OCHA Situation Report
Angola Humanitarian Coordination Update 28 Feb 2003
9 May 2003


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Overall Situation

Seasonal rains continue to affect the humanitarian situation, slowing
resettlement and return and cutting-off hundreds of thousands of
vulnerable people from assistance. Partners estimate that approximately
314,000 people are currently in critical need, including 236,000 people
who were receiving assistance at the end of 2002 but are now isolated due
to damaged infrastructure and mine infestation and 78,000 people living in
areas that have never been accessed by humanitarian agencies. Conditions
are expected to deteriorate in coming weeks in these locations unless
access can be established. Although the overall pace of return has slowed
during January and February, significant numbers of ex-combatants and
civilians are leaving gathering areas and authorities have indicated that
the majority of gathering sites will be vacant by April. In a worrying
trend, pockets of acute malnutrition have emerged in at least 14 return
sites where basic conditions are not yet in place.


Humanitarian Operations

Humanitarian partners continue to focus on the following priorities:
reaching inaccessible areas where critical needs are suspected,
stabilising populations in acute distress and supporting resettlement and
return on the basis of the Norms on the Resettlement of Displaced
Populations and regulamento. As part of on-going efforts to promote
recovery and normalisation, agencies are supporting the Back-to-School
campaign in key provinces and providing technical assistance and training
to ensure the smooth incorporation of former UNITA teachers and health
workers into the national health and education systems. Agencies are also
providing managerial, technical and material support for the national
measles campaign, which will be launched in April and aims to reach seven
million children at the same time as helping to lay the groundwork for
routine immunisation and primary health care services in communities
throughout the country. Agencies are also continuing to work closely with
national mine institutions, helping to prepare pragmatic work plans for
clearance, demarcation, mine-risk awareness, victim assistance, landmine
surveys and the mine action database.


Humanitarian Access

During the first two months of the year, humanitarian access contracted.
Populations in at least 25 locations where assistance was being delivered
are currently cut-off due to damaged infrastructure and mine accidents. In
addition, approximately 200,000 people are living in areas where agencies
have not yet gained access. Efforts to reach vulnerable populations have
been severely impeded by mine incidents along roads used by humanitarian
partners and commercial vehicles. Since January, at least seven anti-tank
and anti-personnel mine accidents have been reported along access routes
in Benguela, Bié, Kuando Kubango, Kuanza Sul and Lunda Sul Provinces.  
Using armoured vehicles and airdrops, agencies have been able to resume
operations in 12 locations in Huambo, Kuanza Sul, Malanje, Lunda Norte and
Moxico Provinces, reaching 160,000 beneficiaries.

In late January, partners reached Sachitembo in Huambo Province, 20 km
northwest of Sambo, using armoured vehicles. Three-month rations were
distributed to populations from the Sambo gathering area, which had been
cut-off from assistance since November due to closure of the access road
Huambo - Cruzeiro - Sambo following a serious mine incident.

On 6-7 February, WFP airdropped approximately 87 MTs of food for 4,920
beneficiaries in Luvemba, in Huambo Province, who had been cut off from
assistance since the end of November due to poor road conditions that
impeded the passage of heavy trucks.

As part of a major effort to increase demining capacity, the "Chubby"
system has been introduced. The system uses two vehicles: a reinforced
vehicle with a mine detector and a second vehicle that pulls three heavy
detonation trailers. The first Chubby has arrived from Eritrea and will be
deployed to Huambo, where mine incidents have cut-off tens of thousands of
persons from humanitarian assistance. A second Chubby is expected shortly.


Resettlement and Return

According to the Government, more than 2,480,000 million people remain
internally displaced in Angola including 280,000 IDPs who continue to live
in camps and transit centres. Provinces with the largest concentrations of
IDPs include Bié, Huíla, Huambo, Kuando Kubango and Kuanza Sul.

According to the Government, 110,477 former combatants and civilians have
left the gathering areas, including 61,327 who departed during the first
two months of the year. The provinces with the largest concentrations of
populations in gathering areas are Kuando Kubango, Huambo, Kuanza Sul,
Huíla and Bié Provinces.

The Government reports that more than 1.5 million IDPs have returned to
areas of origin, primarily in the provinces of Bié, Huambo, Huíla, Kuanza
Sul and Malanje. In addition, 91,366 Angolan refugees have spontaneously
returned from neighbouring countries, predominantly to Kuando Kubango,
Moxico, Uíge and Zaire Provinces.

Approximately 180,000 IDPs have returned to areas of origin under
organised plans. An estimated 30 percent of returnees are living in areas
where the pre-conditions specified in the Norms are in place and 70
percent have returned without any form of assistance from local
authorities or humanitarian agencies to areas where basic services are
inadequate.

Approximately one million Angolans, including IDPs, former combatants and
their families and refugees are expected to return to their areas of
origin during coming months.

The Technical Unit on the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UTCAH)
and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Reintegration (MINARS) continue to
register returnees on the basis of the regulamento and to track return
movements using the national Resettlement and Return database.


