Cabindans seek international awareness of their case

Human rights abuses by government troops against civilians in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda are continuing, according to a new report issued by the province's main civil society organisation. The document, prepared by the Mpalapanda Civic Association (MCA), details around 70 alleged violations, including murder, rape, intimidation and illegal detentions committed against men, women and children between September 2003 and December 2004. "I wouldn't say things are getting worse, but they are certainly not changing for the better. The situation is still very, very bad," MCA spokesman, Raul Danda, told IRIN. Cabinda is the only Angolan region where armed conflict between government forces and secessionist groups persists. Separatists, who argue that they have a different identity and culture from Angola and should never have been lumped together with the mainland when Portugal granted Angola independence, have been waging a low-intensity struggle for self-determination since 1975. Observers have pointed out that the protracted struggle has been sharpened by the region's substantial oil deposits, which account for about 60 percent of Angola's oil revenues. Mpalapanda plans to use the report's findings, released to coincide with the 120th anniversary of the Simlambuco treaty, when Cabinda came under Portuguese protection, to muster the support of the international community as well as urge the government to sit down and discuss their case. Titled 'Cabinda, the Reign of Impunity', the study is the third to document alleged human rights abuses in the province since 2002. "We hope that this report will call the government's attention to what is going on in Cabinda, and make them understand that this is not the way that our problems should be solved," Danda said. "Instead of talking with guns, we want to talk with the mouth. We should sit down and see what Cabinda should look like, instead of killing people, and we want these talks to happen today, not tomorrow," he added. Father Raul Tati, a leading cleric and civil rights activist in the province, said he had hoped the merger of separatist factions last year would have signalled the authorities that the secessionists were serious about negotiations. In the past the Luanda government has claimed that because of the fragmentation, there was no valid interlocutor with which it could negotiate. "The rebels have said that they are prepared to talk, but the government has not responded to that request. The province remains militarised and insecurity is still prevailing," Tati told IRIN. On a recent visit to Cabinda the UN Special Representative for Human Rights Defenders, Hina Jilani, voiced concern over the high number of government troops in the enclave, commenting that human rights violations continued to occur because of the close proximity of the military to civilian populations. Despite the oil wealth, the people remain desperately poor and many see the commodity as a curse that has scotched their chances of autonomy. On Sunday around 50,000 of the province's 300,000 Cabindans held a peaceful march to commemorate the anniversary of the treaty and protest against the ongoing human rights violations. Mpalapanda, formed last March with the aim of solving the crisis, also intends to launch an appeal to the African Union in the next few weeks, and has urged the international community to be sensitive to their case. "The international community must realise that people are suffering; every day people are being killed; people are being put in jail," Danda said. "We want them to help Cabinda solve this situation."