Congo miners 'tortured' in Angola

Congolese diamond miners who have been expelled from Angola say they were subjected to horrifying abuses by security forces.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says people being treated
at their centres in Kamonia, southwest DR Congo were tortured and
sexually abused.

Head of mission Alain Decoux said they have received similar reports from five diamond mining sites in Angola.

But Finance Minister Jose Pedro de Morais has had denied the allegations.

Some 40,000 Congolese miners have arrived in the
provinces of Bandundu and Western Kasai in the Democratic Republic of
Congo since 2 April, following a crackdown by Angolan authorities.

An estimated 500,000 Congolese work illegally in
diamond mines in northern Angola, the United Nations says. This month's
expulsions have been the third and largest wave of forced repatriations
since December.

As they are expelled, miners and their families are
forced to cross the Tungila river into Congo, where some have drowned,
the UN said.

Human shields

The miners accused Angola's military of sealing off a
mine Kaninda (Lunda Norte) for four days - leaving those inside with no
food or water.

They told MSF officials that the Angolan military
separated families before subjecting them to an intrusive strip-search
for money and diamonds.

The Congolese miners allege that they were tortured
with fire and machetes and men were forced to perform sexual acts on
soldiers while women were raped.

"We have information from people from
at least five other diamond mining sites confirming that Kaninda is no
exception. What is being allowed to happen is unacceptable," said Mr
Decoux.

But Dr de Morais told the BBC the miners were exaggerating and had not been subjected to ill treatment.

"We are not putting these people in five star hotels.
They have made lots of money from illegal mining and they are simply
changing the story," he told the BBC Focus on Africa programme.

But MSF says many people have spoken of the existence of
prisons for miners at Kakanda and Lukapa that are surrounded by
anti-personnel mines to prevent escape.

The reports say Congolese civilians are being used as
human shields around several of the mines during clashes between
Angola's armed forces and the Tigers - ex-gendarmes originating from
the Katanga region of DR Congo who run sections of the mines - for
control of the valuable resource.

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