Angola sacks guilty police – The East African

The Angolan police department has sacked 127 officers in one year over various offences, state-owned Jornal de Angola confirmed.

The Jornal de Angola said that most of the victims were found guilty of corruption and human rights abuses.

Ten of the victims, the paper said further, were from Luanda Province.

The Jornal de Angola quoted police commander Paulo de Almeida, saying that more guilty officers would soon be offloaded.

“This is a move that we are not proud of, but we aim to have orderly and disciplined officers, accomplishing their obligations and duties,” he was further quoted.

The Angolan police force, founded in 1975, has often been accused of human rights abuses.

In September, the lobby group Human Rights Watch implicated the police in several cases of extrajudicial killings across the country.

Journalist and human rights activist Rafael Marques has also recently published a report implicating the Criminal Investigation Services (SIC) agents in dozens of executions.

In June, the Angolan police shot dead two alleged criminals in Luanda’s Benfica quarter, in an incident captured in a video by eyewitnesses that went viral on social media.

Interior ministry spokesman Simão Milagres last Friday promised to take action against the culpable SIC officers.