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.
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