Three men were arrested on Friday for the murder of a Chinese national in a brazen daylight robbery two days earlier in the capital of Luanda.
The brutal act was captured on surveillance footage and serves as a grim reminder of the dangers that Chinese people living in Africa can sometimes be confronted with. Chinese communities on the continent are not powerless in the face of this challenge, however, as many have formed their own security organizations and networks.
Just before 8 am last Wednesday, a Chinese man who worked as the head of security at a warehouse in a Chinatown in the suburb of Viana, about 30 km east of the center of Luanda, arrived for work. Surveillance footage showed that shortly after he arrived, the man was set upon by three assailants, who held him down and strangled him to death. They then broke open the safe and made off in a taxi with the cash that was inside.
Two of the assailants are reportedly Angolans employed at the warehouse and the third is a foreigner.
At around 1 pm, a call was put through to the Viana branch of the Angolan Chinese Security Association, some of whose members rushed to the scene along with staff from the Chinese Embassy to assist the Angolan police investigating the crime.
Within 48 hours, all three suspects were captured by Angolan police, who were able to locate them by tracing the taxi they used to flee the scene.
CHINESE SECURITY ORGANIZATIONS IN AFRICA: The Angolan Chinese Security Association was established by the local Chinese community in 2016 and currently has at least ten branches around the country. The organization assists the Chinese community with safety and security by conducting security patrols, responding to emergencies, and providing any kind of assistance to Chinese companies and individuals.
This organization and various others in Africa are modeled on the much older security organization in South Africa, the Chinese Community and Police Cooperation Centre, established in 2004.
These organizations represent a remarkable initiative by Chinese communities in Africa to proactively respond to safety and security challenges. In South Africa, the organization has 14 branches around the country that provide various forms of assistance to Chinese people at a moment’s notice. Whenever Chinese people are the victims of crime, the staff of these organizations will rush to the scene to assist the victims and support local police in their investigations.
SUGGESTED READING
- Feiyue Angola (WeChat): All Three Murderers of Chinese Compatriot Caputed (in Chinese)
- Africa-China Reporting Project: Not a police station: the Chinese Community and Police Cooperation Centre in South Africa
