ANGOLA - The Angolan government has evicted thousands of people from their homes in poor parts of the capital, Luanda, over the past few years with little more than the shirts on their backs, two human rights groups said yesterday.

ANGOLA - The Angolan government has evicted thousands of people from their homes in poor parts of the capital, Luanda, over the past few years with little more than the shirts on their backs, two human rights groups said yesterday.

New York-based Human Rights Watch and Angola's SOS Habitat said in a joint report that about 20000 people had been affected by 18 mass evictions carried out between 2002 and last year.

Many had been left homeless and destitute. Peter Takirambude, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, likened the evictions to the displacement of Angolans during the country's 27-year civil war.

More than 3000 homes and many small cultivated plots had been seized, the report said. - Sapa-DPA