Angola sect killings hidden in mystery and fear

– The only traces of thousands of Angolan Christian sect members who were camped in the hills are burned out vehicles, shacks pocked with bullet holes and bloodstains in the soil.

The details of a police raid on April 16 in the remote hills of central Huambo province have been fiercely contested, sharpening the divide between the ruling MPLA and the main opposition party Unita, which fought on opposing sides in a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002.

The Angolan police said 13 “snipers” from “The Light of the World” sect were killed during a raid to capture leader Jose Kalupeteka, a popular anti-authority preacher who says the world will end on December 31.

Kalupeteka was arrested during the raid in the Sumi hills, 25km south of Caala in the central Angolan highlands, a Unita stronghold. He was paraded in front of the media in a yellow prison jumpsuit on Tuesday.

Police said the raid came after nine police officers were killed by the sect, an offshoot of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

President Eduardo dos Santos’ government accuses the group of mistreating its members by encouraging them to live in seclusion and defy Angola’s laws.

Unita and human rights activists say, however, that more than 1 000 civilians were killed by the police and military in a siege aimed at crushing a group that has defied the government.

Police commissioner Elias Livulu said only 13 were killed and anyone with evidence to the contrary should produce it.

The MPLA-led Huambo provincial government allowed no access to the hills for two weeks after the clashes, making it difficult to speak to any witnesses or sect members.

Residents estimate at least 3 000 members of the sect had gathered for a religious meeting before the police raid.

Local human rights activist Angelo Kapwatcha said that the raid involved hundreds of police and soldiers armed with machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, according to a military source he interviewed.

Unita said it wants an independent investigation, possibly by the United Nations. Huambo Provincial Governor Kundi Paihama said he had no plans to investigate the clashes. – Reuters

Mount Sumi