According to a statement from the provincial government of Huíla, which VerAngola had access, the commission also handed over the death certificates to the relatives, whose funerals are held this Saturday in Indungo.
João Ernesto dos Santos "Liberdade", National Defense Minister, Old Fighters and Veterans of the Fatherland, presided over the ceremony, which was also attended by the governor of Huíla, Nuno Mahapi, as well as the Secretary of State for Social Communication, Nuno Caldas, among others.
On the occasion, the provincial governor considered that this act is assumed as a "recognition of the memory of those who contributed to the construction" of the province.
"This act is a recognition of the memory of those who contributed to the construction of our province, whose lives, sacrifices and the stories of those who came before us, were fundamental part of our trajectory," he pointed out, cited in a provincial government note.
Nuno Mahapi also said that for that reason the bones returned "to earth symbolize, not only the return to their ancestral homes," but also "commitment to justice and truth."
The National Defense minister also spoke under the act which took place in the city of Lubango. "We recall the tragic episode that took place on September 4, 1977, in which the determination and bravery of the inhabitants of the village of Indungo were put to the test, who, in the context of the post-independence civil war, engaged in a fierce confrontation with the troops of the former FALA, resulting in the death of more than three dozen inhabitants, including women and children", he highlighted, quoted by Jornal de Angola.
According to João Ernesto dos Santos "Liberdade", the circumstances at that time meant that the victims were buried in mass graves, "but the African culture of which we are a part reserves a specific treatment for the dead and a moral duty to give dignified burials to those who leave us".
The minister also reported that some relatives and residents of Indungo asked CIVICOP to obtain the State's support in the search for and identification of the remains, adding: "Considering the aforementioned act as a way of drying the tears for the bitterness experienced at the time, the request was granted and the commission's subcommittees carried out the arduous task of locating and exhuming the bodies, in which several laboratory tests were necessary for due confirmation".
According to the Minister of National Defence, Former Combatants and Veterans, the results made it possible to effectively identify the remains now handed over.
"The act allows families to be more at peace and their spirits at peace, as they have the opportunity to bury their loved ones with dignity", he said, quoted by Jornal de Angola.
Among other aspects, he considered that "the country has developed an action that does not divide society, nor reopens the wounds of the past".
"So we reiterate the appeal that has been made, which is time to embrace and forgive each Angolan, and here the priority must be the construction of peace and forgiveness, including the construction of a new course based on concord," he added.
"The other families who wish to find the remains of their relatives who died as a result of the past conflict, should go to the central forensics laboratories for this purpose", he also said, quoted by Jornal de Angola.
