In Angola they feel prisoners political accused of any crime. They say that it is a democratic regime that it is in the middle of the joy of their functions. The democratic potencies close the eyes and they point that it is like this that it is good, that it is like this that it is made the stability in Africa. Here is the income of the terrorism of which Europe is not gotten to loosen. Who supports the corruption and their dictatorships, in the bottom it is also terrorist without the knowledge.

sexta-feira, 14 de setembro de 2012

NEWBORN DIES OF NEGLECT AT LUANDA HOSPITAL




http://makaangola.org
Groaning with labour pains, Florina Domingos writhed on the ground in the parking lot at the Augusto N’gangula Maternity and Paediatric Hospital in Luanda on the night of September 9.
Bystanders called for the medical team to come and attend to the woman in labour, who had been ordered out of the hospital waiting room by guards acting on the orders of the hospital staff. Her family members and other patients’ relatives also called frantically on the hospital personnel, who were ignoring calls for help.
Ms. Domingos’s sister-in-law, Flora Rosita, told Maka Angola that Florinda “was thrown out of the waiting room by the guards because the doctors said she was only permitted to enter the waiting room at midnight.”
Cândida Nimila, another sister-in-law, explained that the hospital staff had ordered that Ms. Domingos receive attention only at midnight. Pregnant of seven months, she had gone into labour prematurely.
Maka Angola can confirm that there were several unoccupied seats in the waiting room, and that most of the people inside were not patients.
At exactly 10:25 PM Ms. Domingos gave birth to a boy on the ground of the parking lot, between two parked ambulances, without medical assistance, and witnessed by guards, family members and Maka Angola’s journalist.
Only then did two bad-mannered and unrushed nurses arrive at the scene. On their way, they found time to instruct the guards and a policeman to expel from the hospital all those who had been trying to solicit help for Ms. Domingos and her newborn baby.
Only then did they give any attention to the new mother by cutting the umbilical cord.
One of the nurses took the newborn away, wrapped in a cloth belonging to his mother. The other nurse took Florinda Domingos by the hand and asked her to go inside the hospital, several metres away. There was no stretcher or wheelchair to take her. The family was left to clean the area where the child had been born.
The baby died in the incubator around 4:00 AM, according to the death certificate issued by the hospital. The family, who had spent the night at the hospital, was not informed until 10:00 AM. Cândida Nimila accused the medical team of hiding the truth. “This morning I had to keep insisting that they let us see the baby since that was the family’s right. Only then did they tell us the baby was dead,” Ms. Nimila said.
Hospital guards and the families of other patients told Maka Angola of corrupt practices that determine who is allowed into the waiting room and who has priority for treatment. Ms. Domingos’s family, who are poor and live in Boavista, managed to pay 2,000 kwanzas (US$20) to one of the nurses, but even this was not enough to secure a place in the waiting room.
“With no shame or anything, the nurse did not even give back the 2000 kwanzas after what happened,” Ms. Nimila said.
Meanwhile, according to official propaganda, “one of the main causes of death at the Augusto N’gangula Hospital is that women in labour arrive too late to receive help,” according to the state daily Jornal de Angola of June 4, 2012.
On August 10, health minister José Van-Dúnem reinaugurated the hospital after renovation work. The minister said: “We will continue to work so that all have access to decent health facilities, we are trying to eradicate child mortality in our country”. Florinda Domingos was thrown out of that same new hospital wing where there is a plaque next to the door to mark the reinauguration of the hospital by Mr. Van-Dúnem.
The cases recorded by Maka Angola, which will be reported at a later date, show a picture very different from that painted by the official propaganda.
The newborn boy, who was never named, was buried in Luanda’s Cemetery 14

ANGOLAN PRESIDENTIAL GUARDS ON TRIAL FOR ‘INSUBORDINATION’


