UTIAC 1. FP (Return – Cabinda – Non-Luandan) Angola CG [2003] UKIAT 00204 no longer provides an accurate assessment of country conditions. It ceases to be country guidance.
2. There is significant evidence of human rights abuses, including within Cabinda and affecting Cabindans, problems of arbitrary arrest and detention, ill-treatment in detention, poor prison conditions, restrictions on freedom of expression, government action against protest and limitations in the legal system and security laws. However, these problems do not render all those returning to Angola or Cabinda to be at risk of serious harm, whether or not they are Cabindans.
3. Unless there exists a situation in which there is generalised violence or armed conflict at a very high level (which is not the case here) in order to establish a real risk of harm, an individual has to establish that, by reason of circumstances as they relate to him, there is a reasonable likelihood he will come into contact with the authorities in a way that will result in his detention.
4. The Angolan authorities do not equate being a Cabindan with being a member of or supporter of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC).
5. The evidence fails to establish that FLEC currently operates at a level such as to represent a real threat to the Angolan authorities although they are keen to take measures to ensure that there is no resurgence of its activities. Nor does the evidence establish that FLEC reflects the views and aspirations of a majority of Cabindans, notwithstanding the fact that the Cabindan sense of social identity remains very strong and separation from Angola remains an aspiration shared by many. The Angolan authorities readily understand the distinction between FLEC membership or support and Cabindan self-assertion.
6. There is clear evidence of normal security checks at airports, including Luanda airport on arrival. Those checks are likely to be thorough and directed towards establishing the identity of the person entering the country.
7. There are no obstacles in a returnee to Luanda airport making an onward journey to Cabinda. The finding in FP that travel to Cabinda from Luanda is excluded as a practical possibility is no longer correct.
8. Language is a distinctive method of identification but identification as a Cabindan is not sufficient to establish a real risk.
9. A person of Cabindan origin returning to Angola will not in general be at real risk of ill-treatment by reason of his or her Cabindan origin. Such a person is reasonably likely to be detained (with the accompanying risk of ill-treatment) only if he or she has a history of active involvement with FLEC (or one of its factions, such as FLEC-PM or FLEC-FAC). Excluded from those at risk are individuals formerly associated with the pro-government FLEC-Renewal (FLEC-Renovada) or Antonio Bembe.
10. A person’s Cabindan origin will not, in general, preclude him from living or working in Luanda or some other part of Angola.
Peter Lane, Jordan UTJJ
[2014] UKUT 434 (IAC)
Bailii
England and Wales
Immigration
Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.537488