Core Pipelines

The status of the core pipelines for the first six months of 2003 is as
follows:

- Food: At the beginning of February, WFP reported that 51 percent of the
Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) has been funded. Although
sufficient quantities of most commodities are available to cover estimated
needs for an average of 1,736,204 beneficiaries per month until June,
urgent contributions are required to avoid a breakdown in the maize
pipeline after June.

- Essential Drugs and Emergency Health Care Kits: Approximately 2,000
essential drugs kits covering the minimum requirements for the first six
months of the year for the target population of two million persons are
either in-country or will be arriving in coming months. Funding is
required to secure the pipeline for July to December.

- Seeds and Tools: Procurement of seeds and tools for 142,000 families for
the second agricultural season from June - August is underway.
Approximately 130,000 targeted families are still not covered by the
pipeline.

- Emergency Survival Items: Survival items for approximately 50,000
families in Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul and Moxico and refugees returning to
the provinces of Bengo, Kuanza Norte, Malanje, Uíge and Zaire is being
procured. Clothing for approximately 14,400 families in Benguela, Huambo,
Kuando Kubango and Moxico Provinces has also been received. At least
180,000 families still urgently require non-food items.

- School Materials: Basic learning materials have been provided to 410,000
school children. Urgent funding is required to procure materials for the
third quarter of the academic year and to train approximately 7,000 newly
recruited and former teachers who are being incorporated into the national
register.


UN Agency Activities

The Food Security Cabinet (GSA) of the Ministry of Agriculture conducted a
mid-season assessment of the 2002 - 2003 agricultural campaign in
collaboration with FAO and WFP and with support from OCHA and UTCAH.
During January, four teams composed of representatives from GSA, FAO and
WFP visited ten provinces, including Benguela, Bié, Cunene, Huambo, Huíla,
Kuando Kubango, Kuanza Norte, Lunda Sul, Malanje and Uíge. The aim was to
collect information on land availability, seed and tool distributions,
rainfall patterns, crop development and trends, and population returns.

WHO and UNICEF are supporting the Ministry of Health's "Caravan for Life"
which aims to disseminate information on malaria prevention. The convoy
will leave Luanda on 17 March and travel through Kuanza Sul, Benguela,
Huambo and Bié Provinces distributing impregnated mosquito nets,
prophylaxis, medicines and materials for awareness campaigns. Malaria
remains one of the primary causes of maternal mortality, accounting for 30
percent of maternal deaths in some provinces and is associated with 60
percent of under-five deaths.

In January, WFP's Vulnerability Assessment Mapping Unit conducted a
training workshop in Benguela on the new rapid assessment methodology for
determining food needs. The methodology will be extended to other
provinces in coming months. A team from WFP Rome will visit Angola to
establish the new UN Joint Logistics Centre (JLC). The aim of the JLC is
to ensure a flexible and cost-efficient logistics network through joint
scheduling of transport and warehouse assets and management of core
pipelines.

UNICEF is supporting the Ministry of Education's Back-to-School campaign,
which began in February. Activities include training 4,000 new teachers,
restoring 1,300 classrooms, establishing community-parent school
management groups, and preparing thousands of education kits for children
and teachers. The campaign was launched in the provinces of Bié and
Malanje and will be extended to 30 other municipalities in 11 provinces.
More than 250,000 students will benefit from the campaign and special
attention will be paid to returning refugees and enrolment of girls.


Coordination Activities

Missions: A joint OCHA - UNDP mission visited Angola from 11 - 16 February
to begin preliminary discussions on OCHA's transition and exit strategy.
The mission held discussions with Government officials, UN Agencies,
national and international NGOs, donors, OCHA staff and other relevant
stakeholders. A joint team from the OCHA Unit on Internal Displacement in
Geneva and the Brookings Institution-SAIS Project on Internal Displacement
visited Angola from 16 - 22 February and met with humanitarian partners in
Luanda and Bié Provinces. Angola is one of the 10-12 countries chosen for
a study on protection that will serve as the basis for an advocacy
campaign to improve the international response to IDPs.

ReliefWeb: Information on humanitarian operations in Angola continues to
be available on ReliefWeb (www.reliefweb.int). The page includes recent
press releases and reports, maps, and links to background and statistical
information on Angola. Customised news reports about Angola and the
southern Africa region are available from the Integrated Regional
Information Network (IRIN) at (www.irinnews.org).

Appeal: As of 15 February, pledges and contributions covering 1.3 percent
of the 2003 Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Angola had been reported
to OCHA Geneva. Although other contributions are in process, these will
only be reflected in the financial tracking tables accessible on ReliefWeb
once formal confirmation has been received.

NGO Law: The new NGO law approved on 31 December 2002 has been published
in the Diário da República I Series No. 106 as Decree No. 84/02. The law
addresses issues related to NGO activities, including registration,
employees, visas, duties and tariffs and relationships with Government
bodies.


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