Human rights activist is accused of spying by Angola

A British woman investigating corruption in Angola's booming oil industry has been arrested on suspicion of spying, prompting fears for her welfare.

Sarah Wykes, a campaigner for the human rights group Global Witness, appeared in court yesterday after being taken from her hotel by armed police in the early hours of Sunday in the oil-rich province of Cabinda. Dr Wykes had been preparing to meet local people affected by the rampant exploitation of the region's mineral wealth.

Her legal team were denied entry to the court in the highly sensitive region that supplies more than half of Angola's 1.4 million barrels of oil produced a day.

The country's President, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who is poised to take his country into the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries next month, is known to take a hard line with foreign activists who question the activities of the oil and diamond companies that thrive in the former Portuguese colony.

He is also happy to be seen standing up to Western governments, and is forging closer economic links with China. He appears impervious to persistent criticism of Angola's corrupt and secretive oil industry, now Africa's second largest after Nigeria, having weathered 27 years of brutal civil war.

Concern over the impact of resource extraction in the developing world has been heightened in recent weeks since the film Blood Diamond, which premiered last month. The film examined the bloody link between civil war and the diamond trade in Sierra Leone and Angola, prompting Global Witness and Amnesty International to organise an international boycott of gems tainted by conflict - "blood diamonds".

Global Witness's Andie Lambe described Dr Wykes as a "a tireless campaigner for transparency in the oil sector". She said: "Her arrest and subsequent incarceration are an affront to her human rights. We are very, very concerned for her well-being."

Dr Wykes had been in Angola for just over a week, arriving in Cabinda with a colleague on Friday. The following day, her passport was confiscated and her camera, notebook and computer memory sticks seized. She was eventually taken to a police station where she was held without being given food and drink for five hours before being charged with espionage.

Cabinda is seen as central to Angola's economic future. The former Portuguese protectorate is separated from the rest of the country by a small strip of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its incorporation into Angola prompted three decades of violence from rebels who opposed the deal with Luanda.

Global Witness demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Dr Wykes and an apology from the Angolan government for her alleged mistreatment. Her lawyer, David Mendes, said she was being held in deplorable conditions. "I had to buy her a mattress and a blanket," he said.

Angola's assistant general attorney, Andre Gomes Manuel, said Dr Wykes should be represented at her questioning by an appointed attorney and not by her chosen defence team.

The Foreign Office said the British consul was travelling to the region and UK diplomats had been in touch with the Angolan authorities to insist Dr Wykes' legal rights should be met.

A veteran NGO activist, Dr Wykes was a former campaigner for corporate accountability with Amnesty International and used to work Oxfam. She has a PhD in Hispanic studies from London University.