"My reading is that there is probably no superior guidance in this regard, but there must be some excess of zeal here. For this reason, it is urgent that those truly responsible for this regrettable and condemnable episode come forward and be held accountable," said Sérgio Raimundo.
Speaking to Lusa, the lawyer described as "sad and regrettable" for Angola's image the retention, on Thursday, at the 4 de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda, of several international figures, including the former Presidents of Botswana Ian Khama and Colombia Andrés Pastrana and the Mozambican politician Venâncio Mondlane.
The international figures in question traveled to Angola to participate in a conference on the future of democracy in Africa, promoted by the Brenthurst Foundation in Benguela province, but were prevented from entering the country.
The Brenthurst Foundation is a South African think tank linked to the Oppenheimer family that promotes conferences and other initiatives aimed at strengthening the African economy.
The Benguela conference, scheduled for March 13-16, aims to discuss the future of democracy in Africa and was being co-hosted by UNITA, the main opposition party, which requested border visas for some of the participants, including Kenyan Senator Edwin Sifuna, who shared on "X" that he had been invited by the UNITA president and prevented from entering by the Angolan government.
"Back in Addis [Ababa, capital of Ethiopia] after being expelled from Angola (...) It is a disgrace that visitors are treated this way in an African country at a time when Angola chairs the African Union," wrote the Kenyan politician.
Sérgio Raimundo insisted that this is a "regrettable" episode, precisely when Angola intends to implement an entire strategy to develop the tourism sector and thereby try to attract foreign investors.
"On the other hand, this shows how much our political system has nothing to do with democracy and freedom, on the contrary, it shows that we are a very closed regime," he criticized.
For the lawyer, "it is incomprehensible that citizens from the southern region" of the continent and who "are part of the same Southern African Development Community (SADC), where the free movement of people and goods is a rule, are prevented from moving around".
"A citizen of Southern Africa, at this time, does not need a visa to enter another country in the same region", argued the Angolan lawyer, recalling that these are not ordinary citizens, but former high-ranking dignitaries from countries in the southern region of Africa and beyond.
He stressed that the episode reached "greater gravity", especially at a time when the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, heads the AU.
"What is the example that we see being transmitted to Africa within the framework of a process of unity on the continent, in view of the much-touted strategy on the need for free movement of people and goods?", he asked.
Sérgio Raimundo, known as a defender of several high-profile cases in Angola, including Isabel dos Santos, daughter of former president Eduardo dos Santos, stressed that the authorities owe explanations about what really happened and that the figures in question also deserved an apology.
Stressing that there are no legal reasons that prevent the entry of these citizens into Angola, he said he believes that the Mozambican politician Venâncio Mondlane was the "great reference for this entire episode", given the action he took in Mozambique.
The lawyer noted that Mondlane "is a free citizen" (despite being a defendant in his country with the coercive measure of identity and residence terms) and, if there had been any impediment to his travel, he would not have been allowed to leave Mozambique.
If he left, "he is a free citizen" and Angola has "no reason to stop him, unless" he is "mixing external issues with issues of party politics - since the MPLA, which supports the Government in Angola, is a sister party of Frelimo, which governs Mozambique", he declared.
"Perhaps, in a gesture of solidarity from the MPLA towards Frelimo, someone thoughtlessly, with a reductive view of what a State is and what separates a State from a party, understood that Mondlane (...) should not enter Angola under penalty of also stimulating some movements similar to those we have been witnessing in recent times in Mozambique", he concluded.
