About 15 000 people demonstrated at the weekend in Angola’s restive oil-rich Cabinda region to demand a truce between government forces and separatists fighting Luanda for about four decades.
Shouting ”We want peace”, the demonstrators on Sunday took to the streets of the Cabinda capital, which bears the same name as the northern enclave separated from the rest of Angola by the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The marchers included Reverend Casimir Kongo, a Roman Catholic priest who is a leading figure in the separatist movement in Cabinda, which holds the biggest oil reserves of the south-western African nation.
The march was organised by Mpalabanda, a local human rights organisation, and the Roman Catholic Church, which is a powerful force in the region.
Mpalabanda president Agostinho Chicaia asked Luanda and the separatist Cabinda Enclave Liberation Front (FLEC) to ”immediately declare an unconditional truce, lay down arms and start a sincere dialogue” on the future of the province.
Sunday’s march was the debut public event of Mpalabanda, which was set up earlier this year. Security forces suppressed a planned march in February to celebrate the group’s formation.
Angola, which emerged from 27 years of civil war in April 2002, has since become one of Africa’s largest oil producers.
The Cabinda enclave, home to about 120 000 people, has been the scene of unrest since the 1960s. — Sapa-AFP