Christian Aid Partners Legally Challenged by Angolan Government

Two Christian Aid partners have been accused of illegal activities by Angolan Government officials, the relief agency reports.

SOS Habitat and the Association for Justice, Peace and Democracy (AJPD) are among seven human rights organisations publicly named as lawbreakers.

Christian Aid is reportedly "deeply concerned" by the accusations, and is calling on the European Union to take urgent action to protect these groups so that they can continue their vital work. The relief agency is worried that without international pressure, they may face legal action to shut down their activities.

On 10 July 2007, the Director of the Angolan government's Technical Unit for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (UTCAH), Mr Pedro Walipi Kalenga, claimed in a radio broadcast that certain national and international organisations working in Angola were violating the law and mobilising the population to oppose the government.

Mr Walipi went on to say the organisations were sponsored by opposition political parties, and were using human rights claims as a cover for illegal activities. He threatened that the cases would be investigated by the public prosecutor.

The seven organisations accused are Associação Justiça, Paz e Democracia (AJPD), SOS Habitat and Associação Mãos Livres, Open Society, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute and Search for Common Ground.

SOS Habitat protects poor people's housing rights by publicising and opposing illegal evictions. AJPD works to protect prisoners by denouncing prison beatings, police brutality and torture, and also promotes the rights of people living with HIV and other marginalised groups.

This is not the first time that SOS Habitat has been the target of the Angolan Government. In May 2006 Prime Minister Fernando Dias Dos Santos publicly accused SOS Habitat of inciting unrest.

"These organisations have a vital and legitimate role to play in building a fair and democratic society in Angola," says Maria do Rosario Advirta, Christian Aid's programme manager for Angola. "These accusations are totally baseless; they are simply intended to intimidate our partners and curb their legitimate activities."

Christian Aid and seven other international organisations have sent an open letter to Dr Luís Amado, the President of the Council of the European Union, asking that the EU pressures the Angolan Government to retract these accusations, and respect the right of human rights groups to work freely, without government interference.

The signatories to the letter are: Christian Aid, Amnesty International (AI), the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Front Line, Global Witness, the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO), the Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa (NiZA) and Oxfam Novib.

To date none of the organisations accused have been formally notified of any wrongdoing or informed of the legal basis for such accusations.