Luanda: The Commission for the Implementation of the Reconciliation Plan in Memory of the Victims of Political Conflicts (CIVICOP) has discovered a mass grave containing more than 500 human remains at Cemetery 14 in Luanda. This significant finding is part of ongoing investigations into the victims of political conflicts in Angola.
According to Angola Press News Agency, the minister and coordinator of CIVICOP, Marcy Lopes, revealed that the discovery came after five years of extensive research and searches using advanced technological equipment. The remains are currently being exhumed and will undergo laboratory tests to confirm their identities, which will assist families in recognizing their deceased relatives.
To facilitate this, a list will be made available at the Central Criminalistics Unit in Luanda, as well as in other provinces, allowing family members to provide DNA samples for compatibility testing. Lopes emphasized that CIVICOP's primary objective is to identify all victims of political conflicts to enable dignified funerals and advance the national reconciliation process.
Lopes reiterated that the identification and dignified burial of these individuals are crucial to overcoming past grievances and strengthening national reconciliation. The commission noted that the remains might belong to victims of the events of May 27, a significant date in Angola's history.
CIVICOP, established in 2019, aims to identify, exhume, and return the remains of victims from political conflicts in Angola between November 11, 1975, and April 4, 2002, as part of efforts to promote national reconciliation.
