Angola's 1977 massacre: Tragic twist for orphans of mass killings - BBC News

The government said it had found their parents' remains but other research raised fresh questions.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Van Dunem familyImage caption, Sita Valles, the mother of João Ernesto Van Dunem, was one of those who was killed in the 1977 massacreBy Mary HarperAfrica editor, BBC World Service NewsDecades of silence and fear followed the 1977 massacre of perhaps as many as 90,000 people in Angola, but as the families of the disappeared started to speak out, demanding answers, the government took action in an attempt to promote reconciliation. Though in some cases its attempts appear to have gone cruelly wrong.

For João Ernesto van Dunem it was like his parents had been killed for a second time.

First, hopes were raised for the man who was orphaned when he was three months' old.

Angola's justice minister appeared on national television last year to announce that the remains of his mother and father had been found after 45 years, along with those of other people.

"I thought maybe finally I would have my parents back," he tells the BBC. Sita Valles and José Van Dunem were two of the leaders of an uprising in 1977.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-65063864?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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