A British woman working for the London-based rights group Global Witness is being held by Angolan police in the province of Cabinda after being arrested at the weekend for spying, her lawyer said on Monday.
Sarah Wykes was detained on Saturday in the oil-rich northern province while she was meeting members of civil society organisations, lawyer David Mendes told Agence France-Presse.
”The authorities say that she was in possession of subversive documents … We do not believe that she had any document that could be considered as subversive,” Mendes added.
There was no immediate reaction from the national police spokesperson.
Wykes was on assignment for Global Witness, which campaigns against the corrupt exploitation of natural resources.
The Cabinda enclave produces more than half the oil that has made Angola sub-Saharan Africa’s second largest producer after Nigeria. But Cabindans say that none of the billions of dollars generated for Luanda’s coffers trickles down to them.
Unlike the rest of Angola, from which it is geographically separated by a narrow stretch of coastal Democratic Republic of Congo territory, Cabinda was a Portuguese protectorate and not a colony. Its residents feel closer linguistically and culturally to their Congolese neighbours and separatist movements have been active over the years.
Patrick Alley, a director of Global Witness, said there was still some confusion over whether Wykes had been formally charged.
”She was there with all the official documentation, quite openly,” he told AFP by telephone. ”It is a completely unjustified arrest and we think she should be released immediately.” ‒ Sapa-AFP