Conditions “critical” in Moxico

Heavy fighting in Angola’s eastern province of Moxico is worsening an already dire humanitarian situation, aid groups have warned. There are over 79,000 confirmed internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Moxico, mostly crowded around the provincial capital, Luena. In its latest update, UNICEF stressed that “the humanitarian situation in Luena is reported to be critical”. In the town of Luau on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said last week that seven to eight children were dying daily, mainly from malnutrition-related causes. An influx of IDPs from Bie and Lunda Sul provinces into Moxico has also been reported, while returning refugees from the DRC are living in “appalling conditions” in Luena, UNICEF said. Landmines and unexploded ordinance (UXOs) have claimed at least 61 victims in the province this year. The Angolan army (FAA) has acknowledged an offensive is underway against UNITA rebels in Moxico, close to the Zambian border. The state-run daily ‘Jornal de Angola’ said on Monday the fighting was concentrated in the Luchazes and Lumbala-Nguimbo regions. Luanda, denying claims by Zambia last week that Angolan bombs had fallen inside its territory, denied that FAA operations were underway in the UNITA-held Alto Zambese area on the border with Zambia’s North Western Province. The Alto Zambese region is reportedly a transit point for UNITA rebels. Central highlands Further west in Angola, fighting continues in UNITA’s former central highlands stronghold of Bie, causing an influx of 16,000 IDPs last month into the provincial capital, Kuito. They were uprooted from their homes by “insecurity” in N’Harea, Gamba and Camabandua, humanitarian sources said. There are approximately 120,000 confirmed IDPs in Bie, most of them sheltering around Kuito. So far this year, landmines and UXOs have claimed at least 76 victims. The latest reported incident was last week, in which one person was injured on the outskirts of Kuito. Also in the central highlands, a UNITA unit attacked a fuel depot four km from Huambo at dawn on Monday but were beaten off, Portuguese radio reported. The raid followed an ambush last week in which six trucks - five belonging to the state fuel company Sonangol - were destroyed. The north In the northern province of Malanje, the FAA has managed to recapture Caculama, bringing the total number of municipalities under government control to six out of 14. Humanitarian sources, however, reported heavy fighting in Kiwaba N’Zogi municipality. Malanje Governor Flavio Fernandes told Angolan television on Friday that “the situation is now much better, but we want to be totally free (of UNITA)”. Further north in Uige, UNITA attacks on Negage and Bungo municipalities have resulted in fresh influxes into Uige city. There are some 100,000 confirmed IDPs in the province. WFP reported that 16 people were killed by an anti-tank mine on the road between Puri and Sanza Pombo on 22 August, in a province with the worst record of mine blasts in the country. At least 81 people have been caught in landmine/UXO incidents this year.