2006
Government representatives and Bembo Bembe, a former leader of FLEC, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 1 August 2006, in an attempt to end the 29-year long Cabindan war. Bembe signed ostensibly on behalf of the Cabinda Forum for Dialogue (FCD). Many FCD members considered Bembe's signing illegitimate and rejected the agreement, which only granted Cabinda autonomy, not independence. The MoU included an amnesty for all crimes committed during the independence war (1977–2006).
The government shut down Mpalabanda, a Cabindan human rights organization and a member of the FCD, by court order in June 2006. The government said Mpalabanda had engaged in illegal political activities. The NGO appealed the court's decision. Mpalabanda accused both the military and FLEC militants of committing human rights abuses in Cabinda. Border officials arrested Raul Danda, Mpalabanda's spokesman, at Cabinda airport on the charge of 'instigating crimes against the security of the state', owning pro-independence literature, on 29 September.
Read more about this topic: 2000s In Angola