Human Rights Watch documents abuses by both sides

[This IRIN report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations] In its latest report 'Angola Unravels: The rise and fall of the Lusaka peace process', Human Rights Watch (HRW) has documented human rights abuses committed by both sides in the Angolan conflict. The UNITA rebel movement According to HRW the UNITA rebel movement has maintained "tight control" over people living in areas that it controls. It said UNITA has continued with arbitrary killings, threats, forced conscription and forced sexual services by civilians. The 205-page report says that one new form of abuse that has emerged it that of mutilations. It said that mutilations have not been common in the Angolan conflict, but last year the organisation received a number of reports documenting this practice. "All mutilations have a clear political message: these practices were not gratuitous or as the result of intoxication or poor discipline," said the report. According to HRW, children have become the frequent targets of brutal and indiscriminate acts of violence by UNITA. It said that children had been murdered, beaten, raped, enslaved for sexual purposes, forced to work and become UNITA soldiers. The report quotes a government soldier as saying that he was "shocked" to find child soldiers firing AK-47's at him in December last year. He said that the children appeared to be "well trained and motivated." HRW documents the case of a 15-year-old boy, who along with six school friends was abducted by UNITA near Lubango in late 1997. The group was told that they were being taken for military training. According to HRW the boys were chained and locked up. When a few of the boys tried to escape they were axed to death as a lesson to other boys. The 15-year-old eventually managed to escape to Zambia, where he is living with distant family in a refugee camp. The report said that women and young girls have become the primary targets of "widespread rape, sexual slavery, and other forms of sexual violence." It added that these forms of sexual violence were often accompanied by violence in general. It said that many have been forced to work for UNITA as porters and witness their children being abducted and abused. "UNITA's rape and enslavement of women and girls for sex is not only a vicious expression of power over the individual, but also a means of expressing dominance over the community and acts as a reward system for UNITA soldiers and commanders," the report noted. Government abuses According to HRW, in 1998 a pattern developed of "heavy-handed" action by government forces in areas that had been restored to Angolan government control. "Although some of this abuse was committed by poorly and irregularly paid rogue elements of the security forces, a number of attacks appeared to have been carried out under superior orders." HRW said that one of the cases it investigated occurred in the area of Kikolo in Luanda, where the police said tat they were conducting "a police operation". The police said that four people were killed, but according to HRW at least seven people died and a number of people also disappeared. HRW added that government troops often behaved like an occupying army, with HRW receiving reports that suspected UNITA sympathisers were executed during forced recruitment campaigns. It said that between June and August last year the government conscripted males between the ages of 15 and 34, and soldiers were often sent to the remote regions to round-up unemployed teenagers and send them for military training. "Those who could prove that they had jobs usually were released, and those with financial means could buy their way out of the military," said the report. HRW said that the government's inability or unwillingness to pay its army had often resulted in widespread extortion and theft. It said that government personnel often confiscated food, including donated relief supplies, livestock and personal property, "often after forcibly depopulating areas and robbing the displaced persons."