A/HRC/7/10/Add.4 page 14 services until December 2005. The Bishop of Cabinda has received death threats, whilst acts of vandalism have been committed in chapels and verbal insults have been directed against priests during mass celebrations. The vehicle the Bishops of Huambo and Ndalantando travelled in was stoned on 26 June 2005 when they visited Cabinda. When the Archbishop of Angola travelled to Cabinda on 18 July, he was met at the airport by protests which became violent. The violence continued as he attempted to hold mass but was forced to leave. It was reported that in Cabinda town on 5 December 2006, opponents to the Bishop attempted to prevent the holding of a mass, asking for the reinstatement of the seven suspended priests and the reopening of two closed seminaries. 35. More generally, churchgoers and other residents of Cabinda with whom the Special Rapporteur met testified to human rights violations committed by the military in the countryside. They explained that in the absence of other institutions where redress could be sought, the church was the only avenue for people to bring their comments. There were first hand accounts of rape, arbitrary arrests, and extrajudicial killings allegedly committed by members of the security forces. 4. Accusations of witchcraft against children 36. Witchcraft 14 is a belief that is widespread in Angola and neighbouring countries. It is valued as part of the Bantu cultural tradition and traditional beliefs. In the past, adults and some children were accused of witchcraft, but from the end of the 1990s in provinces of northern Angola an unusual number of children were observed living on the streets having been thrown out by their families. It was reported that most of the children had been accused of witchcraft, either by their parents, extended family, neighbours, pastors or soothsayers. 15 After being accused and abandoned, a stigma attaches to children and they could not return to school, their village or original community. 37. In Angola, traditional churches such as Catholic, Baptist, Tocsoista, and Kimbanguista churches have been joined by smaller charismatic and Pentecostal churches often led by Bakongo and Congolese pastors. These churches are known as independent or syncretic churches. A large number of the syncretic churches base their work on herbal treatments and are accepted in the communities since they have become a parallel health service to the State which has financial and operational constraints in reaching villages. Whilst not a phenomenon reported throughout the country, children accused of witchcraft are a cause for concern, given the violent, sometimes lethal 14 US courts have found that Witchcraft and ritual are a religion as long as they occupied a place in the individual’s life that was parallel to that of more conventional religions and as long as such beliefs were sufficiently widespread, see Dettmer v Landon 799 F.2d 929 Const Law 84.5(14) Prisons 4(14) and Fleischfresser v Directors of School District 200 15.F.3d 680 Const Law 84.5(3); Schools 167. In this report the Special Rapporteur would like to distinguish between the belief in witchcraft and the impact of accusations of witchcraft against children. 15 A similar phenomenon is also reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo but is also reported to occur in a number of other countries including Nigeria.