Tag: Demobilized soldiers

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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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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