Humanitarian situation remains critical

The number of Angola's internally displaced people (IDPs) continues to rise as a result of attacks on villages, ambushes on the few accessible roads and clashes between government forces and UNITA rebels, a report by the UN Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (UCAH) said. According to UCAH, in Malanje more than 49,000 IDP families have been registered for a resettlement programme and plans are underway to resettle them in the areas of Quessua, Kulamuxito and Kizanga da Barraca, which are within the security perimeter outside the town. "However, the available land so far identified is insufficient," UCAH said. The report said Negage, in Uige province, hosts about 10,000 new IDPs who have been arriving, without any belongings, from Sanza Pombo and other areas in the north-east of the province. "Two reception centres have been identified in Negage and Uige for immediate assistance to the new IDPs," said the report, which added that aid workers, in close collaboration with the local authorities, are working on establishing resettlement areas and the provision of basic social services. UCAH also stated that new IDPs, fleeing attacks on their villages in Cuimba, arrived in Mbanza Congo in Zaire province. The report added that the number of IDPs in Matala has increased to 46,000 following new arrivals from Dongo, Kuvango and Jamba Mineira. Citing operational difficulties, UCAH said lack of access to all populations in need, the lack of safe security conditions and the shortage of fuel for humanitarian assistance pose the main constraints. "Consequently, assistance activities continue to be developed in limited areas of the country and at increasing risk and pressure given the magnitude of the plight of vulnerable persons," said the report. UCAH also said that the global malnutrition rate has reached 16 percent in the besieged city of Huambo, while in Bengo province, out of 394 children surveyed in Cambambe camp, 5.3 percent suffer severe malnutrition with 10.6 percent facing "moderate" malnutrition. Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported that its activities in the southeastern Kuando Kubango are constrained by the lack of transporters willing to carry food to outlying areas like Cuchi, which has seen an increase of IDPs following fighting in the Kuvango-Cutato area in the southern province of Huila. Added WFP: "The agricultural resettlement programmes for IDPs in the besieged towns of Malanje, Huambo and Luena are limited by the lack of land and the food produced by them will only be available after the next harvest in April."