"Katangese" rebels accused of banditry

In the prevailing lawlessness in Angola's countryside, "Katangese gendarmes" have been accused of ambushing vehicles and setting up roadblocks in Lunda Norte province.

According to a 9 January Voice of America report, the Katangese set up roadblocks on the 130 km Dundo-Lucapa road in the diamond-rich northern province and were charging passing motorists a toll fee. The newspaper reported that women had been harassed.

The Katangese are descendants of gendarmes from the former Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who rebelled and fled to Angola in the 1960s. They launched two strikes back into the then Zaire during the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko and were defeated only by the intervention of foreign forces.

Meanwhile, UNITA rebel activity also reportedly continued in Lunda Norte. Armed men burned three public transport vehicles at Luxilo, on the Dundo-Nzagi road in Lunda Norte, 80 km from Dundo. Four people were killed and several wounded in an incident that survivors blamed on UNITA, news reports said.

The UN World Food Programme said in its latest situation report that "heavy fighting" was reported between government troops and UNITA in the central province of Bie, some 35 km from Camacupa municipal headquarters. Clashes were also reported in Calussinga, 27 km south of the former UNITA military headquarters of Andulo, and in Cutato, some 20 km south of the town.