Africa-Press – Angola. The Cabinda independence movement accused the Angolan Armed Forces of killing three civilians in the Belize region, on suspicion of supporting the Cabindan Armed Forces.
In a statement released, the political leadership of the Cabinda State Liberation Front (FLEC) “vehemently condemned the violence perpetrated against the civilian population in Mbamba” and denounced “the scorched earth policy” which translates into “summary executions, arbitrary arrests and forced displacement of the population”.
According to the independence supporters, who accuse the government of “torturing the population”, these actions “aim to intimidate and collectively punish the Cabindan families living around the villages of Mbamba, already affected by marginalization and impoverishment”. The Lusa news agency contacted the Ministry of National Defense and Veterans of the Homeland to obtain official confirmation of these actions, but received no response.
Last week, the General Staff of the Cabinda Armed Forces (FAC) announced the death of three European citizens in “intense clashes” between its fighters and the Angolan government army, which also caused the death of 18 Angolan soldiers and four were injured.
Contacted directly by Lusa from Lisbon, FLEC-Cabindese Armed Forces spokesperson Jean Claude Nzita said that the bodies of the European citizens were collected by the Angolan military and that fighting is still taking place in the Belize area. The Angolan Ministry of Defense was questioned, but did not comment on these allegations.
For several years, FLEC-FAC has been demanding the independence of the territory of Cabinda, a province in northern Angola, from where a large part of the country’s oil comes, invoking the Treaty of Simulambuco, of 1885, which designates that territorial part as a Portuguese protectorate.
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