Urgent need in transit centres

Thousands of people are without food and shelter in transit centres as the Angolan government closes gathering areas, where former UNITA soldiers and their relatives had been quartered. The gathering areas have housed about 400,000 UNITA ex-combatants and their families since the signing of the peace agreement in April 2002 that ended Angola's 27-year civil war. Earlier this year the government set a deadline of 31 March for closing all gathering areas and movng their populations to transit centres, from where they were to be transported to their areas of resettlement. However, there have been logistical delays which have caused thousands to be held up at the transit points. Last week the ACOMOL transit centre in Huambo city received an estimated 5,000 people, flown in by the government from gathering areas in Kuando Kubango, Uige, Malange and Moxico provinces, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said in its latest report. "The transit centre does not have adequate facilities and the people remain without shelter, blankets, latrines, water and food," WFP added. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Belgium head of mission, Fasil Tezera, told IRIN that the transit centre in Huambo, in Angola's central highlands, was not the only one short of basic facilities and supplies. "I think it's similar in Kuito [in Bie province]. There are currently 2,500 people in the transit centre there, and it is not adequate. It does not have the basic facilities that are needed. In Moxico province it is the same, in Luena [the town where Angola's peace agreement was signed], there are probably about 800 people in the transit centre. In Luau [also in Moxico] it is very bad, people are in the open air, there's no adequate shelter," he said. There was "an attempt being made" to improve conditions in the centres, but it appeared that "there is a big push [to close gathering areas] without having adequate facilities [in place] at the transit centres," Tezera noted. In a recent interview, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Erick de Mul told IRIN that the "initial plan was for people to stay in these reception areas [transit centres] for a day or two". "This means that people are having to stay there for much longer under minimal conditions. This is worrisome. We are trying to adjust our assistance programmes to accommodate these shortcomings," De Mul said. WFP said it had agreed to supply emergency rations to the transit centres, adding that "urgent coordination meetings are underway" to discuss responding to their needs. With humanitarian agencies focussed more on the resettlement areas for the UNITA ex-soldiers and their families, Tezera said the government needed "to play more of a role" in improving the centres. "In transit centres [humanitarian operations] will remain basic - first aid, referring those who need medical care to the nearest hospitals or clinics etc - improving transit centres must be the government's responsibility, [although] there can be some input from humanitarian agencies," Tezera said.