May 21
AuthorANN
Staff Writer
The
government of Angola suffered another serious blow to its credibility yesterday
as photographic evidence of the massacre of hundreds of followers of the
"Seventh Day Light of the World" religious group at the hands of the
Angolan National Police was presented to the public.
Yesterday,
Angola News Network obtained and published a video, believed to be taken by a
member of an Angolan National Police unit, showing blood-soaked dead bodies of
the victims and the devastation left behind by a police raid on the compound of
a Christian church group led by Jose Kalupeteka who is now in police custody.
The video
shows hundreds of members of the church group signing, praying and performing
baptisms in a small body of water and quickly transitions to a group of police
officers checking dead bodies and the empty makeshift homes of the church group
members who had been encamped on the hills outside of Huambo before the police
opened fire with military-style assault rifles, and belt-fed, high-powered
machine guns.
One police
officer in the video is seen beating one victim's lifeless body with a club to
make sure it was dead. Another police
officer is seen walking among the dead bodies and burned-out homes with his
belt-fed machine gun. The police
officers on the video are heard complaining that they are tired from shooting
their weapons and setting fires all day.
Last
weekend, Angolan government took the highly-unusual and ill-advised tack of
issuing a direct challenge to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights (UNHCR) concerning the massacre.
On Saturday, the government of Angola demanded an apology from the
United Nations following concerns expressed by the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) that Angolan police murdered members of
the church group. Last week, a spokesman for the UNHCR called for “a truly
meaningful, independent, thorough investigation” into reports of a massacre of
members of the Light of the World Seventh Day Church by the Angolan National
Police in April.
In the
prepared statement released on Saturday, the Angolan government said it regrets
that “the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, an organ that promotes and
protects human rights in the world, in relation to this case, has adopted a
position of stirring speculations which are susceptible of threatening the
Angolan state’s peace and security.”
“Thus, the
Angolan government, on behalf of all its citizens, appeals to the UN High
Commissioner to present evidences of its statements or retract by presenting
official apologies,” said the statement.
It said the
Angolan government deemed the statements by the UNHCR “groundless, devoid of
any evidence and fuelled with false and irresponsible accusations” and made
with the “intention of defaming not just the Angolan institutions but also of
its citizens.”
“We find it
difficult to believe that over one thousand people were killed and buried in
one night, without leaving any traces.”
However, it
now appears that at least video traces were left.
The Angolan
government has cordoned-off the area around Sumé Hill in the central Huambo
Province where many of the killings took place and no independent investigators
or journalists have been allowed to visit the area. The Angolan government says the events are
being investigated by the Angolan Attorney General's office.
The release
of the video undercuts the goverrnment's claims of that only a small number of
members of the church group were killed by the police and also puts to rest any
claim by the Angolan government that no evidence exists to support the claims
of eyewitnesses that perhaps more than a large number of members of the
religious group were killed.
The release
of the video has energized international human rights groups and others who
plan to intensify pressure on the Angolan government until all of the facts are
revealed and those responsible are brought to justice.
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