Angola: ‘This is not North Korea’
A proposed new law would turn citizens into ‘patriotic’ security state snitches.
Borralho Ndomba in Luanda
The Angolan government plans to introduce a new national security law have been roundly condemned by opposition parties and human rights activists alike, who warn that it will entrench authoritarianism.
The Bill, which was passed by the National Assembly in January, still requires assent from President João Lourenço. It gives sweeping new powers to security services to search homes and businesses without a warrant, surveil public places and shut down telecommunications. It also requires citizens to exercise their “patriotic and civic” duty to inform on anyone who poses a threat to national security – offering full immunity for doing so.
“Expunge from the law those aspects of denouncing anyone,” opposition leader Adalberto Costa Júnior told The Continent. “Remove from the law the control of the internet.”
Guilherme Neves, president of the Mãos Livres Association, a human rights group, said that the proposed measures would turn Angola into a totalitarian state. “The people will not allow Angola to become North Korea.”
Francisco Furtado, the minister of state who introduced the controversial bill, says that the new law is necessary because Angola’s current national security law does not conform with the Constitution.
Angola has been ruled by the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola since independence in 1974. It was narrowly re-elected in 2022, in a result that was rejected by the opposition, which alleged widespread discrepancies.