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Angola Unrest Death Toll Rises To 30

The police did not say what caused the deaths, but civil society groups and opposition parties blamed the security forces

By Tom Jones Usen
Updated August 1, 2025
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Angola
Residents walk past a looted supermarket in the Kalemba 2 district of Luanda on July 29, 2025 during a general strike in the taxi sector declared for three days to protest against the rising prices of fuel. Two days of unrest and looting in Angola during a protest against a fuel price hike claimed the lives of 22 people, the government said Wednesday, as a tense calm returned to the capital. Violence erupted on Monday, the first day of a strike called by taxi drivers to protest the July 1 increase in fuel costs in the oil-rich nation where millions live in poverty. It was some of the worst unrest in several years in the Portuguese-speaking southern African country, which has been governed by the MPLA party since 1975. (Photo by AFP)

 

Angolan President Joao Lourenco praised security forces Friday for quelling unrest that claimed 30 lives over two days but rights groups accused them of killing “defenceless people“.

Dozens of shops and warehouses in Luanda were looted and vehicles attacked on Monday and Tuesday when a strike against a fuel price hike descended into some of the worst violence in the oil-rich country in years.

The unrest spread to several provinces and police said that by late Thursday, they had confirmed 30 deaths, including of a police officer, with more than 270 people injured, among them 10 members of the defence and security forces.

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The police did not say what caused the deaths, but civil society groups and opposition parties blamed the security forces, who are regularly accused of using excessive force against demonstrators.

Angola
Residents bring food to the house of Silvia Mubiala, in the Viana-Caop B neighbourhood of Luando on July 31, 2025, who was allegedly shot and killed on July 30, 2025 by Angolan police while pleading for her son’s life during a protest against a fuel price hike. (Photo by AFP)

In his first public comment on the situation, Lourenco said “law enforcement acted within the framework of their obligations and therefore the order was promptly restored”.

“We send our thanks to the law enforcement, the justice authorities, the health professionals…,” he said.

More than 1,500 people were arrested, 118 businesses vandalised and 24 public buses attacked, according to police.

“We strongly condemn such criminal acts, we regret the loss of human lives…,” the president said, announcing the government would help looted businesses to replenish their stocks.

 

– ‘Defenceless’ –

Angola
Residents carry items as looting erupted in the Kalemba 2 district of Luanda on July 28, 2025, during a general strike in the taxi sector declared for three days to protest against the rising prices of fuel. (Photo by AFP)

 

Lourenco, from the MPLA party in power since independence from Portugal in 1975, made no mention of the July 1 hike in heavily subsidised fuel prices that has led to a series of demonstrations in a country with a high level of poverty despite its vast oil wealth.

The state is “doing its best” to address Angola’s social problems, he said, citing investments in health, education, housing and job creation.

Opposition and civic groups also condemned the vandalism but accused security forces of using excessive force.

The looting reflects “the hunger and extreme poverty affecting the majority of Angolans”, said the Human Rights Monitoring Working Group of various NGOs late Thursday.

The “legitimate expressions of the population’s indignation should not be used as justification to kill defenceless people,” it said.

The platform urged Lourenco to order the security forces to “refrain from killing defenceless people” and create an independent commission to investigate the killings as well as compensation for the families of the victims.

Details of some of the people killed in the unrest have circulated on social media, with the case of Silvia Mubiala, a mother of six children allegedly shot and killed by police while trying to protect her son in Luanda, causing particular outrage.

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