Controversy over govt eclipse trip amid humanitarian crisis

"Good evening, Mavinga!" The rock star greeting that echoed over this desolate little Angolan town drew barely a murmur of response from the locals. The locals are, after all, unlikely ever to have seen a concert stage with booming speakers and coloured lights. Mavinga, a remote town in Southern Angola, is populated mostly by displaced people getting by on World Food Programme (WFP) rations, and who would have seen family members and neighbours die of starvation earlier this year before the humanitarian operation moved in here. The occasion was the total eclipse of the sun which swept through Southern Africa last week and the government had paid 12 foreign scientists to fly to Angola, attend a two-day symposium in Luanda while staying in a four-star hotel, and then fly to Mavinga to view the phenomenon. "The government is making this a great party, but didn't do much to help us do our work," one humanitarian official working in the region remarked. Another expressed concern over the wear and tear on the airfield's earth runway. The Mavinga region - home to 100,000 people - is entirely dependent on the airfield for its food supplies, and WFP has been concerned about the state of the runway as the rainy season approaches. While some humanitarian staff continued with their work, this was impossible for the Spanish NGO Action Against Hunger, which was evicted from the building which the government had provided for its operations. The building had been completely refurbished to accommodate visiting dignitaries. Aid agencies moved into Mavinga in June to feed the 70,000 former UNITA soldiers and family members who lived in two quartering areas about 40-km away. Since then, thousands more people have arrived in the town after spending months in the bush at the end of the civil war. In July, agencies, including Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) were operating under tarpaulins slung across the top of roofless buildings. In the intervening months the agencies had added roofs and annexes to their premises, but there was little evidence of government investment in Mavinga. Asked why Mavinga was chosen as the location to host the visitors, Education Minister Antonio Burity da Silva replied: "Firstly because according to scientific information it offered the best visibility, and secondly, because we intend to transform this geographical region - which only a few months ago was the scene of violent conflict - into a place of harmony, development, democracy, and progress." The Education Ministry paid for the visit, despite the fact that Angola has frequently been criticised for its low education spending - less than 5 percent of government spending in 2001 - and by the lack of investment in basic education. The concert was organised by the state-funded National Spontaneous Movement, a group which was formed in the 1990s to help build support for President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. The scientists who wandered among the "beware mines" signs and tried the satellite internet connection in the makeshift cyber-cafe, were themselves not entirely at ease. They were aware that the eclipse happened five days after an MSF vehicle ran over an anti-tank mine while returning from a vaccination campaign 70-km from Mavinga. Seven people were killed, in what was the worst landmine incident in Angola since the end of the civil war. "It definitely feels awkward for European scientists coming with hi-tech gear to be in the middle of all this, you feel a bit uncomfortable, but on the other hand maybe it brings something to the population here, and could be a way back to normal life," said one. A colleague hinted at what the government's real motives might be. "The Angolan government invited this group of scientists to try and bring itself out of isolation, to make itself known to the international community."