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The continuing economic crisis precipitated
popular discontent with the MPLA. Because
of the economic crisis, the government
adopted a development model for agri-
business mega projects, large-scale land
acquisition, and dispossession of rural
communities, which put community
livelihoods at risk.
Political intolerance was increasingly
normalized due, in part, to government
indifference to sectarian violence in Monte
Belo in Benguela province. Following the
signing in 2002 of the peace agreement
between the government and UNITA, the
area became an enclave of political conflict
with increasing polarization of and violence
between MPLA and UNITA supporters.
Monte Belo residents continued to suffer
persecution, violence, death threats,
intimidation and looting on grounds of
suspected allegiance to one or other of the
political parties. Despite public objections
from civil society, the government allowed a
culture of impunity and violent political
intolerance to develop.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
To silence critics, particularly journalists and
academics, the authorities used defamation
laws among others, restricting freedom of
expression and access to information. The
misuse of the justice system and other state
institutions in order to silence critics
remained commonplace. The “Press Law
Pack” of five bills was passed by Parliament
in January; it included Press Law, Journalist’s
Statute, Radio Broadcasting Law, Television
Law and Social Communications Regulatory
Body Law.
The laws contained provisions that
restricted freedom of expression, particularly
press freedoms, through a series of
prohibitive regulations on social
communication and by establishing a
communications regulatory body with
oversight competencies, including the power
to determine whether or not a given
communication met good journalistic
practices; this amounted to prior censorship
and hindrance of the free flow of ideas and
opinions.
The majority of the regulatory body’s
members were nominated by MPLA, the
party with the most seats in the National
Assembly, which caused concerns as to the
body’s independence and impartiality.
On 20 June, Rafael Marques de Morais,
investigative journalist and editor of the online
publication Maka Angola, and Mariano Brás
Lourenço, journalist and editor for O Crime
newspaper, were charged with “defamation
of a public authority” and causing “outrage to
a sovereign body” in relation to an article they
published questioning the acquisition of
public land by the General Public Prosecutor.
FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY
The authorities frequently refused to allow
peaceful demonstrations to take place, even
though prior authorization was not required in
law. When demonstrations did take place,
police often arbitrarily arrested, detained and
ill-treated peaceful protesters. However, no
investigations were initiated into the police
actions.
On 24 February, police violently repressed
two peaceful protests by the Angolan
Revolutionary Movement taking place
simultaneously in Luanda, the capital, and
Benguela. The protesters demanded the
resignation of Bornito de Sousa, Minister of
Territorial Administration, who was in charge
of electoral registration for the August
election and was also the MPLA’s vice-
presidential candidate; these roles were seen
as amounting to a conflict of interests and to
a violation of the electoral law. After
handcuffing and forcing the protesters to lie
down, the police beat them with batons.
On 24 June, security forces violently
dispersed a peaceful demonstration
organized by the Lunda-Tchokwe
Protectorate Movement, which campaigned
for autonomy for the eastern and
southeastern regions in Lunda Norte
province. Security forces used live
ammunition against demonstrators, killing a
bystander, and injuring 13 protesters. They
arrested 70 people; on 28 June, they were
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sentenced each to 45 days’ imprisonment
and a fine of 22,000 kwanzas (USD135).
Those who paid the fines had their sentences
suspended and were released immediately
while the others served their full prison terms.
The protesters were calling for, among other
things, an end to persecution and arbitrary
imprisonment of their members, and for the
release of political prisoners in Kakanda
Prison in Lunda Norte.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION
Repression of the right to freedom of
association persisted. The space in which
human rights defenders, political activists,
journalists, broadcasters and civil society
organizations could exercise their civil and
political rights was increasingly restricted. On
11 July, however, the Constitutional Court
struck down the NGO law which had
been passed by presidential decree No.
74/15 in 2015. The law had restricted the
legal framework within which NGOs could
operate, and empowered the Public
Prosecutor’s Office to suspend national and
international NGO activities on suspicion of
money laundering, or illegal or harmful acts
against “Angola’s sovereignty and integrity”.
The decree imposed burdens on civil society
organizations, including excessive
requirements and unwieldly procedures for
NGO registration; excessive control over NGO
activities; funding restrictions and sanctions.
UNFAIR TRIALS
On 25 September, six people, five of whom
had been held in prolonged pre-trial
detention for one year, were brought to trial
before Luanda Provincial Court on charges of
“organizing terrorism”. However, the trial was
adjourned the same day when the Public
Prosecutor failed to appear in court alleging
health reasons. The Court granted the
substitute prosecutor’s plea to be allowed
more time so that he could familiarize himself
with the case. Five of the accused remained
in detention while a sixth, the wife of one of
the detained, remained under house arrest at
the end of the year.
SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
In March, the government proposed an
amendment to legislation under the Penal
Code which would de-criminalize abortion in
cases where a woman’s pregnancy was the
result of rape, or when the pregnant woman’s
health was at risk. Parliament rejected the
proposal. The final parliamentary vote on the
legislation was scheduled for later the same
month, but was postponed indefinitely
following a public outcry against Parliament’s
rejection of the government’s proposal to
liberalize the abortion laws.
LAND DISPUTES
Ongoing land acquisition for business, mainly
in southern provinces of Cunene and Huíla,
continued to devastate local communities
who relied on the land for their livelihoods.
In April and May, the government of Huíla
presented its Transhumance Project, which
included plans to appropriate a water
fountain used by the community of Capela de
Santo António in the Kahila area of Gambos
municipality. Capela de Santo António is
home to 600 families who depended on the
fountain for drinking water, and for their
livestock and irrigation. The community was
not consulted over the plans and the
authorities did not conduct an environmental
impact assessment. The government of Huíla
remained determined to seize the
community's water fountain in violation of the
Constitution and laws including the Land Law
and the Environmental Law.
In June, it came to light that the Angolan
government had authorized the Agro-
Industrial Horizonte 2020 mega project to
appropriate 76,000 hectares of fertile land
without the free, prior and informed consent
of the affected communities. The land is in
the west of Ombadja municipality and the
south of Curoca municipality, both in Cunene
province. It is home to 39 communities of
2,129 families with 10,675 children who live
by the Cunene River. They have historically
relied on agriculture and livestock for their
livelihoods. By the end of the year, vegetation
on 15,000 hectares had been destroyed,
including trees used for food and firewood,