A/HRC/7/10/Add.4 page 16 children must obey” 19 . Traditional clairvoyants, healers and religious sects used to submit children to the ordeal of “spiritual cures”, for example exorcism that may have led to the deaths of some children. 5. Closure of mosques and other places of worship 40. Four mosques were closed in Luanda by the police in January 2006. No Government official the Special Rapporteur spoke to was able to offer any information or clarification on the subject, other than the Deputy Governor of Luanda who asserted that the closures were due to planning reasons. None of the Government interlocutors were able to present a specific legal order for the closures. The Special Rapporteur notes with satisfaction that the mosques concerned were able to reopen of their own accord by the end of 2006. 41. A number of religious communities were severely restricted by the authorities in the exercise of their freedom of religion or belief in Cabinda. In some cases violence, threats and intimidation were also used by the Government. Furthermore, in Zaire Province eleven churches were reportedly shut down because of reports of child exploitation and abuse and eight Congolese pastors were expelled from Angola. 20 6. Radio Ecclésia 42. The radio station was founded by the Catholic Church in 1954 and is owned by CEAST (Conferencia Episcopal de Angola e Sao Tomé), the Catholic Bishop’s conference of Angola and São Tomé. Attempts by it to broadcast all over the country have been impeded by the Government and it is only able to broadcast in Luanda. In April 2005, Radio Ecclésia’s operators began taking steps to broadcast from five provincial capitals in addition to Luanda in order to meet the requirements of the new press law. The law, promulgated in May 2006, requires non public radio networks to have provincial radio stations in order to broadcast nation-wide. 43. Whilst visiting Angola in 2004, the Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral on the situation of human rights defenders received information from multiple sources indicating that the Government was obstructing, rather than facilitating, efforts by independent and privately owned radio stations to broadcast outside Luanda. The Government answered that Radio Ecclésia had not fulfilled all the necessary administrative requirements, such as customs regulations for importing radio equipment. However, non-governmental sources indicated that Radio Nacional Angolense, a Stateowned radio station, has not faced such obstacles. Radio Ecclésia reported, inter alia, on police violence in the context of forced evictions in Luanda. The Special Representative also observed a level of hostility from a number of officials with regard to the human 19 Initial report submitted by Angola to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, 4 June 2004 (CRC/C/3/Add.66, para. 137). 20 “Impact of Accusations of Witchcraft against Children in Angola: Analysis from the human rights perspective”, UNICEF report July 2006, p. 34. The Special Rapporteur was unable to visit Zaire province due to logistical difficulties.