Missombo Jail

Before the end of 2017, the building where the Missombo colonial repression chain operated, in Cuando Cubango, would be transformed into a historical-cultural museum of international dimension, announced the provincial director of Culture, Carla Cativa. Cativa highlighted that despite the economic situation that the country is currently experiencing, the works to reconstruct the Missombo prison will soon be awarded, thus preserving its architectural structure, so that future generations can understand how their ancestors were tortured by the Portuguese colonialists.

With an area of 239 square meters, the premises also include the construction of an arts and crafts school, medical posts, kiosks, restaurants, parking lots, an anteatre, a guesthouse and a creation of tourist areas.

“The old Missombo prison, once destined for political prisoners, reveals the intransigence and heroism of the Angolan people and in particular Cuando Cubango. Along this path, the infrastructure must be conserved so that it serves as a living example for future generations”, he argued.

The Missombo colonial repression camp describes the memories of suffering experienced by the valiant guerrillas of the colonial resistance struggle, with emphasis on some political prisoners from Process 50, namely Imperial Francisco Santana, Salvador Sebastião, The works for the Missombo Paiva prison establishment will soon be awarded the contract Domingos da Silva, Manuel Pedro Pacavira, Virgílio Francisco Sotto Mayor, Afonso Dias da Silva, David Massango Machado (Minerva), Pedro José Van-Dúnem and others who demonstrated their bravery in favor of of national independence, achieved on November 11, 1975.

The Missombo prison is located 16 kilometers from the city of Menongue, and it functioned as a colonial repression camp.
It was built by the Portuguese government in 1961, at the time with wattle and daub and barbed wire.
They were there 500 prisoners from northern Angola were held captive. Yesterday, during a guided tour of the old Missombo prison, João Mbuenga, a former MPLA guerrilla, recalled the bitter moments that the nationalists, some of whom were part of the Process of the 50, lived there.
Mbuenga praised the courage of the men who , without weapons, they took simple agricultural instruments and fought against Portuguese colonialism.
Detached in zone D, Dona Ginga division, arrived at the time by commander N'Dinga Wa N'Dinga, João Mbuenga highlighted that he was one of the men who fought to free political prisoners who were imprisoned in Missombo prisons in the 1960s.

“It was difficult to escape from prisons, because there were garrison on all sides, and any prisoner who tried to escape was killed immediately, while those who resisted were not in good health, due to the mistreatment and forced labor they had been subjected to. subjects”, he lamented.
Through executive decree 62/18, of April 20, the Ministry of Culture approved the classification as "National Historical-Cultural Heritage" of the "Missombo Colonial Repression Chain", located in the municipality of Menongue, province of Cuando Cubango, in southern Angola.

"It represents one of the most important places in the history of our country, linked to the struggle for liberation and national interdependence", emphasizes the declaration, signed by the Minister of Culture, Carolina Cerqueira.
Built between 1961 and 1962, that prison housed 800 prisoners, including several Angolan nationalists who participated in actions against the Portuguese colonial regime.

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Link: https://www.dn.pt/lusa/angola-classifica-como-patrimonio-do-pais-antigas-cadeias-do-regime-colonial-9294949.html | April 30, 2018 | Lusa

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Published in Jornal de Angola | February 4, 2016 | Lourenço Bule

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