WFP has half relief food required

WFP said on Wednesday it currently had 56 percent of the food aid it would require to assist victims of the war between government forces and UNITA rebels in Angola. The agency said it has received 14,000 mt of maize and 1,300 mt of oil from the European Union, and 1,047 mt of beans and 3,800 mt of maize from the United States this month. In its latest situation report for the period 11-18 October, the agency said the precarious security situation in Angola was characterised by small-scale ambushes and attacks throughout the country. In separate incidents in Cunene, the southern province bordering Namibia, four people were killed - two of them in land mine explosions, and the others in military clashes. In the central highlands province of Huambo, a woman was killed in an ambush on three vehicles travelling between Tchicala Tcholoanga and Katchiungo. It said 3,000 displaced people had fled the eastern province of Moxico south to Cuando Cubango. In Lunda Sul, north of Moxico, it said three people were killed on 9 October in an ambush near Muangueji during which seven girls were abducted. In Moxico, where fighting has resulted in the flight of thousands of people into neighbouring Zambia, it said: “The military situation remains tense in Cangumbe, Sautar, Kuemba and Munhyango municipalities near the borders of Zambia and Lunda Sul, Malanje and Bie. In the northern province of Uige, it said 22 vehicles had been ambushed along the road between Sama Caju and Camabatela. Precarious security along major roads in Angola has forced WFP to make major aid deliveries by air. It said the local administration had repaired the air field at Cuito Cuanavale in southern Angola, enabling the agency to resume its relief flights there. Meanwhile, it said repair equipment had started arriving in the central highlands airport of Kuito, where it hoped the pot-holed runway would be repaired in coming weeks.