An armed
attack on a prison in the north-eastern Angolan province of Lunda-Sul which
resulted in the deaths of at least five people, has been blamed on a misguided
attempt to free a self-styled independence leader. Responsibility for the
attack is said to lie with a man calling himself “Commander Thunderclap” (*see
below) who says it is the opening salvo in a liberation war for the
independence of the Lundas.
The diamond-rich
region comprises twin provinces – North Lunda (Norte) and South Lunda (Sul), largely
inhabited by descendants of the Tchokwe nation.
It is no stranger to separatism.
Local communities have long displayed discontent with Angola’s central
government. While politicians, generals
and foreign interests have carved out immense fortunes over decades, the lot of
local people has not improved since colonial times, leading to simmering
resentment and a growing appetite for self-rule.
Zero tolerance for separatism
The Angolan
authorities are notorious for suppressing separatists. Ten years ago, they briefly detained more
than 270 people across Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul, simply on suspicion of
belonging to a movement called the Comissão do
Manifesto Jurídico e Sociológico do Protectorado da Lunda-Tchokwé (the Lunda-Tchokwe Protectorate Sociological and Juridical Manifesto
Commission). Its leader, José Filipe
Malakito, spent the next two years in jail for having dared call for
independence for the Lundas. Thirty-seven of his colleagues were also detained
for lengthy periods.
Numerous instances of arbitrary
detention for political reasons in the intervening years have only added to the
simmering anger.
After Malakito was removed from
circulation, another group appeared, the Movimento do Protectorado
Lunda-Tchokwé (Lunda-Tchokwe Protectorate Movement) which staged peaceful
street protests calling for autonomy. Whenever MPLT supporters gathered, the
Armed Forces would crack down on them.
Two years ago, more than half the 80 identified members of the MPLT
arrested during a meeting on May 24, 2017 were found guilty of disorderly
assembly by a provincial court. They
were accused of waving firearms at their meeting but their leader, José
Zecamutchima, decried
the verdict as a farce saying that
the protestors were peacefully holding up their ID cards when they were
arrested en masse.
‘Thunderclap’
At the
beginning of this year, a lowly petrol pump attendant, petty criminal and
part-time amateur rap artist who had once served in the armed forces, appeared
on social media calling himself the “military commander” of the Lunda-Tchokwe
separatists and nominating October 30 as the start of armed rebellion against
the central government in Luanda. It
earned “Commander Thunderclap” a spell in a Saurimo jail.
However, come
October 30, an attack was mounted. The
target was Luzia Jail, outside Saurimo. The police report said five of
the attackers died “in the attempt to free an un-named detainee”. One of their number was gravely injured and a
further 18 were arrested while three prison guards also suffered injuries. The report said these “persons unknown” were
armed with at least one AK rifle, machetes and spears.
With 18
people in custody, the police ought to have some clue as to their identity (as
should local lawyers as Angolan law gives detainees the right to legal
representation).
The fact is
the police were being coy.
Maka Angola has learned that the young men who risked (and in at least five cases, lost) their lives were acolytes attempting to free the 30 year-old pump attendant who calls himself “Commander Thunderclap”.
In a message allegedly smuggled out from his cell,
‘Thunderclap’ introduces himself as the founder and leader of a group he calls
the ‘Revolutionary Front for the Integration and Sociological Independence of
Lunda-Tchokwe’ (Frente Revolucionária para a
Independência Sociológica e Integridade da Lunda-Tchokwé, FRISILT),
saying that though physically detained, spiritually he remains free and
concerned only with liberating his people.
His Facebook page shows the “Commander” in profile,
dressed in camouflage and holding a Kalashnikov (AK) aloft and for more than a
year he has been posting calls for an armed uprising for the Lundas to secede
from Angola. However, it appears that
no-one took him seriously nor believed him capable of mobilizing others to
emulate the actions of those Angolan heroes who kicked off the fight for
national liberation on February 4, 1961 by attacking a jail armed with little
more than machetes.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Farce, or serious threat to Angolan unity?
José Zecamutchima, who led the MPLT, told Maka
Angola he knows some of those involved and tried to talk them out of doing
anything violent but was insulted as “past his sell-by date”.
“Trovoada [Thunderclap] was a conscript who deserted
from the Angolan Armed Forces while stationed in Cabinda,” José Zecamutchima
told us. “He spent six months in jail in 2017 for armed
robbery against stores owned by West Africans and pretty much as soon as he got
out, he began talking about starting a war.”
Zecamutchima says there were about 30 in all involved
in the attack on Luzia jail and their only weapons were machetes. From what he has heard he believes eight
young men died and another is in a serious condition
In addition to open letters
to the Angolan and Portuguese Presidents calling for the return of pre-colonial
lands to Tchokwe sovereignty, ‘Commander Thunderclap’ posted repeated threats on
his Facebook page that a violent uprising would begin on October 30. A few
dozen of his social media followers who commented on those posts also openly expressed
their support for his “war”. They
weren’t the only ones who took note.
At the end of August, ‘Thunderclap’
revealed he was under investigation by Angola’s Criminal Investigation Service (Serviço
de Investigação Criminal, SIC) and had been briefly detained. That did not deter him. On September 8, he published a warning that
any armed soldiers and police officers would be considered fair game and would
be killed, mercilessly.
His public threats and appeal for a war to start on
October 30 are incriminating in themselves:
an attempt to incite armed insurrection, further supported by the fact
that his supporters launched their attack to free him on that very day.
This whole farrago may seem a storm in a teacup. But the fact is that the “Thunderclap Affair”
is further evidence of regional tensions in Angola that the central government
may be taking too lightly.
One Angolan
Armed Forces General, speaking to Maka Angola on condition of anonymity,
says they have seen a sharp increase in those calling for armed uprising in the
Lundas over the past ten years.
“There’s a
similar level of discontent along many frontier provinces”, the General
says. “But unlike Cabinda, Cunene and
the Dembos (Bengo), we have seen nothing to compare with the situation in the
Lundas.”
He
acknowledges that the lack of any benefit to local communities from the
extraction of mineral riches, along with political neglect and social exclusion,
create pervasive despair which he admits is the extremists’ “best
recruiter”. His concern is that outside
sources could take advantage of this widespread resentment to fuel instability,
as has happened in other African countries such as Mali, Mozambique and Nigeria
where global jihadi groups have armed separatists.
Our military
source is keen to warn would-be separatists against the misguided belief that
they can take advantage of perceived disarray in the Angolan army. “Don’t forget that Angolan military
intelligence is highly efficient, and we can count on large numbers of Angolans
with combat experience, thanks to four decades of civil war.”
There seems
little chance that “Commander Thunderclap” will emerge from prison any time to
soon to lead any such insurrection.
