Progress despite broken bridges and landmines

Landmines, poor roads and heavy rains pose serious obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Angola, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned. OCHA said in a statement on Friday that agencies were struggling to assist Angolans suffering the cumulative effects of decades of war. "OCHA's office in Angola reported at least nine instances in which people were killed or injured by mines or unexploded ordnance between 15 October and 15 November. The slowness of municipal authorities to construct small simple bridges throughout the dry season will now create major problems in the wet season. Additionally, humanitarian operations, including demining activities, are expected to slow down because of the heavy rains forecast for the next few months," the statement said. Many areas remain cut off from humanitarian assistance because of mines and poor transport infrastructure. "For example, access to communities that are considered to be vulnerable in the Kamacupa and N'harea municipalities [in the central Bie province], remains impossible due to broken bridges and the possibility of mines," OCHA added. Due in part to these access limitations, some 70 percent of returnees have had to resettle without any aid from local authorities or humanitarian organisations. OCHA noted, however, that humanitarian agencies were "achieving results" in areas they could access. "For example, in [the western] Kuanza Sul province, a new bridge went up over the river Quicombo, enabling the NGO German Agro Action to distribute 1,040 agricultural kits to an area that until now had not received any humanitarian aid," OCHA said. A bridge over the river Keve has also increased the movement of people and goods into the town of Gabela in Kuanza Sul. "If the NGO Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA) continues to clear mines from the area around the destroyed bridge over the river Cuso in [northwestern] Kuanza Norte, then Swedish Rescue Services Agency will be able to rebuild this important bridge as part of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) bridge building programme," OCHA said. Despite these challenges the humanitarian situation improved during 2003. "At the height of the emergency in 2002, more than 2 million Angolans were on the brink of death and at least 3 million were receiving direct humanitarian assistance. Now, conditions have stabilised in areas where humanitarian agencies have uninterrupted access," OCHA noted. UN agencies and NGOs, in close consultation with the government, will provide emergency assistance to more than a million vulnerable people during 2004 in support of their efforts to achieve self-sufficiency. "UNHCR [UN High Commissioner for Refugees], along with its partners - WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organisation - will directly assist refugees by providing transport, food and shelter materials. UNHCR hands out food and other supplies at its reception centres within the country to those who return spontaneously," OCHA explained. At the same time, humanitarian partners would work to increase the delivery of critical social services "aimed at providing dignified living conditions for more than 2.5 million people, and strengthening their communities". The UN country team and its NGO partners are seeking a total of US $262.5 million to fund their activities in Angola in 2004 through the Consolidated Appeals process.