Quatermass wrote:
Is it perfectly possible that they weren't cops? That they were nutjobs or part of the local mob who just wanted to shoot crap up?
I have lived in Luanda, so this story hardly surprises me. Police/militia is a fairly accurate description. My sister said she thought she saw a police man shoot dead a little girl just because he was bored standing around. It was late a night so I can't confirm what exactly she saw. Discharging their weapons into the air was fairly commonplace. It is true that the civil war was still on at the time so I hope things are different now.
When Unita signed a treaty in order to have an election and lost. Dos Santos has already handed out tonnes of weapons to the general population because he knew. Unita would take lots of hostages and kill a bunk of people in order to secure their withdrawal. Consequently a large part of Luanda is armed and these weapons are untraceable, a bit like the mine situation. Dump and forget.
I haven't been there since the mid 90's but back then there was two main police: The normal everyday police that were fairly cowboyish and the interior police otherwise known as 'ninjas' on account of their dark uniform and beret. Those where more organized pariahs, but liked to collect protection money at checkpoints. They even tried on diplomats, though 'wind down your windows' doesn't really work if the windows are an inch and a half think you can't actually wind them down. Then when the driver told them through the PA system it scared them s**tless.
I would hold your criticism of how they reacted and consider that the majority people there do not even have bank account, let alone have a branch nearby. Crime an poverty is rife. Most people don't get basic amenity's or education. They won't have been trained to deal with that situation. It was wrong of them to flee afterwards, clearly. Lack of accountability and violence is something they would have grown up with.
21 Dec 2007, 10:57 am
