The placing of the Armed Forces (AF) in a state of “high combat readiness” was a measure designed to “obstruct” the occurrence of seditious movements in the barracks, a scenario “considered” internally as a result of “alerts”.

The dispersion of the military across the city was due to analyzes and/or considerations such as that the probability of the occurrence of uprisings in military units is greater when they are quartered. The concentration of personnel that this allows, as well as direct access to weapons and support material, are considered factors that favor the group spirit required by the uprisings.

Of the security scheme designed to guarantee the maintenance of law and order in Luanda before and after the elections (AM 1366), only the use of the PIR (Police of Rapid Intervention), a police force equipped with heavy weapons, was initially planned. The use of the FA was not foreseen, as a way of not transmitting a martial character to an eventual effort to establish order. READ MORE