Angola's rights record questioned ahead of SADC moot

Activists are questioning Angola’s rights record as it hosts a regional summit.

Angola, a virtual one-party state, takes over the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at a two-day summit that opens on Wednesday. Political turmoil in Zimbabwe and Madagascar are on the summit agenda.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says Angolan immigration authorities barred two Mozambican journalists ahead of the summit.

Last week, leaders of regional religious, labour and human rights organisations said Angolan authorities had denied them entry upon arrival. The activists had planned meetings alongside the summit.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says the moves bring “into question Angola’s own record of freedom of political activity, free flow of information and right to expression”.—Sapa-AP