By Roja Cawaia

LUANDA, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Angola's army has denied allegations that its soldiers have raped, beaten and tortured illegal Congolese migrant workers before deporting them across the border, the state-run Jornal de Angola said on Saturday.

The denial came after the French humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) accused Angolan soldiers of committing the rights abuses in the diamond-rich northern Angolan province Luanda Norte, which borders the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"We are going to investigate, but I want to assure everyone that our soldiers are not engaging in this kind of activity," General Geraldo Sachipengo Nunda, the assistant chief of staff of the Angolan Armed Forces, told the newspaper.

MSF described the rapes of Congolese women as "pervasive and systematic" and said some migrants had died as a result of the violence, while others had been exposed to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Male migrants also have been beaten and tortured, MSF said.

An estimated 400,000 Congolese live in northern Angola, with a large number of them employed illegally in mines. Angola, Africa's third largest diamond producer, has ramped up efforts to expel the migrants.

An estimated 44,000 have been sent back to the DRC in the past year, according to the United Nations.

MSF's allegations, which it said were based on interviews conducted with at least 100 women in the DRC after their expulsions from Angola, followed similar reports by other human rights groups.

Angola's government typically does not respond to criticism from Western rights groups. It has, however, described illegal immigration as a major problem for the booming southwestern African nation.

Diamonds helped to fuel a 27-year civil war between the Angolan government and rebels from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Since the conflict ended five years ago, migrants have flocked to the country to seek work in the mines. (Writing by Paul Simao; Editing by Charles Dick)

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