'Cops not liable for abuses'
2007-09-12 08:51
Johannesburg - Angola's police forces continue to violate human rights and are rarely held accountable by the authorities, says Amnesty International.
In a report entitled "Above the law - Police accountability in Angola", the London-based human rights group said it found a pattern in which police arrested, beat and illegally evicted Angolans from land between 2005 and 2007, with impunity.
It said that no investigations were carried out, no disciplinary proceedings followed and no suspects were brought to justice in almost all the cases documented in the report.
Muluka-Anne Miti, Amnesty's Angola researcher, said: "Due to the requirement of complete obedience in the Angolan police force, police officers often carry out orders without questioning the legality of their actions.
"This has resulted in officers participating in illegal actions, such as mass forced evictions and the beating of suspects and their families."
Amnesty alleged abuses were occurring despite the inclusion of human rights training in the curriculum of the Angolan National Police.
This highlighted an urgent need for the government to upgrade the quality and skills of officers, it said.
Angola's government, which was a collection of reformed Marxists and Western-leaning technocrats, had denied accusations made by Western-based human rights groups.
Many Angolan police officers received their training during a 27-year civil war after they were often called upon to serve in paramilitary operations in support of regular army units. The conflict ended in 2002.