The civil community against the pollution and the militarization of Cabinda

The Union pacifiste de France and the Angolan antimilitarist Initiative for Human Rights have decided to launch together an urgent action calling for an international mobilization for the respect of human rights in Cabinda and against the pollution of the mouth of the river Congo, downstream from the oil-bearing exploitations directed by the American multinational Chevron Texaco, under the "protection" of its paramilitary militia and the Angolan army. This company created its own city, Malongo, called "America in miniature", provided with a fence protected and surrounded by a belt of anti-personnel mines. Around Malongo, the local population lives in dire poverty, subjected to the exactions of the Angolan armed Forces (FAA). The number of troops present has risen to 30 000 men, so that now one person in ten inhabitants in Cabinda is a soldier!

In response to this situation, Mpalabanda, a human rights organization, was created by the local population in 2004. It resulted from an Ad hoc committee of human rights in 2002, that gave itself, as their main goal, the non-violent fight against war, oppression, repression and corruption.

Oil, the «black gold» is a curse for the population of Cabinda. Angola is one of the first oil producers in Africa, after Nigeria, Libya and Algeria; with 1,15 millions barrels per day.
Question: is there any one of these countries not being quoted in the annual report of Amnesty International ?
The American company Chevron Texaco exploits oil without any respect for the environment and with the most total contempt for international laws. The Congo river undergoes a daily genuine oil slick which kills fish. People living downstream are fishermen who are thus condemned to famine or exile, and the international community knows absolutely nothing about their predicament.
For more information contact UPF at: union.pacifiste@wanadoo.fr