• Text size  | | |
• Email this document
• Printable version

Angola: Treatment of Bailundos by the Angolan authorities and UNITA (1992 to January 2001)

Information on the Bailundos is limited among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

Two sources state that the Bailundos are a sub-group of the Ovimbundu (Ovimbundo, Umbundu, Umbundo) ethnolinguistic group which occupy the country's central plateau (Republic of Angola 5 Apr. 2000; Rhodes University May 2000). In a personal account of the Costa family in Angola, Fernando Rodrigues da Costa provides the following on Bailundos in Bela Vista, a town southeast of the city of Bailundo in the central highlands:

The native Angolans in the area, the Bailundos, belong to the Umbumdo tribe, the largest in Angola. The Bailundos are gentle and hard working people, very different from the Cuanhamas from Lubando, a proud and bellicose tribe. The Bailundos, due to their nature were quick to learn the language and habits of the Settlers and become one of the most important reasons from the rapid economic growth of the central plateau (18 Dec. 2000).

No information on the specific treatment of the Bailundos sub-group could be found among the sources consulted; however, general information on the Ovimbundu, their ties to UNITA and their treatment can be found in AGO35338.E of 18 October 2000, AGO34237.FE of 11 April 2000 and AGO30014.FE of 3 September 1998.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Official Web Site of the Republic of Angola. 5 April 2000. "Angola: Ethnic Groups." <http://www.angola.org/referenc/ethnicgrps.html> [Accessed 17 Jan. 2001]

Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. 2-5 May 2000. "History 101: Week 4." <http://www.rhodes.ac.za/academic/departments/history/students/week4-yaka.html> [Accessed 30 Jan. 2001]

Rodrigues da Costa, Fernando. 18 December 2000. "Bella Vista: Home At Last." <http://www.shoal.net/au/~fcosta/bvista02.html> [Accessed 30 Jan. 2001]

Additional Sources Consulted

Africa Confidential [London]. 1999-2000

Africa Research Bulletin [London]. 1999-2000

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1989

Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 1996

IRB Databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

World News Connection (WNC)

Internet sites including:

Daily Mail & Guardian [Johannesburg]. Search Engine. 1999-2000

Office de réfugiés (ODR), Switzerland.

ReliefWeb

UK Immigration and Nationality Directorate. April 2000. "Angola Assessment."

United Nations

Search Engines:

Dogpile

Fast Search

Google

Topics: Militias,