Excessive use of force by police authorities, threats to press freedom and the impact of drought, with a consequent increase in hunger, are the main concerns that the international non-governmental organization (NGO) identified in its annual report on human rights.
"It does not come as a surprise, the facts narrated are public knowledge and the subject of many complaints from citizens and civil society organizations", he told Lusa Serra Bango, regarding the report.
"We have been following cases of police brutality in the last two years", said the leader, pointing out several demonstrations that ended in arbitrary deaths or arrests, the last of which was in Benguela during a UNITA demonstration, in which a young man was hit by a tear gas grenade to the chest and eventually died.
He also pointed out the recent case of two alleged criminals who were already disarmed and neutralized and were executed by an agent of the Criminal Investigation Service, and the deaths of detainees at the Cacuaco police station, allegedly due to a tea they were given to drink, occurred this month.
"We do not say that the police should allow insecurity to set in, but should act proportionately to the danger that is manifested in their actions against citizens, avoiding jeopardizing their physical integrity", he underlined.
The repetition of these occurrences, he considered, is related to "the political governance system, which is set up for this to happen in this way" and to the not always adequate training of agents.
Regarding press freedom, also addressed in the AI report that recalls the administrative suspension of three channels due to alleged irregularities, last year, Serra Bango defended that these could have been resolved "in due course and with a warning". He also recalled the "confiscation" of the media by the State in the context of asset recovery, "burdening the State's coffers" and blocking citizens' access to plural and impartial information.
"There is a climate of permanent censorship in the media by those in power who want to exercise control over the media. Just look at what is on television, we are in a phase of pure party political propaganda", criticized the NGO official. .
As for the impact of the drought on rural communities in the South, the president of the AJPD lamented the lack of answers to an equally cyclical problem.
"There have been no answers from the executive on how to deal with this phenomenon (drought and low rainfall)", he stressed, stating that the problem has dragged on, aggravated by abusive expropriations and diversion of communal lands from pastoralists, such as has been denounced by several organizations.
"It is necessary that the competent authorities design policies and projects that allow to mitigate these situations that are cyclical", he appealed.
