Luanda – A Centre for Forensic Analysis and Conservation of Bones of the Victims of Political Conflicts is due to be launched in the country this year, the commission responsible for the project said in a statement Monday.
It is the Commission for the Implementation of the Reconciliation Plan in Memory of the Victims of the Political Conflicts (CIVICOP), coordinated by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Francisco Queiroz.
The statement of the assessment meeting held today in Luanda, said that in the meeting information was shared on location and delivery of the bones of the victims of the conflicts that took place in the country between 1975 and 2002.
At the meeting, the coordinators of the speciality sub-groups (Health, Justice and Human Rights, Interior and Media) and their holders also received information about the work of the Commission of Ascertainment and Certification of Bodies of the Victims of the Political Conflicts.
They were also informed about the continuation of the process of issuing death certificates.
The Angolan Government began, last May, to formally deliver the first death certificates to the families of victims of the armed conflicts, whose symbolic delivery covered three relatives of people who died on 27 May 1977.
At the time, the process started in the province of Luanda with a ceremony under the slogan “Embrace and Forgive,” and should be extended to the whole country, free of charge.
During Monday’s meeting, the commission members noted the “great technical complexity” of the process of locating and identifying the victims, as well as the slowness due to issues of land occupation and population density in the identified geographical areas.
CIVICOP functions as a platform through which the country deals with episodes of physical or spiritual violence, as well as mechanisms that provide for convergent dialogue.
These are mechanisms to avoid factors that could weaken the basis for peace building and national reconciliation.
Source: Angola Press News Agency