Critics say most people living in Africa’s third-largest oil-producing nation have yet to see benefits from that natural wealth.
Cape Town, South Africa – For Julio Candero, two moments stand out from the recent protests in Angola: the image of a woman being shot from behind by a policeman and the protest cry: “Temos fome – ‘We’re hungry.’”
Following days of demonstrations against the government’s reduction in fuel subsidies, which included looting and burning tyres in the streets, calm has returned to the capital, Luanda, and other parts of the country where protests raged last week.
However, amid the ruins of destroyed businesses and the presence of heavily armed police and the army, Candero believes this is only the beginning.
This is the worst upheaval he has seen in Angola in decades, comparable with the aftermath of a 1977 coup and the violence that followed elections in 1992.
