Cabinda: Concern Rises as Luanda Pushes Through Peace Deal
Human rights organizations concerned that Angolan government pressure to enforce a peace agreement with Cabinda's secessionist movement may stoke political tensions.
JOHANNESBURG, 3 Oct 2006 (IRIN) - Human rights organizations have become increasingly concerned that Angolan government pressure to enforce a peace deal it brokered with oil-rich Cabinda's splintered secessionist movement may stoke political tensions.According to Vegard Bye, Head of the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) in the capital,
The Angolan government said it had been in discussions with Cabinda's secessionist movements since March, and in August signed a peace treaty with António Bento Bembe, a former leader of the Front for the Liberation of the enclave of
According to Virgilio Fontes Pereira, minister for territorial administration and co-signator of the agreement, "We have sealed the end of hostilities in the last territory still in war ... antagonism; political conspiracy and military confrontation now give place to frank and open dialogue." The president of
However, the deal has not been recognized by the majority of FDC and FLEC members. "There has been no understanding with the major part neither of FLEC, nor of the civilian dialogue movement [FDC]. The peace process did not make a serious effort to get everyone on board," the UN's Bye told IRIN.
In a reaction to the peace agreement, UNITA,
Raul Danda, a member of the FDC and head of
In an interview with IRIN last month, Danda maintained that Tiago [currently in exile in
Shortly after Mpalabanda was officially banned in July - it is appealing the decision - the Angolan military raided the NGO's headquarters and the home of its president, Agostinho Chicaia.
A demonstration by about 30 people against Bento Bembe and the detention of Danda, at which police fired into the air to disperse the protestors, were reported on Friday.
The peace accord was "denounced by all Cabindan factions," said Jonathan Levy, an international lawyer representing FLEC-FAC and "the
On Monday Levy filed "an urgent request for intervention" on behalf of FLEC-FAC with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), an African Union (AU) body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights throughout the continent, citing "an Angolan grab for disputed oil and mineral resources, and the growing threat of an all-out war."
According to Robert Eno, officer-in-charge at the ACHPR secretariat, "This is a very rare case because it concerns the right to resources, but these are rights that are covered in the AU's charter."
Eno said the request would be presented at the next ACHPR meeting in November, but warned that any outcome would not be legally binding. "We can make recommendations, request the [Angolan] government to investigate, and to engage in dialogue. This will depend on the goodwill of the government."
Levy said that since the agreement "
Cabinda, a sliver of land sandwiched between Congo Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo, produces 60 percent of
Separatists claim the enclave has its own distinct and separate history and culture, and was illegally occupied by the ruling MPLA government at independence in 1975. Cabinda is internationally recognized as part of
