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Article

28 Aug 2016

Author:
Maka Angola (Angola)

Angola: Maka Angola denounces alleged torture of miners by Bicuar security guards hired by Sociedade Mineira do Cuango

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“Machete Torture: More Human Rights Abuses In Diamond-Rich Region”,  16 June 2016

“I am Angolan!”, the informal diamond digger keeps screaming in pain and in vain, while the guard repeatedly beats him on the palm of his hands with a machete...As the guard becomes more violent, the victim screams for his mother repeatedly...“Shit! Pardon does not exist”, the guard who is commanding the beatings of up to ten miners, laughs louder. He is known as Bonifácio. Video evidence has emerged of vicious and sadistic beatings recently meted out to informal miners known as ‘garimpeiros’ by private security guards...The video...shows the guards using machetes to intimidate, beat and cut the unarmed men seated on the ground. Blow after blow is meted out to hands, feet and body parts while the victims scream and howl in pain. The assailants have been identified as security guards employed by a private security company named Bicuar, which operates under contract to...diamond-mining company ‘Sociedade Mineira do Cuango’ (SMC), a partnership involving the state diamond company Endiama, ITM-Mining and Lumanhe...Atrocities carried out by...private security guards in Lunda-Norte have been documented...in news reports...[and]...also in...‘Blood Diamonds: Torture and Corruption in Angola’ by Rafael Marques de Morais...

[It refers to Mi-Diamond and Sodiam]

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