Africa Review Angola
Angola's President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. FILE | AFRICA REVIEW |
By ARNALDO VIEIRA in LUANDA (email the author)
Posted Tuesday, March 1 2011 at 13:20
Posted Tuesday, March 1 2011 at 13:20
Angolan opposition parties and rights groups have finally endorsed the plan to put pressure on President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos to step down.
Reacting to an anonymous call for a mass protest on March 6, some rights groups and opposition have said the peaceful protest would be a step towards realisation of democracy in the country.
According to a Facebook page called "The Angolan People's Revolution", the protest will take place at midnight on March 6 (2300 GMT) at Independence Square in the capital city, Luanda, and throughout the country.
Under the pseudonym Agostinho Jonas Roberto dos Santos -- the first names of the leaders of Angola's three independence movements and the surname of the current president -- the organiser called on Angolans to "march with posters demanding the departure of Ze Du (Dos Santos' nickname), his ministers and his corrupt friends".
According to the country’s main opposition, party’s National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) secretary general Kamalata Num, President do Santos should follow the footsteps of Egyptian and Tunisian leaders who stepped down after mass protests.
Brutal forces
They were also careful to deny any links with the Facebook group fronting this cause.
"We have no link with this, but are willing to support the protest," said Mr José Patrocínio, the head of a local rights group known as Omunga, adding that details on the protests were still scanty.
Another opposition party, the Democratic Bloc, however, held a different view. Its secretary general Filomeno Vieira Lopes, said it would be difficult to hold any kind of demonstrations in Angola as the government had frustrated a similar one in the past by use of brutal force.
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