Angolans protest against government
…Says Angolan people are dying of hunger, children are malnourished and eating from the bins
On Saturday, several thousand Angolan opposition supporters staged a protest in Luanda, the capital, marking the first major demonstration since the contentious 2022 vote.
Closely monitored by law enforcement, roughly 4,000 people participated in a peaceful march, brandishing banners that denounced the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and President Joao Lourenco, according to an AFP journalist.
The protest was spearheaded by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola party (UNITA), whose popularity has surged in recent years.
UNITA contested its defeat in the 2022 election and disputed the outcome in court, but the country’s highest court dismissed the petition.
“A banner at Saturday’s march said, “Lourenco leave”, while others stated, “people are dying of hunger” and called the government a “dictatorship”.
Numerous marchers wore the opposition’s red and green colours as they traversed the streets under the watchful eye of police, including mounted officers.
Since 2017, Lourenco has governed Africa’s second-biggest oil producer and has repeatedly been accused of authoritarian tendencies by opposition forces.
“Angolan people are dying of hunger, children are malnourished and eating from the bins, all the while our country is rich in resources,” he added.
A catastrophic drought has struck southern Africa, destroying crops and putting millions of people at risk of hunger, according to a UN warning.
