With some 5,000 families in Angola’s Lubango, Matala and Quipungo municipalities affected by housing demolitions since August, struggles continue to get the government to respect both legislation and its own public statements, writes Sylvia Croese.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/494/angola_tmb.jpgAs communities in Angola’s municipality of Matala and Quipungo face up to demolitions as part of the government’s ‘Operation Combat and Demolition of Shacks and Anarchic Constructions in the Municipality of Lubango’, civil society work by local groups has proven crucial in enabling families to prepare adequately and begin to organise, writes Sylvia Croese.

Government and civil society need to ensure that exploration in Angola’s diamond provinces brings greater benefit to the lives of the local populations, according to a new report about the country’s diamond sector, writes Sylvia Croese. Prepared by the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace, the report focuses on the growth of the sector from 2002 to 2009 and analyses the effects of the economic crisis, diamond legislation and the development of the diamond provinces of the country.

Angola’s independent press has played an important role in holding the country’s leadership to account, writes Sylvia Croese, but there are increasing fears that critical voices will be crowded out, after a group with suspected links to the government bought out three private newspapers. Angola’s media landscape is largely dominated by the state, which owns two national television stations, the national radio broadcaster, the daily national newspaper and the national press agency.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/475/63298_demolition_tmb.jpgSe… people are said to have been killed and 2,000 homes destroyed in a new wave of large-scale demolitions in the Angolan city Lubanga, as part of a government clearance programme to make way for public construction or infrastructure projects, writes Sylvia Croese. Local non-governmental organisations report that almost 3,000 families have been evicted and temporarily accommodated in schools and stadiums before being forcibly transferred to Tchavola, an area 9km outside of Lubango city centre, where they are expected to rebuild their lives. So far, only 700 tents have been distributed to provide temporary shelter for the families in Tchavola, where there is no basic sanitation and little access to electricity, food or blankets. A demonstration in solidarity with the victims of the demolitions was planned for 25 March.