ICRC steps up humanitarian assistance

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on Thursday that it had stepped up emergency relief supplies to three of Angola's most heavily besieged government-held cities in a new bid to relieve the plight of tens of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) seeking shelter in them. In a statement, ICRC said it had chartered three cargo aircraft which had delivered more than 100 mt of food and supplies in seven round trips since 16 August to the country's second city, Humabo in the central highlands. "The assistance is intended for the tens of thousands of people living in the outskirts of Huambo and Kuito (130 km east of Huambo) - both displaced persons and local residents - who have been suffering since early this year from the escalation of the fighting," the statement said. "Now in full swing, the operation will continue for the next six months and provide these people with 3,000 mt of food a month. Agricultural supplies, including tools and seed, are being distributed as well." On 9 August, it said ICRC delegates flew back to Malanje, some 350 km east of the capital, Luanda, where, for security reasons, they had not been able to go for months. After an initial assessment of needs, the delegates provided the city hospital with medical supplies for the treatment of some 200 war-wounded. According to figures released in Luanda this week by the United Nations Humanitarian Coordination Unit (UCAH), the confirmed number of IDPs in the Huambo area now stands at 175,098, 72,810 in Kuito and 134,724 in the Malanje area. All three cities have been subjected to sporadic shelling by UNITA rebels for several months. Meanwhile, it said that on 11 August, an appeal was launched to raise US $28 million for Angola. With a total budget of slightly more than US $36 million dollars, the ICRC operation in Angola will thus become the organisation's third largest in Africa, the statement said.