Drop charges against seven community members
On 23 November 2024, seven members of the Vikolôngwa Mbútwa community in Huíla Province, Angola, were arrested and detained following a violent police intervention during a land dispute. Although they have all since been released – albeit two of them after 13 months - they are currently on trial on various charges. Their trial began in December 2025, with the hearing on the final verdict due to be set at any time. Angolan authorities must immediately drop the charges not supported by credible and lawfully obtained evidence and launch an effective and impartial investigation into the seven’s allegations of torture, ill treatment and excessive use of force.
Vikolôngwa Mbútwa is a rural community near Chibia, in Huíla Province, southern Angola, whose members depend on farming and livestock rearing for their livelihood. The community considers the disputed land to be ancestral community land and that the conflict started when a local landowner began excavation work around the area. This excavation involved a ditch approximately three meters wide and deep around the disputed land, creating safety risks for residents and animals and restricting access to grazing land and fertile fields used for cultivation. Community members report that they have since been un-able to graze their animals or access land they previously farmed, forcing them to cultivate only in the yards around their homes. On 14 August 2024, three months before their arrests, the community had requested the intervention of the Municipal Administrator of Chibia. On 23 September 2024, they ap-pealed to the Governor of Huíla and were still awaiting an official response when the police intervened on 23 November 2024.
On 25 February 2025, UN Special Procedures wrote to the Government of Angola regarding the case, raising concerns about the alleged violence, arbitrary detention and treatment of the community members. Sapalo António Kakandi was reportedly struck in the abdomen by a rubber bullet, Paulo Cambuta Kapaya was hit on the forehead with the butt of a gun, and Eduardo Mbambi Licino Kessongo was beaten in custody until he lost consciousness and had no clothes for a week. Francisca Tuahuma and Cecília Candumbo Mweyanavi, both pregnant at the time, were reportedly subjected to degrading treatment at the Quihita police post where they were in custody. Nearly Over a year after their arrests and the seven community members have still not received medical care and continue to complain of persistent pain. Francisca Tuhauma reported that her baby was born ill after the violence she suffered while pregnant.
This case echoes wider concerns already documented by Amnesty International in 2021 in its «The End Of Cattle's Paradise» report, where it found that in Huíla and Cunene provinces, communities’ vulnerability has been intensified by the diversion of communal grazing land to commercial farmers, and that in Gambos, Huíla Province, the occupation of more fertile land by commercial farmers has undermined the economic and social resilience of pastoralist communities and worsened food insecurity. Amnesty International has also warned that the diversion of communal grazing land for commercial farming has eroded the livelihoods of rural communities already affected by drought.
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Please take action before 14 September 2026.
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