http://makaangola.org/
Fourteen soldiers for the Central Protection and Security Unit (DCPS) in the Military Bureau of the Angolan Presidency are to stand trial in the Luanda Regional Military Court starting September 18, charged with the crime of “making collective demands” (exigência em grupo).
On September 7 last year, 224 soldiers from the unit in question signed a petition addressed to the commander of the Presidential Guard Unit (UGP), Lieutenant General Alfredo Tyaunda, complaining of poor working conditions and salaries. The soldiers sent copies of the petition to the Military Judicial Police, the Military Prosecutor and the Chief of Staff of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA).
The soldiers expressed dissatisfaction with the unequal salaries accorded to the different military units associated with the Presidency. They reminded General Tyaunda that they were not beggars but graduates of the fourth UGP training course in 2005, which the general himself had described as “the best course ever.”
The soldiers described “six years of hell” since taking the oath of allegiance. They earn on average 28,450 kwanzas (US$284.50) per month.
According to the soldiers, those sections of the presidential guard that are closest to José Eduardo dos Santos, such as his escorts, certain members of the UGP, and the Presidential Security Unit (USP), known as the Presidential Palace “jackals”, earn over 108,000 kwanzas (US$1080) per month. “While we, who also belong to the President of the Republic’s Support Services, are squashed like mosquitoes,” the petition reads.
In recent years, the main task of the DCPS has been to protect the infrastructure projects built by Chinese contractors in the context of the bilateral accords between Angola and China, which establish an oil-for-infrastructure deal between the two countries.
The presidential soldiers listed the projects that they are guarding, including the Luanda and Benguela railways, the Luanda and Bengo Special Economic Zones, Kilamba and other housing projects, and the new Luanda International Airport in Viana, as “proof that we do a lot of work without recognition.”
The document calls for order and justice, and claims that no other presidential guard in Africa is as disorganised as that of José Eduardo dos Santos. It points to acts of nepotism in the recruitment and promotion of soldiers, including “uniformed civilians”. It suggests that “uniformed civilians” are people without military training who are brought into the unit by corrupt practices. “And they [the uniformed civilians] still tell us that as long as your mother works in the kitchen, you will never go hungry,” the soldiers complain.
The document also refers to a monthly payment of US $100 that the so-called China-Africa company grants to presidential troops involved in national reconstruction projects. The soldiers say that at a certain point they stopped receiving this extra payment, and demand to know what happened to the money.
Another complaint concerns uniforms and provisions. The petition states that “uniforms arrive at the unit and disappear from the container without explanation,” and also that there are some barracks where the soldiers have to contribute to food costs from their own pockets.
The soldiers also say they are paid in cash and do not receive official payslips, so they have no idea how much they ought to be receiving. In the petition they ask the UGP finance department to clarify the procedures for the payment of salaries.
They ask General Tyaunda and his superiors “to free us from this wrongdoing and injustice” and end by saying that unless the problems are resolved “there will be no peace in our homes.”
Jail and Trial
Nine soldiers representing the whole group went to General Tyaunda’s office on September 7, 2011, to hand over their petition. They were arrested and immediately transferred to the Military Judicial Police post. The men, Augusto Magalhães de Carvalho, Eleito José Paulo Afonso, Félix Congadimwe, Francisco Tuhandeleni, José do Rosário Dedi, Kianguebene Heme João Víctor, Manuel Romão de Carvalho, Muhenawa Muefuanga and Tehecuhungana Lussati, were held for a week.
On September 14 the Luanda Regional Military Prosecutor’s office claimed that it lacked the facilities to keep the presidential guards in detention, owing to renovation work being performed on its prisons. It instructed the DCPS to keep the men confined to barracks “until the end of the preliminary instruction in their respective cases and to proceed swiftly with their presentation before the Military Tribunal.”
The nine men were joined by six others accused, according to Case Number 707/2011, of being the main instigators of the petition: Alberto Francisco Cabinda, Domingos Quixido Kambuta, Feliciano Cassule, José Marcolino Nhoca, Justo Leu Ubandula and Mário Domingos. The 15 soldiers were charged under the Law on Military Crimes (Law 4/94) with the crime of “making collective demands.” Article 25 of the law defines this crime as follows:
1. “Soldiers who make demands in a group in an unruly or mutinous manner shall be punished with a prison sentence of between 2 and 8 years.
2. Those who accept, provoke or direct actions defined in the previous item shall be punished with a prison sentence of between 2 and 12 years.”
Yet, at no time were the soldiers accused of causing any unruly act or riot.
Article 73 of the Angolan Constitution establishes the right to make a petition, denunciation, claim or complaint:
“All have the right to present, individually or collectively, to sovereign institutions or other authorities, petitions, denunciations, claims or complaints to defend their rights, the Constitution, the law or the general interest, as well as the right to be informed within a reasonable period on the result of the respective criticism.”
The Constitution does not exclude soldiers’ rights to present petitions in defense of their interest, nor does it absolve the President of the Republic from responding to the collective grievances of the soldiers who protect him.

