OCHA Situation Report
Angola
15 - 30 September 2003
28 October 2003


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

Critical Issues

   Access to the municipality of Nambuangongo, Bengo Province, needs to be
   established before the rainy season begins.

   Broken bridges were rehabilitated in Kuanza Sul and Moxico Provinces
   expanding humanitarian access.

   The Saurimo-Dala road remained closed due to the discovery of an
   anti-tank mine in Lunda Sul Province.

   Humanitarian partners are very concerned about the lack of sanitary
   conditions for children interned for paediatric care in the Luena
   hospital, Moxico Province.


Provincial Update

Bengo Province:  Access to the municipality of Nambuangongo needs to be
established before the rainy season begins. Returnees who arrived more
than a year ago have not received humanitarian assistance.

During the reporting period, seeds and tools were distributed to 900
families in Bula Atumba Municipality, 350 resettled demobilised families
in Sassacaria and 109 resettled Congolese refugee families in Sungue
village, Dande Muncipality.

Health care workers in Cabiri commune who have reported a suspected
increase in malnutrition in the area will receive a one-day training in
malnutrition screening methods.

Benguela Province:  During the reporting period, almost 370 people were
living in the Benguela transit centre Tchapiandalu, 5 km outside the city
centre, due to lack of onward transportation. Most are from Kuando Kubango
Province and will return to Bocoio, Balombo, Ganda, Cubal and Caimbambo.
Local authorities have assisted with food but lack of water and sanitation
facilities are still a problem.

The following areas were assessed and opened for humanitarian operations:

   Ganda to Ebanga commune, approximately 26,400 persons

   Ganda to Chicuma, approximately 27,740 persons

   Ganda to Cangola, approximately 4,600 persons

   Chicuma to Caluquembe, Huíla Province

   Benguela to Kalahanga, Baia Farta


Bié Province: Local health authorities began emergency vaccinations in
Muhango commune, Kuemba Municipality after nine cases of measles and one
related death were recorded.

More than 365,000 children, a coverage rate of 119 percent, were immunised
in the second phase of the anti-polio campaign. Local health authorities
now intend to intensify routine vaccination campaigns through fixed health
posts and mobile health teams.

Huíla Province: Broken bridges throughout the process continue to hamper
return movements and humanitarian access, particularly in the
municipalities of Caconda, Chipindo, Chicomba and Kuvango. Local
Authorities will discuss the issue with FAA in order to involve them in
the rehabilitation. Demining of the Kuvango - Cutato road are continuing.

Kuando Kubango Province: Security assessments are needed in the areas of
Nankova, Likua and Rivungo which remain inaccessible to humanitarian
partners. Opening of the Caira - Cuangar road and the Cuangar - Nankova
road will facilitate the delivery of food assistance to returnees and
demobilised families in those areas. People from Nankova seeking aid have
been arriving in Caiundo, according to the local administration there.

The areas of Cuelei and Jamba Missesse are below the specified Norms for
return and resettlement areas and malnutrition has been reported in
Cuelei. During September, approximately 330 people arrived in Mavinga from
inaccessible areas due to lack of food and medicines.

In September, nearly 7,650 square metres were demined and 21 AP mines,
seven UXO and 34 small arms munitions destroyed in Mavinga. Six new mine
fields were demarcated in Menongue Municipality.

The orphanage in Mavinga is housed in a few old tents. The 21 children
need to be moved to a permanent structure appropriate for long-term stays
and included in family tracing programmes.

Kuanza Sul Province: A mission to evaluate the economic impact of mine
infestation on the province took place the last week of September.

It was feared that lack of funds for transportation and logistic
constraints would hamper seeds and tools distribution for approximately
4,000 families. The start of the rainy season has made access to Gungo and
Amboiva locations only possible by 4x4, raising the transportation costs
of some humanitarian partners. In Kibala Municipality, 1,000 agriculture
kits were distributed from 700 returnee households and 300 demobilised
families.

Humanitarian partners also expressed concerns about the quality of the
seeds distributed. The beans have a germinability rate of less than 70
percent meaning that 4,500 square metres cultivated would yield less than
40 kg for each household.

Three broken bridges were rehabilitated over the Gango, Longo and Pombuije
rivers, opening the Quibala - Mussende main road for humanitarian access.
The trip from Quibala to Mussende will now take approximately 2.5 hours.
However, constraints during the rainy season will limit access to
approximately 18,000 people. Quienha, Mussende Municipality, and Atome,
Kassongue Municipality, remiang isolated from the rest of the province due
to two destroyed bridges and suspected mine infestation.

Lunda Sul Province: The closing of the Saurimo-Dala road due to the
discovery of an AT mine 28 km from Saurimo hampered access to more than
4,000 families in need of humanitarian assistance.

Local authorities reported the spontaneous arrival of almost 4,000 Angolan
refugees from the DRC and Zambia. An additional 218 refugees arrived
during the reporting period as part of the organised repatriation process.

Malanje Province: A meningitis outbreak continued to be registered
although the epidemiological antennae reported that the numbers are
decreasing. During the reporting period one death and 17 new cases were
recorded bringing the overall toll as of the last week of September to 139
cases and 74 deaths.

An Angolan soldier was injured in a UXO incident while the FAA demining
team was trying to clean a mined area in Lombe commune 24 km northwest of
Malanje town.

More than 6,500 persons in Kwale and Massango were not assisted during the
reporting period due to blocked access from an overturned truck on the
bridge over the Luhaxi river.

Moxico Province: During the reporting period, truck traffic began using
the new bridge over the river Mucussueji on the Luacano-Luau corridor, the
only route open to reach Luau from Luena. Humanitarian partners warn that
when the rainy season peaks the road will become impassable and access to
Luau will be possible only by air.

Humanitarian partners conducted a land mine assessment in Cavungo Commune,
Alto Zambeze Municipality, on 22 September. The area had been inaccessible
due to muddy conditions on the Luau-Cavungo road. The team identified
several mine fields and suspected mined areas, including:

   Nhanutenga, 867 metres east of Cavungo town

   Manufactura de Arroz 173 metres east of Cavungo

   source of the Cacueleca riversource of the Cavungo river

   location 540 metres east of Cavungo with visible UXO

   Capango village where a tripwire and improvised device is visible

   'Kilometre 11,' outside Cavungo town, two mines were found and removed
   previous to the survey.


The Cavungo-Cazombo road is well-travelled and no incident has been
reported.

Demining partners are clearing the priority mined areas in Liangongo
commune, Leua Municipality. By the end of August, approximately 60 percent
of the residential perimeter and 73,821 square metres had been cleared and
nine AP mines and two UXO removed. However, deminers report that mine
detectors have been ineffective in Liangongo as they cannot detect the
Vs-K2 type of AP mine and efforts have been complicated by ground
interference from metals in the soil. Almost 3,000 people received mine
awareness training during the month.

According to humanitarian partners, more than 15,000 children in the
province have received the cedula, or identity documents. However the
municipalities of Luacano, Lumbala N'guimbo and Bundas have not been
covered due to lack of access.

Although the number of malnourished children admitted into the Luena
hospital has decreased humanitarian partners are very concerned about the
conditions. There are no mosquito nets, few bedcovers, lack of water
supply and cleaning activities and some children have lost weight while
interned.

Local Authorities stated it would not be possible to resettle the 25,000
IDPs still living in camps around Luena town this year due to logistical
contstraints.

OBSERVATION: Please note that the information contained in this report may
have changed since it was received by OCHA Luanda.


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