Angola to resume crackdown on suspected diamond traffickers

LUANDA – Angolan police plan to resume a crackdown on suspected diamond and other traffickers that led to the expulsion of some 120 000 Congolese and 35 000 west Africans, a senior police official said.

“I am satisfied with the results of the first stage of Operation Diamond and in the coming weeks, the results will be even better,” deputy police commander Paulo Gaspar de Almeida said late Sunday on Angolan public television TPA. Angola agreed to a 45-day moratorium on the expulsions at the end of May after Democratic Republic of Congo complained that it was unable to cope with the influx that peaked in April.”The moratorium applied only to the DRC and once it is expired, all of the Congolese diamond traffickers will be expelled from Angola,” said the police commander.The expulsions peaked in early April with a daily influx of about 2 500 people into regions of DRC where water, food and housing are scarce, according to UN relief officials.The UN humanitarian affairs bureau said that women and young girls were raped during the crackdown that the Angolan government said was to put an end to diamond trafficking and other “activities deemed harmful to the Angolan economy.”Angolan police and the army have expelled 120 000 Congolese and 3 500 west Africans since December in the operation that focused on the provinces of Bie, northern and southern Lunda, Malange and southern Kuanza.A former Portuguese colony, Angola is one of Africa’s top oil and diamond producers.-Nampa-AFPAngola agreed to a 45-day moratorium on the expulsions at the end of May after Democratic Republic of Congo complained that it was unable to cope with the influx that peaked in April.”The moratorium applied only to the DRC and once it is expired, all of the Congolese diamond traffickers will be expelled from Angola,” said the police commander.The expulsions peaked in early April with a daily influx of about 2 500 people into regions of DRC where water, food and housing are scarce, according to UN relief officials.The UN humanitarian affairs bureau said that women and young girls were raped during the crackdown that the Angolan government said was to put an end to diamond trafficking and other “activities deemed harmful to the Angolan economy.”Angolan police and the army have expelled 120 000 Congolese and 3 500 west Africans since December in the operation that focused on the provinces of Bie, northern and southern Lunda, Malange and southern Kuanza.A former Portuguese colony, Angola is one of Africa’s top oil and diamond producers.-Nampa-AFP