The Cabinda State Liberation Front – Cabinda Armed Forces (FLEC – FLAC) called on European Union (EU) countries this Monday to support the “self-determination and independence” of the “last colony in Africa”.

"We call on the international community to support the aspirations of the people of Cabinda and recognize our self-determination and independence."

José Luís Luemba Veras, member of the High Council of Cabinda, an organization that calls for the creation of the Republic of Cabinda, said at a press conference in Brussels.

On the occasion of the 62nd anniversary of the creation of FLEC – FLAC, José Luís Luemba Veras denounced the “life of misery of the population” of that coastal province that is part of the territory of Angola, as well as the “arrests and homicides” within a region that was “of vital importance to the Portuguese colonial regime” and that today is exploited for the “export of oil” by the MPLA Government.

Arão Bula Tempo, a human rights lawyer and independence activist, also considered that "nothing has changed in Cabinda" and called for the international community to intervene so that it would be possible to "achieve the wishes of our ancestors."

The activist demanded not only recognition of Cabinda's independence, but also accountability from the colonizing countries, whose past actions led to this region becoming part of Angola.

"The EU, Portugal, Belgium and France are witnesses to Cabinda's right [to independence], they cannot be innocent," he criticized, considering that the countries that colonized it in the past "today do not want to listen" to the population of that province, preferring to "give primacy to Angola."

Arão Bula Tempo insisted that “those who are in trouble seek strength to free themselves.”

FLEC spokesperson Jean Claude Nzita told Lusa that “the time has come” to recognize Cabinda’s independence: “We are not asking for charity, but we demand justice in the Cabinda issue.”

Considering Cabinda to be "Africa's last colony," the FLEC spokesperson said that the territory's population, "bearers of their own identity, a distinct history, and a clear will, cannot continue to be marginalized."

"Angola continues to deny our existence as a nation by maintaining a military presence on our territory," he denounced, arguing that the EU and the United States of America should fight to ensure that Cabinda has the "fundamental right to exist freely, in peace, and to decide its own future."

FLEC-FAC has been demanding for several years the independence of the territory of Cabinda (bordered to the north by the Republic of Congo, to the east and south by the Democratic Republic of Congo and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean), from where a large part of the country's oil comes, invoking the Treaty of Simulambuco of 1885 which designates that territorial portion as a Portuguese protectorate.

Picture: © 2013 Issouf Sanogo