Several opposition politicians and at least two former presidents from across Africa and beyond were denied entry into Angola on Thursday to attend a meeting organised by the country's leading opposition party, multiple sources said.
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the country's second-largest party, said it had invited the leaders including Tanzania's opposition chief Tundu Lissu and Mozambique's Venancio Mondlane to a conference on democracy.
"Angolan immigration authorities are holding up and denying entry into Angola for me and a delegation of more than twenty senior leaders," Lissu said on social media.
Former Colombia president Andres Pastrana posted on X that he too had been detained at the airport in the capital Luanda.
At least two dozen people barred
Kenyan senator Edwin Sifuna said he had likewise been denied entry, posting a letter on social media from UNITA to Angola's immigration authorities.
The letter, dated March 12, said Sifuna would arrive through Luanda's Quatro de Fevereiro Airport alongside six other politicians including two Ukrainians.
It was not immediately clear how many officials had been denied entry. Multiple sources told AFP at least two dozen people were barred from entering Angola including two former presidents and rights activists.
The government did not respond to a request for comment.
Repression
UNITA member of parliament Nelito da Costa Ekwiki denounced the move, saying it did not bode well for the image of Angolan President Joao Lourenco, the current chairperson of the African Union.
Angola, a vast and resource-rich country in Southern Africa, has sought to burnish its image as a mediator, leading peace efforts in the volatile east Democratic Republic of Congo.
The country was devastated by a 27-year civil war that began immediately on independence from Portugal in 1975, pitting the UNITA rebel movement against the ruling MPLA party, still in power today.
Rights groups and opposition activists have accused Angola's authorities of ramping up repression, including through new laws that would restrict media and clamp down on protests.
