Thousands flee Angolan fighting

Fighting near the UNITA rebel stronghold of Jamba in southern Angola has caused thousands of people to seek refuge across the border in recent days, creating a new humanitarian burden at settlements along the banks of the swollen Zambesi River in southwest Zambia. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), said 7,707 people had crossed the border near Sinjembela, an outpost near the remote Sioma Ngwezi national park in southwest Zambia. In a statement LWF, the main operational partner of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the government, said they had crossed “in fast few days, coming mainly from Jamba”. “LWF is monitoring the situation and has immediately sent a lorry with food supplies to the area to meet the basic needs of the refugees,” it said. “Unconfirmed reports state that new attacks on several other border towns north of Sinjembela can be expected soon. This might provoke a new major influx.” LWF said it was setting up a corridor with feeding points between Sinjembela and the town of Sioma which lies on the banks of the Zambesi some 90 km to the north. UNHCR and the Dutch chapter of Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF-H) would also establish a new accommodation site near Senanga, a major Zambesi River town another 100 km north of Sioma to cope with the expected influx. Last week, the Angolan government said it had captured Jamba, once a major headquarters of the UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi. In an offensive against UNITA which started in October, in the past month Angolan forces started driving UNITA rebels from their southern strongholds in fighting which spread along the borders with Namibia to the south and Zambia to the east, creating new refugee influxes into both neighbouring countries. LWF said the refugee situation in Kalabo and Lukulu, two other river towns to the north of Senanga, remained critical. “The race against time to bring in enough food to cater for the coming five months flood season is still on,” LWF said, citing concern that some ferries might soon be forced by the rainy season to stop operating. It said there were an estimated 4,500 Angolan refugees camped at a transit centre established by humanitarian agencies in Kalabo.