Open Letter

To

                                       President of the Republic

                                                      João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço

RE: Appeal not to sign the National Security Bill

August 16, 2024

Your Excellency,

It is with great sadness and concern that Friends Of Angola (FOA) has learned of the approval of the National Security Bill on August 14, 2024 with 108 votes in favor by the MPLA Parliamentary Group.

Hundreds of Angolans, civil society organizations, both domestic and international, issued a negative opinion on the National Security Bill suggested by your office. Despite several appeals against this draft law, the ruling MPLA party decided to approve a draft law that goes against the Constitution of the Republic, international treaties, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

A law like the National Security Bill proposed by your office and approved by the ruling MPLA party should have no place in a country that wants to consolidate democracy, decades after a civil war and an ideology (communist) that decimated hundreds of citizens and drove thousands of families into poverty. To insist on this ideology (communist and/or authoritarian) is to take the nation back to a past that no one has good memories of, especially those who lost their families in the name of an ideology and false claims of “national security”.

Mr. President, the dreams of thousands of Angolans continue to be postponed due to the lack of realistic policies aimed at improving the lives of citizens. Illicit enrichment continues to enrich a handful of people linked to the Executive power while hundreds of families are starving and thousands are living in extreme poverty. Unemployment continues to rise in Angola, particularly among young people. Thousands of families continue to live without access to drinking water throughout the country, hundreds of children without access to primary education. And the implementation of municipalities elections to improve the lives of citizens continues to be postponed by party (MPLA).

Mr. President, the Executive’s priority must focus on improving the lives of citizens and not on laws aimed at cultivating fear and restricting the fundamental rights, freedoms and guarantees enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Friends Of Angola hopes that you will reflect on the impact of your legacy on the present and future generations who suffer and will continue to suffer greatly due to the corruption and bad governance that has plagued the country since independence in 1975. We hope that you will not sign this National Security Bill and you will focus instead on the real threat that the country and the people are facing; hunger, extreme poverty, unemployment, lack of schools, poor education and health system, low wages, inflation and the implementation of the local elections.

Yours sincerely,

Florindo Chivucute

Executive Director

Friends of Angola