Angola bans church groups after deadly sect clashes

[WorldNews]

By Herculano Coroado LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola's government has banned nine church groups operating in central Huambo province, where the main opposition party said hundreds were killed this month in a police crackdown on a rebel Christian sect. The Huambo provincial government and the national police have declared the fringe Christian groups illegal under new rules that require denominations to have 100,000 registered members spread across at least a third of Angola's 18 provinces, the state-run Jornal de Angola said. Rights groups say the bans are an example of the increasing suppression of civil liberties and freedom of speech under President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has ruled the mostly Catholic southern African country for 36 years. "Government has control over the main church movements and it understands what influence they have," said Elias Isaac, country director at the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa.

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