Over 380,000 Illegal Migrants Exit Angola in weeks

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About 380,000 illegal migrants, mostly from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, have left Angola in less than a month during a massive operation targeting diamond smuggling, a minister said Saturday.

On a visit to Dundo in northern Angola on the border with DR Congo, Pedro Sebastiao dismissed allegations that the migrants had been violently expelled and often beaten by police.

Sebastiao, a state minister and the head of presidential security who is in charge of the operation, told traveling reporters that diamonds worth more than $1 million had been seized.

He said that the migrants had all left voluntarily, and 231 premises for illegal diamond trading had been closed and 59 weapons seized.

"Angola is a democratic and lawful state," he said. "It must be made clear that 'Operation Transparency' is not based on any xenophobic sentiment against citizens of neighboring countries or any other nationality."

Speaking at the Chitato border post, he said the crackdown across northern and western Angola was "legitimate" and was to ensure that the country's diamond reserves were correctly exploited.

There was "illegal immigration and the plundering of our natural resources without any contribution to the treasury," he said, adding the operation was scheduled to continue for two years.

After pouring across the border in recent weeks, many Congolese have described being brutally thrown out of Angola after sometimes living there for more than 10 years.