Good afternoon. Supporters of de facto opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane had a few hours of drama yesterday evening, when he was stopped by the Angolan immigration authorities at Luanda airport, where he and other politicians were on their way to a conference organised by the Angolan opposition party Unita. Eventually Mondlane was denied entry and sent back to Mozambique.
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Despite the uncertainty at the time, and the lack of an explanation for why he was not allowed into Angola, the incident should not get anyone very excited. The most likely reason for the predictable decision is that his presence was not helpful to the authoritarian government of the Angolan ruling MPLA party, which faced a strong challenge from Unita in the last general elections (whose results were disputed, much like Mozambique’s elections last year). Angola has a history of exercising strict and, some would say, overzealous control over immigration, despite the fact that, as a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), it is supposed to admit travellers from other SADC member states without a visa.
