Eight men presented as officials of a hardline rebel movement in Angola’s oil-rich Cabinda enclave have reportedly surrendered to government troops, the Roman Catholic ‘Radio Ecclesia’ said on Wednesday. Angolan news reports quoted officials as saying the eight had surrendered “following contacts” undertaken by the Angolan intelligence services. FLEC-FAC is one of the most radical wings of the FLEC movement, which seeks independence for the territory of some 120,000 people, located 500 km north of the capital Luanda and geographically separate from the rest of Angola.
The province of 14,000 sq km lies between the two Congos and was placed under Angolan administration when Portuguese colonists withdrew from southern Africa in the mid-1970s. On Monday, tribal chiefs in the province called on the Luanda government to hold talks with FLEC, according to media in Cabinda.
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