Angola - OCHA: 23-29.Jul.98
Angola - OCHA: 23-29.Jul.98
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS IN ANGOLA
Period covered: 23 - 29 July 1998
The information contained in this report was provided by the
United Nations Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit in Luanda (UCAH)
General Situation
The general situation continues to be very tense throughout the country.
The current impasse of the peace process is dominating all the public
discussions. Interviews given by the Government and UNITA are filled with
accusations against each other with no constructive attempts for
re-establishing the peace talks.
At the same time, the Angolan people are waiting for the next step to be
taken by the Government, as well as for the new Special Representative of
the Secretary-General to arrive.
The Vice-Minister of the Administration of Territory, Higino Carneiro, who
is one of the government representatives in the Joint Commission, gave an
interview to the National Radio of Angola on 23 July questioning the impact
and the validity of further meetings of the Joint Commission as its
composition is not complete. Indeed, the UNITA Delegate of Joint
Commission, Isaias Samakuva has still not returned from Andulo where he has
resided since May.
Isaias Samakuva also gave an interview on 23 July to a local radio station
Radio Eclesia. The UNITA Delegate denied one more time the existence of
organized UNITA military forces. He admitted that the armed groups of
bandits might be former UNITA soldiers, but who are all demobilized by now.
Mr. Samakuva continued by blaming the Government for not ensuring the
reinsertion of these groups back to the normal society and thereby leading
them to banditry.
In this critical period, all the parties are preparing themselves for the
worst. The border authorities of Namibia and Angola decided last week
unanimously to close the common border dividing the line between Kuando
Kubango Province (Angola) and the northern part of Namibia. The Angolan
Government has not enough control posts on their side and therefore wants
to close the border in order to avoid any possible illegal penetrations
into the Angolan territory. The date for closing the border has not yet
been defined.
General Humanitarian Situation
The humanitarian situation remains critical throughout the country. After
a short period with lowered number of security incidents, Angola is now
going towards a period of violent anarchy. News about attacks and ambushes
are filling the pages of newspapers.
The most serious incident took place inn Lunda Norte Province, where a
small diamond rich village of Bula was attacked on 21 July. According to
the local authorities, the attack was prepared by the UNITA Residual
Forces. As a result, 215 people were killed and approximately 80 people
injured.
The humanitarian community is deeply concerned by the drastic increase of
the new IDPs. Furthermore, in this precarious situation, only 50 per cent
of them can be assisted.
As of 24 July, the humanitarian organizations have confirmed 116,563 new
IDPs out of whom 59,380 are being assisted while unconfirmed reports still
estimate the existence of 150,000 new IDPs throughout the country. The
most affected provinces of this new wave of IDPs are Huila (22,482), Huambo
(18,966), Bengo (18,055), Kwanza Norte (16,022), Lunda Norte (7,871),
Malanje (13,629), Lunda Sul (6,894) and Uige (6,585). The other hosting
provinces (Zaire, Benguela and Kuando Kubango) have each less than 6,000
new IDPs.
Status of Appeal and Emergency Requirements
In this difficult humanitarian situation, the planned funds for development
programmes need to be adjusted to respond to the current need of emergency
aid. The humanitarian assistance in the present atmosphere will also
demand additional financial support. As of 13 July, the overall response
to the Appeal is standing at US$ 33.5 millions (36.7%) against the US$ 91
millions requested. The International Organization for Migration, who has
an important role to play as the number of the IDPs is growing, has
unfortunately only received US$ 561,798 (7.1%) against the 7.9 millions
requested. The Director-General of IOM in Angola has earlier informed the
donor community, that unless their funding response has not improved by the
end of July, the IOM will have to cease their operational activities in
Angola.
This report is available on the internet through RELIEFWEB:
http://www.reliefweb.int
Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (UCAH) - Luanda
Mr. Francesco Strippoli
Tel.: (244 2) 39 77 74/39 35 43
Satellite Fax: (00873) 38 50 50 914
Complex Emergency Response /
Consolidated Appeal Process (CER/CAP) - Geneva
Mr. Ernest Chipman - Chief
Mr. Ayodele Fowler
Tel.: (41 22) 788.1406
Fax: (41 22) 788.6386
Registry E-Mail: Abu.Conteh@dha.unicc.org
Complex Emergencies Division (CED)-New York
Ms. Agnes Asekenye-Oonyu
Tel.: (1 212) 963.1773
Fax: (1 212) 963.1388
E-Mail: buer@un.org
Information Service
Ms. Therese Gastaut - Director
Tel.: (41 22) 917.2300
Fax: (41 22) 917.0030
E-Mail: tgastaut@unog.ch
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