“Hungry cannot remain silent”

People in parts of the Angola’s capital, Luanda, are still afraid to talk openly about what happened in July, when the protests brought part of the city stagnant and disturbed other provinces.

What started as a call among taxi drivers to go against the jump in the price of fuel has become violence for three days, with at least 30 people losing their lives and thousands of subsequently arrested.

The roads were blocked by burning tires, the shops were looted and the police broke out between the protesters and the police.

It was one of the most significant waves of protest since the end of the Civil War in 2002.

At the beginning of the oil -rich Angola, marking 50 years of independence from Portugal on November 11, the demonstrations emphasized continued fears about poverty and inequality.

In neighborhoods where the demonstrations were the strongest, few people are ready to speak openly, worried about repression or pursuit in the light of numerous arrests during and after the protests.

“Things may have come out a little out of control, but we had to make so much noise to awaken the authorities,” said the 24-year-old salesman on Luanda Street, who wanted to remain anonymous in front of the BBC.

After leaving school before graduating from secondary education, he now sells soft drinks along the Avenida Pedro de Castro Van-Dúnem Loy, one of the busiest roads of the capital to help support his family.

He is one of the millions here who are struggling to reach among the brilliant skyscrapers built of oil money.

For the seller, joining the first day of protests was a way to show that “we have a voice” and that people like it deserve a share of the wealth of the country, which is “rich for some, but unhappy for so many of us.”

Youth unemployment is the main engine of protests in this young country, where the average average is less than 16.

Unemployment is 54%for 15 to 24 years, official data show. Of the 18 million young people of working age, only three million have jobs in the official sector – which means they receive regular salaries and pay taxes.

In the main cities of Angola, many unemployed young people who are no longer in school emphasize the state’s difficulty to meet their aspirations.

“I only sell on the street when I can get enough money to buy soft drinks,” said the seller on the street.

“There are months when I sell nothing at all because the business is so slow. I and so many other young people live so and no one pays attention to us. That is why we cannot remain silent.”

Angolas sociologist Gilson Lazaro was not surprised by what happened in July. He believes that those at the heart of the protests were “discouraged”.

“These are young people, the majority who have nothing but their lives. That’s why they came out on the street without fear,” he said.

The protests have appeared spontaneously in some of the more populated and more Luanda neighborhoods, where some residents do not have access to basic sanitary facilities, as well as other basic infrastructure.

Gradually, the demonstrators moved to the main roads of the capital, causing chaos and “raising the veil on a social problem that has long existed, but which the political elite has chosen to ignore,” according to the sociologist.

“For some time, Angola has been heading for a deep social, economic and, above all, political legitimacy. The main cause is the insufficient way in which the country is governed since the end of the Civil War in 2002,” added Dr. Lazaro.

The popular Angola Liberation Movement (MPLA) has led the country for the five decades of independence.

There was hope that Joao Lursa, who took over in 2017 by Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, 36 years in power, would change things.

He is now serving a second consecutive term after the 2022 election.

Lourenço has promised to rework what he saw as the violated system inherited by his predecessor: dealing with corruption, diversifying the economy and creating jobs.

Eight years on, critics claim that he has failed to do so and struggles to manage the crisis of life costs-while falling slightly, annual inflation remains tall by about 18%. According to a study by an Afrobarometer in 2024, 63% of Angolans claim that the country’s economic situation had deteriorated compared to the previous year.

Young people have taken the burden of problems and have been at the forefront of most anti -government protests in recent years, on issues ranging from corruption and police brutality to demands for local elections and hunger and poverty.

Yet nothing coincides with the scale of July’s excitement.

Lea Comb, a 20-year-old political scientist, says the fuel protests were “terrifying but somewhat expected” given the country’s current reality.

“We live in a country where young people are ignored by the authorities. Protests are the only way to show dissatisfaction with the uncertain conditions we face,” she said.

The Angolan Government has adopted a different opinion.

A government official did not respond to the BBC’s request to comment on the demonstrations and their consequences, but in a national address on August 1, President Lourenço clarified his feelings.

He condemned protests as “actions carried out by irresponsible citizens manipulated by anti -patriotic national and foreign organizations through social media, carrying mourning, destruction of public and private property, reduced access to basic goods and services and job loss for Angolani.”

Despite the repeated promises of diversification of its economy, Angola remains dependent on oil and gas, which are the main export of the country, as well as on the key source of government revenue.

“Natural resources are good, but the problem is how revenue is used,” said Angola economist Francisco Paulo.

“If Angola followed models such as Norway or Saudi Arabia, using the wealth of oil to strengthen the non-Petrol sectors and to develop its workforce, it would be a blessing. Unfortunately, the revenue here is lost to surface costs without added value.”

After the departure of Dos Santos, Angola lasts five years in a row, when the economy shrunk between 2017 and 2021.

Growth returned only in 2022, largely conditioned by non -oil sectors. But recent growth had a little influence on the life of most Angolans.

In a report this year, the World Bank considered that more than one -third of the population live at less than $ 2.15 a day.

It says that as the economy expands, it is not up to date with the population growth, which means that on average people become more poor.

As independence festivities approach, plans, including music festivals, ceremonies of the presidential medal and a football match, which includes Argentine Lionel Messi are in full swing.

But the student Mrs. Comb calls into question the old socialist slogan “One nation, a nation” introduced during the one-party Marxist-Leninist regime since the late 1970s.

“It’s just not true that we all share the same reality. There is a huge inequality. Young people in marginalized areas are almost convicted of exceptional poverty, without quality education or decent work, even if they learn hard and win a degree,” she said.

“These young people think with their stomachs because the hunger leaves them without losing them. They are the ones who filled the streets.”

D -Ja Komba added that “the authorities should look at the root causes, not just the consequences.”

“Breaking up was just the way young people discovered that they were attracting attention from the authorities.”

She thinks there may be more excitement.

“From now on, until the 2027 elections, we will probably see more protests. Whether we like it or not, political awareness is growing in Angola, and the elections are considered as a decisive moment for real change.”