Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 24, No. 12. 1961.

Atrocities

Atrocities

In a communique issued by the General Overseas Agency, a department of the Portugese Overseas Ministry, the government denied that it's forces in Angola were carrying out barbarous repression or committing atrocities. They also stated that there is no foundation whatever for these accusations— but from student reports that have been received and read by this reporter there is more behind the headlines and denials than meets the eye.

In June, 1960, in the township of Catete, 60 miles from Luanda, the capital of Angola, police armed with sten-guns fired on a group of Africans demonstrating against the arrest of an African leader, killing 30 and wounding 200. To spread further terror, the police visited the villages of the demonstrators the following day and razed their homes to the ground.

The communique continued. There is no foundation for the allegations that the Portugese forces are. committing atrocities and horrors. Yet the Archbishop of Canterbury (Or. Ramsey) stated, "That Christian pastors and teachers have been killed, and churches. schools, and villages have been destroyed."

The mounting repression has caused a steady stream of refugees to pour into the various countries around the colony. Among the latest were 10 African students who arrived after trudging through thick jungle and deserted plains for 33 days in order to avoid arrest.