Human rights’ leader, Francisco Tonga, concerned by encroaching development 2009.

© Debra Percival

“We (Angolans) have not yet found ourselves”, says João Castro ‘Freedom’, Secretary General of the Liga Internacional da Defesa Dos Direitos Humanos E Ambiente Internacional (LIDDHA) set up in 1999. A look back at Angola’s history explains how lack of respect for citizens’ rights is the legacy of centuries of foreign influence in the country: nearly 500 years of Portuguese colonial rule with the demands of Angolans being rejected led to armed conflict. Subsequent conflict on Angolan soil, pitching East against West for domination of Africa during the Cold War, followed. One example of the lack of unity among groups in the country’s 18 provinces, he says, is in the fact that marriages are still disallowed between some ethnic groups. Since 2002, both peace and rapid economic development have lifted the country to a metaphorical level five, he says, but without going through levels one, two, three or four: “We are up there in the air and don’t know where to go.”

“Many people are not aware of their rights”, continues Simão Yakitenge Ngola Lutumba, President of Multisectoral para o Desenvolvimento Integral (CMDI); whether they be prisoners, women or poor. Meeting with us in Luanda in February, the human rights groups did say the situation has improved since the end of civil war seven years ago but each gave examples of rights being flouted. Salvador Freire Dos Santos of Mãos Livres explains the need for incidents such as summary killings by police [citing a particular case in December 2008 involving ‘bandits’] to be fully and impartially investigated. As for the right to information, although new titles are springing up, the government-financed newspaper, Jornal de Angola, and public TV still predominate. A lack of funding makes it difficult for independent media to survive and any independent local radio is unable to operate beyond a 60-kilometre radius, says Dos Santos. And independent information is especially lacking in the provinces. This vacuum means donors have stepped in, he says (see box).

Private dwellings at risk

YaKitenge, whose NGO works in health and education, says a recent report by his NGO found the highest incidence of poverty in Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul, provinces in North East Angola where people are prevented from working in fields because of diamond mining. Dialogue with government must be stepped up: “We must look at other ways of doing things”, he says. CMDI says that prisons built for 300 inmates house 1,800 prisoners and they are full of young people, many of whom are detained without trial. Francisco Tonga of the Conselho de Coordenaço dos Direitos Humanos/Angola, an umbrella of 25 NGOs furthering human rights, draws a direct link between a lack of respect for certain areas and the continued poverty of many Angolans. His NGO has received €80,000 from the European Development Fund (EDF) to inform citizens about their rights. Looking out from the rooftop of his office near the airport one issue faced by Angolans living in the poorer outskirts of Angola is driven home: huge commercial buildings encroaching on areas of private dwellings and some people having to move home to make way for the advancing economic boom. Tonga says that human rights groups should also have their say in the current Constitutional reform.

All the NGOs called for funds from government, private entities and the social fund set up by oil companies to be allocated in a more transparent way João Castro ‘Freedom’ said it was almost impossible for an Angolan NGO to tender for a project funded by the EU: “This is just not good enough in the Third Millennium”, he told us.

EU supports independent radio

The EC is putting in €800,000 of a €1.13M project to build on the objective reporting of Luanda’s popular and only politically independent radio station, ‘Radio Ecclesia’. The BBC World Service Trust will train journalists to increase reports that “cover the local democratic processes in a balanced objective and thought provoking way”. Programmes will feature the voices of non–state actors and local authorities with audience feedback. The project also plans for the station to be taken on the road with 20 out of studio events planned.

ANGOLA. 2002: Year One

Speedy growth after a protracted war

Diversification drive

EC aid goes from relief to capacity building

Communities get involved in managing water

Opposition challenges government’s strength in National Assembly - Interview with President of UNITA, Isaïas Samakuva

Angolans need to be more aware of their rights, say NGOs

Country of the Baobab

Angola finds its place in history

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