Following the resumption of armed conflict between the ruling MPLA (People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola) and UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), there has been an increase in the number of deliberate and arbitrary killings by both sides. This culiminated in the political killings between 31 October and 3 November 1992 in Luanda, known as the “Weekend War”, and on “Bloody Friday”, 22 January 1993, when suspected members of UNITA and members of the Bakongo and Ovimbundu ethnic groups were targeted for arbitrary arrest, “disappearance” and extrajudicial execution by police and armed civilians. Similar killings occurred in Benguela and Lubango. UNITA have also been responsible for killings in Benguela, Bie, Huila and Kwanza Sul provinces.
