ICRC wants access to UNITA prisoners

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is discussing with the government access to security prisoners held in detention in the central highlands. The monitoring visits would enable ICRC to establish the conditions of the detainees, and to verify who was being held by the authorities, Anne Zeidan, ICRC deputy head of operations for central and southern Africa told IRIN on Wednesday.

The discussions with the government on access to the central highlands follows an ICRC visit to Catumbela military base near Lobito in the southwest of the country on 15 February. ICRC interviewed a group of 19 people that comprised both civilians and UNITA rebel fighters, and a number of people who had voluntarily surrendered to the authorities. Zeidan said the report of the visit was shared with the authorities who had proved cooperative.

"Obviously people are detained in Huambo prison and Kuito. To know who they are and how long they have stayed there is part of the reason for the [proposed] visit," she added. ICRC has run a series of training sessions in Angola with the military and police on international humanitarian law. "A special emphasis was placed on the respect due to civilians and their property, and on the protection to which wounded and captured enemy combatants are entitled," an ICRC statement said.