Africa-Press – Angola. The Oxford Economics consultancy firm said today that the detention of foreign politicians at Luanda airport, prevented from participating in a UNITA conference, was “shocking” and looks bad on the Angolan President, who also holds the presidency of the African Union.
“Reports of authorities blocking opposition figures from entering Angola and forcing them back onto planes to return to their home countries are shocking and are being widely circulated in their countries and on social media,” the analysts write in a commentary on the detention of international guests from opposition party UNITA at the airport, preventing them from attending a conference.
The government of João Lourenço, the President of Angola, “does not tolerate internal dissent and reports of government critics and opposition figures, even prominent ones like Costa Júnior, being harassed by security forces are not uncommon and are not always reported,” Oxford Economics writes.
In the comment, sent to clients and to which Lusa had access, the African department of the British Oxford Economics adds that “this incident looks bad on João Lourenço, who is also president of the African Union, but the regime seems to be less concerned about the bad publicity and more focused on the domestic precedent of allowing the opposition to hold a high-profile event with its international peers”.
On Thursday, Mozambican politician Venâncio Mondlane and the former Presidents of Colombia and Botswana were held up at 04 de Fevereiro airport in Luanda as they were preparing to take part in an international conference on democracy, a UNITA source said.
According to the deputy of the main Angolan opposition party Olívio Kilumbo, Venâncio Mondlane, the former President of Botswana Ian Khama and the former President of Colombia Andrés Pastrana were guests at the conference, organized with the Benthrust Foundation and which will take place in Benguela, in the south of Angola.
Speaking to Lusa, UNITA’s deputy secretary general, Lázaro Kakunha, highlighted that 13 of the 17 guests from abroad were being held back, stressing that Mondlane, among others, does not need a visa as he is a citizen of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) of Mozambique has applied the measure of identity and residence term to Venâncio Mondlane, in a process in which the politician is accused of inciting violence in post-election demonstrations, which prevents him from staying away from home for more than five days, and he must notify the authorities.
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