UN to boost presence in Angola

The United Nations is planning to boost its presence in Angola and open a new office "to explore effective measures" aimed at restoring peace in the war-torn nation, according to a statement released by the UN Security Council. In a letter to the Security Council at the weekend, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the new office would be staffed by a team of 30 professionals assisted by administrative and support personnel. "The new multidisciplinary office would be staffed with the personnel necessary to liaise with the political, military, police and other civilian authorities with a view to exploring effective measures for restoring peace," the letter said. "This office would also assist the Angolan people in the area of human rights and will coordinate other activities." The establishment of the new office comes in the wake of the decision last February to close the UN Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) and withdraw UN military observers from Angola. The MONUA withdrawal followed the resumption of the civil war last December when the UN-brokered Lusaka Protocol peace accords between the government and UNITA rebels broke down plunging the country into renewed warfare. Diplomats told IRIN the UN was anxious to boost its presence in Angola where the humanitarian situation has deteriorated by the day with security along the country's roads so bad that the humanitarian community has been forced to fly emergency assistance to besieged government held cities. Annan said the other key UN office in Angola, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordination Unit (UCAH) would continue to operate in its present configuration. Last week, a UN spokesman in New York said it was now estimated that 200 people were losing their lives daily as the war intensifies. "Supplies to assist the 2 million (internally displaced) people affected by this war are simply insufficient," he said. At the same time, he added, international aid budgets in donor nations continued to stagnate or decline. The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, told a news conference: "I was concerned that the very high level of attention and solidarity towards Kosovo inevitably would distract capitals, ministries of finance, and therefore resources, from crises elsewhere in the world. I hope I was wrong, but we will tell in the next few months." In Angola, Vieira de Mello said, only 30 percent of US $106 sought by the UN in its appeal to donors had so far been forthcoming. He said limited air access to the besieged cities had enabled the humanitarian community to assist only some 600,000 people in need, "which is far short of what we know are the large number of victims in the country. "Children are dying because the UN operation is not sufficiently funded and is thus obliged to restrict the aid that is being provided to these populations," Vieira de Mello said.