EXTERNAL (for general distribution)AI Index: AFR 12/14/92

Distr: UA/SC

UA 318/92Extrajudicial executions14 October 1992

ANGOLA:João Maria Taty, 38, electricity company worker

Afonso Foumbo Mabiala, 31, paint company worker

João Bento, 30, a fisherman

and one other person (name unknown to Amnesty International)

Amnesty International has recently received reports that on 26 September 1992 government soldiers arrested, tortured and executed three people in Landana in central Cabinda, an Angolan enclave between the republics of Zaire and the Congo, and shot dead another two as they tried to escape. It has received a further report that government soldiers deliberately shot and killed one person and killed five others by firing indiscriminately on 10 October 1992 in Chinga district near Cabinda City in southern Cabinda.

João Maria Taty, Afonso Foumbo Mabiala and João Bento are said to have been arrested in Landana on 26 September 1992 after an attack on Landana military barracks by the Frente para a Libertação do Enclave de Cabinda/Forças Armadas de Cabinda (FLEC/FAC), one of the armed factions of FLEC which is fighting for the independence of Cabinda. The soldiers, apparently suspecting that the three men were supporters of FLEC/FAC, arrested them at the home of João Maria Taty and his cousin, Afonso Foumbo Mabiala, and then destroyed their adobe-built house. Two other people, João Lourenço, a 40-year-old catechist, and Pascoal Mazunga a 37-year-old oil company worker, were reportedly shot dead as they ran from the scene. The soldiers reportedly took the three prisoners to the military barracks in Landana where they beat and tortured them. Later that day the three men were said to have been taken, handcuffed and blindfolded, to a football stadium near the local cemetry in the Cacongo district and executed by firing squad. Scores of people from Landana are reported to have fled to Pointe Noire in the Congo and joined thousands of other Cabindan refugees there who are said to be desperately in need of food and shelter.

On Sunday 10 October 1992 government soldiers reportedly stopped the car of a man returning from a fishing expedition, ordered him to get out, then shot him dead and stole his car. On the same day soldiers are also reported to have killed five people by firing indiscriminately after the vehicle in which the soldiers had been travelling caught fire. Apparently the soldiers suspected that local people had been responsible for the blaze, although Cabindan separatist sources say that a can of petrol inside the soldiers' car had exploded.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Government soldiers stationed in Cabinda embarked on a wave of violence in early September 1992 in which at least nine people and possibly many more were killed. The violence began after FLEC killed two soldiers on 4 September 1992. It was fuelled by the soldiers' anger that they had not been demobilized, that they had been ordered not to attack FLEC positions, and that they had not received full rations or pay for several months.

The Cabindan separatist groups were not party to the agreement of May 1991 to end the war between the government and the União Nacional de Independência Total de Angola (UNITA), National Union for the Total Independence of Angola. Armed FLEC factions increased their attacks in the run-up to elections at the end of September 1992 and called for an election boycott. In recent weeks FLEC factions are reported to have killed a senior police officer and, during a general strike in protest at the elections, they are said to have killed at least two other people.

page 2 of UA 318/92...

Initial results of the elections at the end of September 1992 indicate a government victory but the announcement of the final result has been postponed to take account of UNITA's allegations of ballot-rigging and threats to resort to arms.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/telexes and airmail letters either in Portuguese or in your own language:

- expressing concern about the reported extrajudicial executions of João Maria Taty, Afonso Foumbo Mabiala and João Bento in Landana on 26 September 1992;

- inquiring on what grounds João Lourenço and Pascoal Mazunga were shot and killed as they appear not to have been armed and not to have been engaged in any life-threatening activities;

- expressing concern at reports that soldiers deliberately shot one person dead and killed five others by firing indiscriminately near Cabinda City on 10 October 1992;

- calling for a full judicial inquiry into the killings of João Maria Taty, Afonso Foumbo Mabiala and João Bento on 26 September so that those responsible may be brought to justice and the families of the victims compensated;

- expressing concern that, despite the efforts to control the soldiers following the violence in early September, further killings have occurred;

- urging that the authorities take prompt action to bring the unwarranted use of lethal force by soldiers in Cabinda to an end.

APPEALS TO:

If sending appeals after 10 November 1992 please address them simply to the President of the Republic, the Minister of Defence and the Provincial Governor, not referring to the names given below which may no longer be correct.

1) President of the Republic

Sua Excelência

José Eduardo dos Santos

Gabinete da Presidência da República

Palácio do Povo

Luanda

República de Angola

Telegrams:Presidente da Republica, Luanda, Angola

Telexes:3072 lugol an, or 3345 gab pres an

Salutation:Sua Excelência/Your Excellency

2) Minister of Defence

Sua Excelência

Pedro Maria Tonha "Pedalé"

Ministro da Defesa

Rua Silva Carvalho

Luanda

República de Angola

Telegrams:Ministro de Defesa, Luanda Angola

Telexes:3138 def an

Salutation:Excelência/Your Excellency

COPIES OF YOUR APPEALS TO:

Provincial Governor

Augusto da Silva Tomás

Governador Provincial de Cabinda

Gabinete do Governador Provincial de Cabinda

Cabinda

República de Angola

and to diplomatic representatives of Angola accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 25 November 1992.