In a statement released on Monday, the political leadership of the Cabinda State Liberation Front (FLEC) “vehemently condemned the violence perpetrated against the civilian population in Mbamba” and denounced “the scorched earth policy” which translates into “summary executions, arbitrary detentions and forced displacement of the population”.
According to the independence supporters, who accuse the government of “torturing populations”, these actions “aim to intimidate and collectively punish Cabindan families living around the villages of Mbamba, already affected by marginalization and impoverishment”.
The Lusa agency contacted the Ministry of National Defense and Veterans of the Homeland to obtain official confirmation of these actions, without receiving a response.
Last week, the General Staff of the Cabindan Armed Forces (FAC) announced the death of three European citizens in "intense clashes" between its fighters and the Angolan government army, which also reportedly caused the death of 18 Angolan soldiers and four were injured.
Contacted directly by Lusa from Lisbon, the spokesperson for FLEC-Cabindese Armed Forces, Jean Claude Nzita, said that the bodies of the European citizens were collected by the Angolan military and that fighting is still taking place in the Belize area.
The Ministry of Defense was questioned, but did not comment on these allegations.
FLEC-FAC has been demanding for several years the independence of the territory of Cabinda, a province in the north of the country, from where a large part of Angolan oil comes, evoking the Treaty of Simulambuco, of 1885, which designates that territorial part as a Portuguese protectorate.
