In a statement published on the Brenthurst Foundation website, the Platform of African Democrats (PAD) stressed that its third meeting took place in Benguela on Friday, "despite all the efforts of the Angolan regime" to prevent it from taking place, pointing to "a systematic and cynical campaign to attack and undermine progress towards democracy and accountability in Africa by a regime that presents itself as a democracy".
The PAD, which describes itself as an "international consortium of democrats", including the Brenthurst Foundation – the entity that co-organised the event with UNITA – recalls that Angola was chosen because it currently presides over the African Union.
The event in Benguela, entitled "The Future of Democracy in Africa", aimed to discuss ways to promote "greater openness and democratic accountability in the face of rising authoritarianism", and invited a number of former heads of state and dignitaries, members of government and leaders of civil society and opposition parties.
Among those who travelled to Angola were Ian Khama, former President of Botswana, Moeketsi Majoro, former Prime Minister of Lesotho, Andrés Pastrana, former President of Colombia, and Othman Shariff, First Vice-President of Zanzibar, as well as Mozambican politician Venâncio Mondlane.
In the statement, signed by the guests and participants of the Benguela meeting, the PAD highlights that the regime responded to the meeting by refusing visas "for technical reasons" to several delegates, including those from Uganda (one of the guests was said to be opposition leader Bobi Wine).
Another 12 who had visas or were eligible for visas on arrival were held at the airport and deported before being allowed to enter, including guests from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Sudan.
According to the PAD, another group, including Khama, Majoro, Pastrana, Othman and 24 others, were detained at the airport for nine hours without explanation, and their passports were returned when it was too late to catch their scheduled flight to Benguela.
"The government claimed that it would compensate for these actions by providing transport to take the delegates to Benguela the following day. However, several vehicles 'broke down' on the way to the airport, they were given several different destinations and, in the end, no plane was made available," the PAD said in the same note.
The government has so far not provided any clarification on the incident.
For the PAD, these actions "point to a systematic and cynical campaign to attack and undermine progress towards democracy and accountability in Africa by a regime that presents itself as a democracy", since at no point were any explanations given for the detention or deportation of the participants in the conference.
"The true nature of the Angolan regime has been exposed", stresses the PAD, considering that the regime wanted to "humiliate and embarrass former African heads of government and those who wish to discuss democracy".
Therefore, the platform calls on "President Lourenço to make a public apology to the detained heads of state, the deported delegates and those who were persecuted by his regime's efforts to prevent the meeting".
