Government troops strike in Cabinda

Angola has launched a military strike deep into the northern province of Cabinda, chasing rebels holding eight Portuguese hostages, Reuters quoted church-run radio as reporting on Wednesday. “Since the kidnapping of the Portuguese citizens I can say there’s been a lot of tension in Cabinda,” Catholic priest Casimiro Congo told Radio Ecclesia. He said Angola had mobilised a “massive concentration” of troops stationed within the oil-rich Cabinda enclave and the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, adding that the troops were pooled in the village of Mbumbutu.

“I believe the aim of the army is to attack or penetrate as far as Talibeque, Prata and Talicu,” he said. The attacks have driven local people off the land and away from tending crops and gathering food, the radio said. Earlier news reports said at least 2,000 people had been displaced by fighting.

In a separate report by Portuguese radio monitored by the BBC, the vicar of Cabinda, Raul Tati, said the hostages “are in good health”, though psychologically “they have naturally been slightly affected”. He added they “are innocent victims” and said the separatists “only wanted to show the world, by these actions, the extent of the problems they are facing in the enclave”.

The rebel group Cabinda Enclave Liberation Front-Renewed (FLEC-R) claimed responsibility for abducting five Portuguese construction workers and their Angolan driver three weeks ago from the city of Cabinda. Three other Portuguese have been held since last May by the splinter Cabinda Enclave Liberation Front/Cabinda Armed Forces (FLEC-FAC). Meanwhile, General Armando Martins of the Portuguese embassy in Luanda on Wednesday denied news reports that Portugal would launch troops on a hostage rescue mission.