Armour-plated vehicles needed to reach mine-infested areas

World Vision plans to acquire armour-plated 4x4 vehicles in order to reach hundreds of thousands of Angolans cut off from humanitarian aid in areas rendered inaccessible by landmines. World Vision said in a statement that problems with "poor access, mine migration during the rainy season, and other security incidents" had resulted in United Nations travel restrictions in some parts of the country. In December a UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) statement warned that "credible reports indicate that as many as 200,000 vulnerable people may be in critical distress in inaccessible areas". The 2003 Inter-Agency Consolidated Appeal for Angola noted that humanitarian agencies were still unable to reach 40 percent of the countryside due to damaged infrastructure, inadequate road networks and extensive landmine infestation. World Vision said that in gathering and resettlement areas of former rebel soldiers and their families "around Sambo in Tchicala Tcholonanga [in the central Huambo province] ... an estimated population of 150,000 people have not received food since November, when an anti-tank mine exploded and killed nine and injured 18 in a private truck". Only "after strong appeals from the governor" was a food distribution conducted at Sachitemo, some 15 km from Sambo, using de-mining organisation HALO Trusts armoured vehicles at the weekend. Access to Sambo is still considered too dangerous, World Vision noted. "In response to this famine situation World Vision Angola is planning to purchase and equip four Land Cruisers with 6mm armoured plating. WV Angola is formally requesting UN OCHA security clearance to conduct assessment of critical needs with a multi-sector UN team with these vehicles in the inaccessible areas ... WV Angola will now be able to provide a life-saving response as soon as emergency response funding comes on line," the aid agency added. Meanwhile, WFP has warned that there could be a break in the food aid pipeline in coming months as the number of people in need of food aid is expected to climb to 2.1 million - from 1.8 million last year. "If we don't get more donations we will be stretched," WFP spokesman Richard Lee told IRIN on Tuesday.