Angola Dehumanises African Migrants

Angolan police are among the worst human right abusers of migrants from other African countries, Kairo News was told.

In a recent spate of arrests and brutalities, Angolan police rounded up Gambians, Senegalese, Guineans, Malians, Nigerians and other Africans in an anti-immigration crackdown.

The police are accused of operating a sophisticated network of unlawful seizure of money, properties and personal belongings of foreigners. Angolan authorities are also accused of refusing to regularise migrants, thus denying them the right to live and work in the southern African country legally. Migrants can be stopped any time and arrested for immigration offences which lead to other related abuses.

Prisoners are piled together in single overcrowded cells waiting for relatives to bail them out with hundreds of dollars.

Gambians are among the many migrants engaged in trade and commerce in Angola. Some Gambians became so rich that they are now counted among the major importers of goods into Angola. But this success, borne out of hard work and risk taking, has been envied by Angolan citizens who have instigated the police to crack down on foreigners on the pretext that “these foreigners are becoming rich at the expense of the natives.”

The majority of Gambians who can neither read nor write have immigrated to Angola, in search of commerce, work or other greener pastures. These Gambians are so rich that they think the narrow Gambian economy cannot accommodate their type of investment.

Kairo News will do its utmost best to engage the Gambia’s diplomatic mission in Angola for not doing enough to protect well accomplished Gambians in the country from inhumane treatment.

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