CAT/C/20/D/90/1997
page 4
tortured precisely in order to obtain information about those who had an
interest in documents challenging the regime in power.
5.4
The author's account of how he managed to escape was also unconvincing.
It did not seem possible that the author, escorted by five guards, should have
managed to escape from them as easily as described, without even being
pursued.
5.5
On the strength of the author's tale, the scars visible on his hands
could not be ascribed with sufficient probability to acts of the kind
prohibited by the Convention. They could just as well have resulted from an
occupational or domestic accident, for example. The author had submitted no
medical certificate indicating that he was still traumatized by the incident
as he stated in his communication.
5.6
The State party also said that no causal link could be established
between the incident related - the author's suffering at the hands of MPLA
soldiers, which dated from 1987 - and his departure for Switzerland.
5.7
As regards the situation in the country, Angola was no longer in a state
of civil war or widespread violence. The peace process had passed a milestone
with the establishment on 11 April 1997 of a Government of unity and national
reconciliation. The author's claim to have been arrested and beaten by MPLA
soldiers on 16 February 1997 for being in possession of a compromising video
cassette seemed somewhat improbable in the light of the moves towards national
reconciliation made by the various opposition groups, including MPLA and
UNITA.
5.8
CRA had concluded it would be unreasonable to require the author to be
returned to areas under UNITA control or close to the demarcation lines.
Elsewhere, failing specific risks, there were adequate safeguards of his safe
return at least to the capital or a number of large urban conglomerations
along the coast. Living conditions in Luanda, where there were serious
problems, were nevertheless not such as to rule out on humanitarian grounds
the return of young, single people in good health.
5.9
Lastly, the author said that he belonged to an ethnic minority, the
Bakongo, whose members CRA itself acknowledged to face certain dangers. CRA
had indeed stated that Bakongos and members of other ethnic groups could not
get back to their home districts from Luanda without some danger. But it had
also said that, contrary to rumour and despite rivalries more social than
ethnic in nature, there was no indication that, since the signature of the
Lusaka Protocol, the governmental authorities had taken any steps that
directly or indirectly discriminated against or persecuted minority population
groups in Angola, including the Bakongo, members of whom were to be found
throughout the State apparatus.
5.10 The fact that Bakongos had previously lived in Luanda or still had
family ties there was one factor that entered into consideration in deciding
whether or not they could find refuge within the country and survive, socially
and economically, in the capital.