Angola Civic Groups insist on Argentina, Messi to scrap football friendly

Angolan Civil Society Groups On Tuesday, on Tuesday, the Argentinian football federation and star player Lionel Messi to scrap the planning for a friendly this year after 30 people were killed in protests.

The football clubs of both countries are in conversation to repair a date for a match in Luanda as part of the celebrations of Angola’s 50 years of independence in November.

In an open letter addressed to the Argentinian football club, the national team and the Lionel Messi Foundation Charity, four social groups accused the Angolan authorities of «systematic repression».

Refusing to participate in the planned competition «would be a noble gesture of international solidarity and respect for human rights,» said the groups, including Catholic, Legal and Pro Democracy Organizations.

Angola is one of the most important oil producers in Africa, but according to the World Bank about a third of the population of nearly 38 million lives in poverty.

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Protests at the end of July the fuels walks in violence when people looted stores, which led to a recoil by the police who opened the fire with live bullets.

At least 30 people were killed, more than 270 were injured and around 1,515 were arrested in what was the worst unrest in the South African country in decades.

«Although public resources are channeled to large -scale sporting events, thousands of children and adults are confronted with chronic hunger, severe anemia and widespread food insecurity,» the letter said.

It mentioned a report of 2025 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations that said that 22.5 percent of the population is malnourished.

The groups said that only a select number benefited from business opportunities in Angola, and most were associated with the MPLA, the party that has kept power since Portugal’s independence in 1975.