Africa-Press – Angola. Security along the country’s borders will soon be strengthened, after the installation of new means and technological equipment, advanced yesterday in the city of Mbanza Kongo, province of Zaire, the national commander of the Border Guard Police, commissioner- chef José Domingos Moniz.
The commander, who provided the information during the audience granted to him by the governor of Zaire, Adriano Mendes de Carvalho, said that tracking illegal immigrants and smugglers along borders is one of the main objectives, because it constitutes a serious threat.
“Immigration and illegal trade, which involve borders, constitute a threat to States, whether in Angola, the USA, or any other country. This movement will continue as long as our country is a good place to live, as long as, still, it has a fragile punitive system and the control and inspection mechanisms, in general, do not work fully”, he said.
Chief commissioner José Domingos Moniz added that other reasons that boost peoples’ migration have to do with war, instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), drought and other conflicts of a cultural nature in North Africa, factors that lead the citizens of these countries to migrate in search of new life opportunities.
For this purpose, the high ranking of the National Police requested the collaboration of the competent authorities of the province, in the ongoing efforts for the installation of means and equipment, since Zaire is one of the main points used by illegal immigrants.
“Our borders, although they are protected, the level of coverage is still not ideal. That is why some points are used for attempts to enter illegally. However, there are means and technological equipment acquired by the Angolan State that are available, hence the need to ask your excellencies to embrace the effort for its installation”, he stressed.
To get an idea of border violations, chief commissioner José Domingos Moniz referred that last November there was a record of about 1,800 acts or attempts of illegal entry, smuggling of fuel and other goods, into the national territory, with the borders of provinces of Zaire and Lunda-Norte the most targeted.
“The province of Zaire recorded the highest volume of these acts, while to the south is the province of Cunene. The movement of people involved in these 1,800 attempts is more than eleven thousand individuals who tried to enter the country illegally, which gives an average of about 570 men trying, daily, to violate the national borders”, he said.
As for the actions of the Border Guard Police in the region, the chief commissioner revealed that the branch he directs managed to thwart, in the period in question, 99 percent of attempts to enter the country illegally, with those with more refined “modus operandi” canceled from the Loge Grande, in the territory of the province of Bengo.
“Immigrants pursue purposes such as the devastation of flora for charcoal production, poaching and other practices that harm the environment, in addition to fuel smuggling, while others seek at all costs to settle in the country’s capital to carry out its activities”, he said.
The November data, he stressed, reveal the great concern in relation to the need to enhance the National Police with means and technological equipment that will help human activity in border control, whose tracking capacity and range of action can help a lot to discourage the practice.
Visits to points considered critical, currently in Zaire, are part of the chief commissioner’s 48-hour work agenda, to study with local colleagues the best ways of improving alignment methods for prevention actions and cutting the constant attempts to border violation.
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