Angola expels more than 40,000 foreigners

The Angolan government has forcefully expelled more than 40,000 foreign citizens, arguing they were illegally dwelling in Angola. The foreigners were deported from the country since last January to date, under the ongoing Operation Transparency. At a press briefing on Thursday in Saurimo City, eastern Lunda Sul Province, given by the spokesman of Operation Transparency, Antonio Bernardo, Angola's police chief gave a brief account "of the activities undertaken during the said period in the provinces of Malanje, Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul and Moxico, in the presence of the police commanders of these regions of the country."

"Out of the aforementioned number 39,000 were deported to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), while 1,000 were sent back to Guinea-Conakry, Guinea Bissau, Mauritius, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe," the police chief said.

According to Bernardo, at least 3,000 citizens from DRC voluntarily left the country during the period. The police chief also noted that 16 legal diamond cooperatives have been authorized to reopen operations in the provinces of Malanje, Lunda Sul and Lunda Norte.