Ceasefire before 'humanitarian corridors'

The United Nations Security Council has asked Angola's warring parties to grant humanitarian workers access to at-risk communities, saying it is deeply concerned about humanitarian conditions in the country. UN statistics indicate at least 500,000 Angolans are in desperate need of food and medicine cannot be reached. Security Council President Richard Ryan said in a statement on Wednesday that the Council had received an extensive briefing from Ibrahim Gambari, the Secretary-General's special adviser on Africa, on the work of the United Nations Office in Angola (UNOA). "Council members expressed deep concern about the humanitarian situation. They asked that access to the at-risk population be granted to humanitarian workers," Ryan said. The issue of getting to Angola's most vulnerable populations, who cannot access humanitarian assistance because of the ongoing civil war, was raised by the church and other civic bodies earlier this year, when they called on the government and UNITA to create conditions for the establishment of "humanitarian corridors" in areas they control. Other international NGOs have also echoed the call. The UN has expressed support for the concept and could raise the issue with Angolan authorities, at least, by the end of the year, a source told IRIN. However, UNITA spokesman Joffre Justino told IRIN that without a bilateral ceasefire, UNITA could not provide humanitarian workers with safety guarantees. He said it would be impossible since UNITA now operated as a guerrilla force and did not "control" any part of the country. The responsibility for creating humanitarian corridors, he said, lay with the Angolan government. The Angolan military authorities, however, in spite of claiming to control 90 percent of the country, have had to reduce their security perimeters around many towns in recent months under increasing pressure from UNITA. In the past week alone, according to news reports, several towns have been attacked by suspected UNITA rebels. One of the most serious was an attack on a church in Golungo Alto, Kwanza Norte, during a Sunday service. The Catholic church reported that 16 children and their relatives were abducted from the church. On Tuesday UNICEF condemned the abductions and called for the children's immediate release. "This is not the first time that children have been abducted: similar abductions have occurred throughout Angola's prolonged conflict in various parts of the country. The majority of these children have not been heard from since. The motivation for these abductions is not always clear, but children abducted in conflict countries are often used by armed groups to carry goods and ammunitions and to cook and clean. In the worst cases, children, particularly young girls, may be sexually abused and both girls and boys may be used in combat or as a defensive shield," said a joint statement from UNICEF and the Humanitarian Coordinator in Angola. On Wednesday Reuters reported that UNITA and government troops were locked in battle for about three days in Sachinemuna, a municipality in the central Bie province. Church-run Radio Ecclesia reported that UNITA rebels suffered six casualties on Monday in fighting south of Cuemba, also in Bie, about 675 km southeast of Luanda. Early on Tuesday, government troops killed two rebels when a group struck another town in Bie, Belo Horizonte, about 60 km north of Kuito, the radio said. In another attack, on Monday, 700 internally displaced people fled into the centre of Uige city, in the northern province of the same name, when UNITA rebels and government forces clashed. Civilians and UNITA soldiers were among those killed and a spokesperson for WFP said the attack, at the launch of the agricultural season, would have an impact on food security in the area later on. On Wednesday, Ryan said Council members remained deeply concerned at the continuing conflict and "reiterated their position that the primary responsibility for the continued fighting lies with the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA)". "They called on UNITA to end its military action and to enter into dialogue with the government of Angola on how to conclude the implementation of the Lusaka Protocol," Ryan said. The protocol, intended as a framework for creating lasting peace, was signed in 1994. It finally collapsed when Angolan government forces launched an all-out offensive against UNITA in 1998, saying that the rebel movement had reneged on its promises. The civil war has raged since then, with UNITA remoulding itself into a guerrilla force.