Military service in Angola, whether it is compulsory, age at which it is performed, length of service and consequences for "desertion" prior to finishing miltary service [AGO29075.E]

According to a February 1996 report on Angola published by the Organisation suisse d'aide aux réfugiés (OSAR), compulsory military service was abolished in May 1991 but re-instated in March 1993. Men and women between the ages of 20 and 45 are expected to perform military service but men between 20 and 24 years of age are usually forcibly conscripted (ibid.). According to Human Rights Watch Arms Project and Human Rights Watch report,
the government's attempt to draft 30,000 new recruits by July 1993 was not successful, and the Ministry of Defense decreed on April 21, 1994 the mobilization of youths born in 1974. The general service for all males over twenty years of age is for three years. They then remain in first-line reserve status to the age of thirty-four, second-line reserve status until age thirty-nine, and third-line reserve status until age forty-five (Nov. 1994, 26).

For additional information on military service in Angola, please consult the attached documents. Information on the consequences for "desertion" prior to completing military service could not be found among the sources currently available to the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References


Human Rights Watch Arms Project and Human Rights Watch/Africa. November 1994. Angola. Arms Trade and Violations of the Laws of War since the 1992 Elections. New York: Human Rights Watch.

Organisation suisse d'aide aux réfugiés. February 1994. Angola.

Attachments


Human Rights Watch Arms Project and Human Rights Watch/Africa. November 1994. Angola. Arms Trade and Violations of the Laws of War since the 1992 Elections. New York: Human Rights Watch, pp. 25-30.

Organisation suisse d'aide aux réfugiés. February 1994. Angola, p. 22..