quinta-feira, 6 de setembro de 2012

Spotlight. The latest press coverage on corruption, human rights abuses,


The latest press coverage on corruption, human rights abuses, violations of freedom of the press and socio-economic exclusion in Angola, every Wednesday on Maka Angola:
BBC: Angola: Promises temper election victory
September 5, 2012: Angola’s long-serving President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and his party, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), have enjoyed another thumping victory at the polls. But with a new mandate comes new responsibility, and while the opposition parties squabble over alleged fraud and irregularities, ordinary Angolans are waiting for campaign promises to be delivered in Africa’s third-largest economy.
Financial Times: Angola: power and petroleum
September 4, 2012: After 33 years in power, José Eduardo dos Santos has finally been elected president of Angola. Observers universally expected him to win last Friday’s polls. Many even predicted the questionably wide margin of victory. Nevertheless, the election has changed the war-scarred southern African petro-state. In the words of one long-serving Angola-watcher, “the fear barrier has been broken”. Neither the denunciations of a ruling party that has held power since independence in 1975, nor the thuggery of pro-regime militias, could deter the dissenting vanguard that has begun to challenge the status quo.
AP/Washington Post: 40 percent abstention at Angola elections blamed on cynicism, faulty electoral roll
September 4, 2012: Forty percent of voters abstained from casting ballots in Angola’s legislative elections, the electoral commission said of a shocking rate for Africa that some blamed on cynicism over the ruling party’s victory after 33 years in power. Others blamed faulty electoral rolls that included people who died a long time ago.
RFI: Angolan rapper Luaty Beirao’s hopes for change
August 30, 2012: Angolans go to the polls tomorrow for the second time since the end of the country’s civil war a decade ago. The nation has metamorphosed from one of the world’s most desolate places to a fast growing economy that sees itself as a regional player. In power for nearly 33 years, president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, with his ruling party, takes credit for guiding the country through the war and leading the peacetime boom. But many Angolans, especially youngsters, feel it’s time for change and for the ruling MPLA party to step down. RFI spoke to Angolan rapper Luaty Beirao, or Ikonoklasta as he’s known, about his hopes for change.
Al Jazeera: Angola’s ruling party wins general election
September 1, 2012: Angola President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’ nearly 33 years in power looks set to be extended after his ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) party took 74.46 per cent of votes in national elections, according to provisional results.


ICJ Condemns Abductions in Angola


The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) issued a press release on August 30 condemning the abduction of war veterans in Angola. You can download here a PDF of the press release or read it below:
JOHANNESBURG, 30 August 2012
THE ICJ CONDEMNS THE ABDUCTION OF WAR VETERANS IN ANGOLA
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) notes with concern reports of the alleged abduction of two war veterans, Messrs. António Alces Kamulingue and Isaias Sebastião Cassule, in Luanda, Angola on 27 and 29 May 2012, respectively by a group of men who were dressed in civilian clothing and who have been instrumental in the violent suppression of peaceful demonstrations in Angola. Though this group of men has been reported to the police, it would appear that this group acts with impunity. It is therefore feared that this group is associated with or acts with the acquiescence of the internal security police of Angola.
It is reported that the war veterans were preparing to participate in demonstrations calling upon the government of Angola to pay pensions and salaries owed to them. Furthermore, Messrs Kamulingue and Cassule were also reportedly participants in certain anti-government demonstrations that have been taking place in Luanda since March 2011 and which have been violently suppressed.
The constitution of Angola requires that the Republic of Angola as a state, be based on the rule of law and upholds the protection and promotion of human rights. The rights to freedom of assembly and expression are specifically guaranteed, along with compliance with international instruments, which guarantee these rights, of which Angola is a state party. Law enforcement agencies play an integral role in the protection of human rights and in taking action against human rights violators. Where law enforcement agencies neglect this critical duty, they contribute to the attack against the rule of law itself.
“People have the right to exercise their human rights and freedoms freely without intimidation, harassment or violent attacks against them. Members of society who boldly take on the role of human rights defenders are protected in terms of national, regional and international instruments”, commented Arnold Tsunga, Director of the ICJ Africa Regional Programme. “Enforced disappearances are a severe violation of human rights principles and are banned completely under international law where they constitute a continuing crime until resolved”, he continued.
The ICJ calls upon the government of Angola to urgently:
  • Release Messrs Kamulingue and Cassule, if indeed they are in the custody of the Angolan authorities;
  • Grant Messrs Kamulingue and Cassule access to legal counsel and their families in the event that the are charged with a recognizable criminal offence;
  • Ensure that the matter of the enforced disappearance of Messrs Kamulingue and Cassule is thoroughly investigated, in the event that they are not in the custody of the authorities;
  • Bring to justice those responsible for the abduction of Messrs Kamulingue and Cassule.
For further information, please contact the ICJ Arnold Tsunga at arnold.tsunga@icj.org or +27 73 131 8411 or +27 11 024 8268.  Director- ICJ Africa Regional Programme