Six killed in Cabinda
2004-01-07 10:15
Luanda - Attacks by separatists and Angolan army troops in the Cabinda enclave between the two Congos left six dead at the end of 2003, the Roman Catholic radio station Ecclesia reported on Tuesday.
The station, citing witnesses and human rights activist Agostinho Chicaya, said two civilians died at Mikuma 2 village about 100km northeast of Cabinda town, as troops riposted to an attack by the Cabinda Enclave Liberation Front (FLEC).
The FLEC attack, on a road between the villages of Ntoko and Mikuma, had left one soldier dead and panicked civilians, the radio said.
Three men were killed in the nearby village of Kaiu 2 when an army special forces unit mounted an assault as a reprisal against a FLEC attack, it said.
The fighting took place around the last week of the year, the radio added.
Chicaya said a local pro-independence priest, Casimir Kongo, met the regional military commander, General Marques Banza, on Sunday in a bid to defuse tensions and arrange help for the wounded and displaced.
The activist showed the general photographs of what he said were atrocities committed by the army, prompting the commander to fly to the scene by helicopter for an on-the-spot investigation, the radio said.
"What is important now is restoring peace and allowing displaced villagers to return home," Chicaya said.
Angola emerged from 27 years of civil war in April 2002 and has since become Africa's third-largest oil producer, with US firms active in the Cabinda enclave, where separatists have been challenging Luanda's authority for 40 years.
President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said at the end of last year that he was in favour of "intensifying the dialogue" on Cabinda's status.