Tag: Angolan Armed Forces

Sergeant Shoots Boy Dead in Football Celebration

An Angolan Armed Forces sergeant shot and fatally wounded a 12-year-old boy on Saturday, in Lunda Norte province,  Angola, while celebrating a goal scored by 1º de Agosto, the military football club. Justino Pedro, a representative of the family, told Maka Angola that Sergeant Armando Manuel of the Military Police was arrested this morning during a combined police and army operation. After the shooting, the Sergeant had sought refuge in a colleague’s house. The boy, Adão Abílio da Piedade Xavier, died in the hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning, of a bullet wound to the abdomen. The incident occurred in the small town of Cafunfo in Cuango district, where a local businessman had installed a giant screen next to his shop in the town centre to allow more people to watch the match between 1º de Agosto and a rival club, Kabuscorp. “My son left our house in […]

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The Military Spymaster’s Niche of Corruption

The head of the Military Intelligence and Security (SISM) of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), general António José Maria “Zé Maria”, has been an exception to the rule among the most trusted members of the presidential inner circle. His name does not appear linked to the plundering of State assets, as is the case with President Dos Santos’ henchmen. He is, however, well known for his involvement in petty scandals, such as public order offences. Nevertheless, an anonymous letter, posted on the internet and addressed to various leaders, including Dos Santos, provides leads to general Zé Maria’s active involvement in large-scale corruption. On the list of accusations, is the introduction, into SISM, of a company owned by general Zé Maria’s daughter, Nyanga Viandi Tyitapeka, providing consultancy services on matters of Intelligence. Such an accusation led Maka Angola to investigate the case. In December 2010, the general’s daughter, as a sole […]

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Government Uses Military in Mass Forced Evictions

By Alexandre Neto Seven helicopters and an apparatus of more than 500 men, including military personnel, police and security forces, took part in a military-styled operation that forcibly evicted over 5,000 people from the residential neighborhood of Mayombe, in the Cacuaco municipality, in Luanda, on February 1. According to local residents, the joint military and police forces took the community by surprise at early dawn, causing widespread panic. “At around 5am the bulldozers started razing the houses to the ground, evicting more than 5,000 people”, said Mateus Virgílio Mukito, one of the residents left homeless. Pedro Sebastião, another evictee, told Maka Angola that two children died in the operation. “They were running from the helicopters and ended up falling into a drainage ditch.” Other residents corroborated this information. According to Mr. Sebastião, given the level of panic within the community, it wasn’t even possible to hold funerals in the area. […]

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Guards on Trial After Being Jailed in ‘Cash Machine’

Fifteen soldiers from the Central Protection and Security Unit (DCPS) in the Military Bureau of the Angolan Presidency (Casa Militar) appeared in the Luanda Regional Military Court on Tuesday, accused of making a collective demand for better salaries and better living and working conditions. The charges follow an incident on 7 September last year, when 224 soldiers from the unit in question signed a petition addressed to the commander of the Presidential Guard Unit (UGP), Lieutenant General Alfredo Tyaunda, complaining of poor working conditions and salaries. The soldiers sent copies of the petition to the Military Judicial Police, the Military Prosecutor and the Chief of Staff of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA). Besides demanding decent salaries, the soldiers claimed proper salary slips, and for their salaries to be paid directly into a bank. A group of five soldiers who spoke to Maka Angola, on behalf of the others, revealed that […]

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Police Clamps Down War Veterans’ Protest

By Lázaro Pinduca,   On Friday morning, a powerful, combined unit composed of Rapid Response Police (PIR), regular police officers and members of the Intelligence and Security Services (SINSE), used violence to disperse a gathering of war veterans who were preparing to hold a protest march in the city of Lubango, Huíla province. During the event, the police arrested 14 protestors and a journalist who was covering the attempted peaceful protest. All of the detainees were released after some 10 hours in custody at the Lubango Police Municipal Command. The police and security forces, estimated at more than 150 officers in number, took up positions at the meeting point at around 5am. The forces initially advised the veterans, who began to converge on the location at around 6am, to leave the place of their own accord. Just before 8am, when their numbers had swelled to over 250, the intrepid veterans, […]

