Suffering in besieged Huambo

In Angola's league table of human suffering, the besieged government-held city of Huambo is up there with the very worst of them. Those that can afford it have long since left, and the population of Angola's second city has dropped from around 750,000 in the mid-90s to less than 400,000 today. Of those remaining, 175,000 are registered as newly displaced who have fled UNITA rebel attacks in the central highlands countryside, abandoning farms and pocessions. The city, some 500 km southeast of the capital Luanda, is dependent on a precarious air bridge to deliver food aid, but the supplies are only enough to feed the most vulnerable. It is also an operation that depends on the airport remaining open. But it has frequently been closed because of security threats. Food is available in the markets but is extremely expensive - even the dwarf vegetables harvested too early that are for sale. A survey in May discovered a malnutrition rate of over 16 percent in the city, and according to aid workers the situation has since got worse. With people's coping mechanisms exhausted, there is little difference now in nutrition levels between residents and the displaced. "There is a sense of inevitability, you can see a catastrophe coming but you can't stop it," a UN humanitarian field worker told IRIN. "Death is no longer feared. If it comes in the family, it is one less mouth to feed." The government has tried to ease the problem of food supply by distributing land ahead of the planting season in September, and ICRC are providing limited quantities of seeds and tools. But the initiative is handicapped by the lack of secure farm land, with UNITA forces based just 30 km from the city. Crucially, whatever the size of the harvest, it would not be available until December. A second supply lifeline for the city could be the road west to the port of Lobito. It had been closed by UNITA since February, but last week 70 trucks out of a 100-strong convoy made it into Huambo. They had taken 20 days to cover less than 400 km, but their arrival slashed the price of food in the market by half. "If ICRC succeeds in delivering seeds and tools, if the government gives land, if WFP gets more food and the airport is not closed for a long time, and the road to Lobito stays open, then we have a chance," the UN field worker said.