Angola Should Stop Mass Deportations Of Congolese Refugees Over Reported Abuses - Watchdog

Fakhir Rizvi Published November 15, 2018 | 08:51 PM

Angolan authorities must stop the mass forced deportations of Congolese refugees and conduct an independent investigation into the alleged abuses being committed against these people by Angola's security forces, a prominent watchdog said in a statement on Thursday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2018) Angolan authorities must stop the mass forced deportations of Congolese refugees and conduct an independent investigation into the alleged abuses being committed against these people by Angola's security forces, a prominent watchdog said in a statement on Thursday.

Clashes between government forces and militia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) Kasai province, which borders Angola, erupted in 2016, resulting in the displacement of almost 1.5 million people a mass influx of refugees into Angola. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), more than 400,000 people were forced to return to the DRC in October 2018 following an Angolan security operation called Operation Transparency, which targeted illegal diamond mining in Angola's Lunda Norte province.

"The Angolan government should immediately suspend the deportation of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo and conduct a prompt and impartial investigation into alleged abuses by state security forces," HRW said in a statement.

Southern Africa Director at HRW Dewa Mavhinga stressed that migrant deportations must be carried out in accordance with international law and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.

According to the rights group, most people who have been deported have settled in the DRC's Kasai, Kasai Central, and Kwanga provinces with no means to return to where they originated from. The refugees who have crossed the Congolese border have accused Angolan security forces of mass human rights violations including physical assault, property damage, arbitrary detentions and others. The Angolan government has denied these accusations.