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Phantom General in Huíla

By Lázaro Pinduca War veterans, in the Huila province, have come out publicly to demand answers on the promotion of local businessman, Luís da Fonseca Nunes, to the rank of lieutenant general and as the beneficiary of a monthly pension from the Social Security Fund of the Angolan Armed Forces (CSS/FAA). Nunes is one of the most prominent businessmen in Angola. Notwithstanding, the former soldiers expressed concern that he should be awarded a lifelong monthly pension from the social fund, as a lieutenant general, without having ever served in the military. According to the president of the Independent Forum of Demobilized Angolan War Veterans (FIDEGA), Lieutenant-colonel Manuel Nunes, “we can confirm that the businessman is a general”. The official explains that, in 2009, “we suggested to the then prime minister, general Paulo Kassoma, that a legal protocol for complaints be established, in order to tackle the problem of phantom officers, […]

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Demobilized Soldiers Protest in Luanda

Up to 3,000 demobilized soldiers staged a surprising protest today, in the capital Luanda, marching towards the presidential palace. They went to claim disability pensions and the dues owed to them for years of military service. Initially, the group departed at around 9 am from the general headquarters of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), and walked almost three kilometers to the gates of the Ministry of Defense, which is just a few hundred meters from the presidential palace. With remarkable organizational and tactical skills, the former soldiers pushed through three barriers strongly manned by the presidential guard and riot police, and fought off the police batons and the canine brigade with kicks. At least two protesters were reported injured by the dogs. For up to an hour, a standoff ensued in front of the Ministry of Defense, where the presidential guard, the riot police, the canine brigade, strongly armed military […]

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Former Soldiers Postpone Demonstration in Lubango

More than 500 demobilized soldiers of the former People’s Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FAPLA) gathered today in the João de Almeida neighborhood of Lubango, in Huíla province, for a protest march calling for the payment of pensions that have been owed to them for 20 years. FAPLA was the army of the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and upon independence in 1975 became the armed forces of the one-party state. They were incorporated into the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) in 1992 in the context of the Bicesse Peace Agreements. The Angolan Independent Forum for War Demobilised (FIDEGA) was responsible for the initiative. According to its chairman, lieutenant-colonel Manuel Nunes, at the last minute FIDEGA decided to cancel the march after briefing his colleagues about the meeting he had had the previous day with the commander of the Southern Military Region. “Yesterday afternoon lieutenant-general Tchiloya […]

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Gunfire Used to Disperse Former Soldiers’ Protest

Hundreds of former soldiers staged a protest that caused panic in Luanda on the morning of 20 June. The war veterans were demanding payment of their pensions, some of which were 20 years in arrears. A large contingent of Rapid Intervention Police and Military Police used teargas and batons to disperse a group that had gathered at the Largo de Maianga traffic intersection with the intention of marching to the Presidential Palace. Some of the protesters threw stones at the police. Some 50 war-widows also joined the protest, demanding the pensions that are owed to them. Another group marched towards the American Embassy before being stopped near the Alto das Cruzes cemetery, again by police using teargas and batons. The authorities also used mounted brigades, canine squadrons and water canons, among other anti-riot measures As a preventive measure, the presidential guard reinforced the security apparatus around the Presidential Palace and […]

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Multimillion-dollar Retirement in the FAA

During the course of this year, several army generals of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) will be demobilized, as part of a retirement scheme set in motion by the Commander-in-Chief, the president José Eduardo dos Santos. According to a source from the FAA General Staff, “this year alone 14 generals should be demobilised, and next year a further 20 will be retired”. Among the officers notified for retirement, the most prominent are general Rafael Sapilinha Sambalanga, Inspector-General of the Ministry of Defense; general Eduardo Martins, advisor to the Minister of Defense; general Fernando Araújo, former head of Weapons Procurement Main Directorate; general Aires Africano, head of Health Services of the General Staff; general António Filomeno Carvalho Pereira, former head of Special Forces of Central Command of Operations. According to the source, who prefers to remain anonymous, the Commander-in-Chief has stated the “ageing” of the officers to be demobilised and the […]

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