in exchange for their allegiance. A few days ago, Angola’s Criminal Investigation Service arrested a young man, Flávio Caiongo, over a TikTok video. His crime? Calling our President Lourenço a “thief”. His TikTok was critical of the poor rule that plagues Angola, and has left so many of my fellow Angolans hungry. As I stand here, the authorities are still hunting down the other two people who took part in it. It’s ironic. Twenty-three years ago, Angola’s then President, José Eduardo dos Santos, put me in jail for calling his régime “corrupt”. When President Lourenço succeeded him in 2017, he promised change: an end to kleptocracy, respect […]

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