I. The Birth of a Vision: A University for Justice, A Nation for Law
In a nation long plagued by judicial secrecy, presumption of guilt, and unchecked political power, a bold institution rose as a sacred defiance:Universidade René Descartes de Angola, founded and led by Dr. Eduardo Tusamba Moises (also known under Edward--t Moises), a legal scholar, theologian, and human rights defender.
This was no ordinary university. It was the first of its kind in Angola to embrace U.S.-style adversarial litigation, to train legal professionals in constitutional principles, the Law of Evidence, and the ethics of truth-seeking advocacy. Its mission: to dismantle the colonial and Soviet-influenced inquisitorial system and replace it with a transparent, adversarial model rooted in dignity and rule of law.
This wasn’t just a school, it was a spiritual revolt. It challenged systemic lies and institutionalized oppression. It gave Angolans the legal tools to question what power had long suppressed. It trained lawyers not to obey power, but to challenge it in the name of truth.
At the helm stood Dr. Edward-t Moises, whose vision shook the core of Angola’s authoritarian foundations.
II. The Crackdown: Machiavellian Power in the Age of Fear
In early 2010, the regime of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) struck with precision and cruelty. Echoing the tactics of their Soviet-era mentors, MPLA operatives raided Universidade René Descartes de Angola, arrested its entire leadership team, including Dr. Moises, and launched a campaign of repression that continues today.
This was not merely persecution, it was ideological extermination. The MPLA viewed the university as an existential threat because it introduced legal reasoning that held state actors accountable to truth, rather than party loyalty.
Let us remember: the MPLA has never shed its Soviet skin. After betraying the Alvor Agreement of 1975, the regime ruled Angola with a fist molded by Marxist dogma and KGB methodology. Today’s persecution echoes yesterday’s gulags. This is not coincidence, it is continuity.
III. The Divine Crisis: When the Law Is Persecuted, God Is Mocked
What does Heaven say when law becomes a weapon of oppression?
“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees.” - Isaiah 10:1
To criminalize a university that trains lawyers to uphold truth is to desecrate the very throne of justice. It is to mock God, whose law was always meant to protect the poor, defend the innocent, and rebuke the oppressor.
Dr. Moises’ mission was prophetic; not political. Like Moses before Pharaoh, he called on Angola’s judicial system to let truth go free, to break with a culture of accusation and embrace the liberating power of evidence and fairness.
To destroy that vision is to raise a fist against heaven.
IV. The Philosophical Fault Line: From Inquisition to Reason
The root of the MPLA’s rage is philosophical.
The inquisitorial model, inherited from colonial rulers and fueled by Soviet ideology, holds that the state is the source of truth.The adversarial model, born of Enlightenment thought and U.S. constitutionalism, asserts that truth must be tested by evidence, argument, and reason.
Dr. Moises introduced epistemological liberation; training students to demand proof, challenge falsehoods, and reason independently.That is what tyrants cannot tolerate.
The MPLA fears a generation of lawyers who cross-examine their lies.They fear a law that exposes the inner workings of their repressive machinery.They fear what truth would do in open court.
V. The Political Scandal: When Sovereignty Is a Shield for Tyranny
For decades, Angola’s ruling elite has hidden behind the veil of “sovereignty” to commit unspeakable violations of justice and human rights. But no flag is sacred enough to sanctify crimes against humanity.
In a bold act of transnational legal resistance, Dr. Eduardo Tusamba Moises fileda lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court under the Alien Tort Statute: Moises v. Dos Santos.
This landmark case asserts that:
This is not just a lawsuit. It is a reckoning.
VI. The Diplomatic Dilemma: Silence or Solidarity?
Where are the embassies that proclaim democratic values?
Where are the international legal institutions that fund human rights conferences while ignoring real-world persecution?
Where are the United Nations agencies when an entire university is destroyed for teaching due process?
To remain silent is to become complicit. To look away now is to be guilty later.
The global community must stand with Dr. Moises, defend the mission of Universidade René Descartes de Angola, and protect legal education as a sacred right, not a political crime.
VII. A Theological Reckoning: Every Pharaoh Has His End
Like Pharaoh, every regime that enslaves truth faces its Red Sea.
“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” - John 8:32
The MPLA has chosen to fight truth with chains. But chains cannot bind a divine calling. The movement Dr. Moises leads is not of man, - it is of God.
You may arrest the teacher, but you cannot imprison the teaching.You may burn the building, but you cannot destroy the vision.You may silence the voices, but justice will speak through the stones.
VIII. Our Declaration
We, ORPE Human Rights Advocates and our global partners, proclaim:
We declare that legal education is not sedition. Truth is not treason. Reform is not rebellion.
IX. Final Word: Let Justice Roll
They tried to erase a university. They tried to erase a man. But what they did was plant a seed of liberation in the soil of Angola’s soul.
“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” - Amos 5:24
The day is coming when this truth will rise, not in whispers, but in thunder.
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