Angola to expel 400 illegals

2004-08-20 12:01

Luanda - Angolan police have rounded up 400 illegal workers, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, in northern Zaire province and plan to deport them, an official has said.

The province on Thursday joined Operation Diamond, a nationwide crackdown on foreigners who are in the country illegally and involved in diamond trafficking.

"We have received the order to round up foreigners who are here illegally, mostly in the border provinces, and who managed to evade arrest during the first phase of our operations against illegal migration in the country," deputy police commissioner Tito Monana was quoted as saying on national radio.

Angola announced earlier this month that it planned to resume a crackdown on suspected diamond and other traffickers that led to the expulsion of about 120 000 Congolese and 35 000 west Africans.

But United Nations agencies and human rights groups have said the anti-foreigner campaign launched in December has been carried out brutally, with women and children raped and forced to walk long distances without food or water.

The deputy police commissioner said that a consular official from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a Congolese immigration official would be on hand in the northern coastal town of Soyo to oversee the repatriation.

President Jose Eduardo dos Santos' government has defended the operation by calling it an "act of sovereignty in defence of the economy" of Angola, which depends on its diamond exports and oil for hard currency.

A former Portuguese colony, Angola is one of Africa's top oil and diamond producers. - AFP

- SAPA