Aid workers flee northern town

Eleven aid workers remained “unaccounted for” on Tuesday following an attack by suspected UNITA rebels on a northern Angolan town on Monday, 180 km east of the capital Luanda.

Six staff members from World Vision were among those who had not reported in, the Christian relief organisation said. Unconfirmed accounts said that three aid workers from the Portuguese NGO AMI, two from MSF-Belgium and two people from the Catholic mission were also “missing” following the attack on Golungo Alto, in Kwanza Norte Province.

According to a World Vision statement on Monday, UNITA forces “captured” Golungo Alto, 50 km north of the provincial capital Ndalatando. World Vision’s country director Anne Mesopir told IRIN on Tuesday the situation remained confused with little information reaching Luanda. “We confirmed the attack took place in the early hours yesterday (Monday), but up to this minute we are not able to access or have contact with Golungo Alto,” she said. Unconfirmed reports said that UNITA forces had pulled out by midday local time.

At least four staff members from World Vision managed to trek to Ndalatando on Monday. Humanitarian sources said on Tuesday that 700 families fleeing the attack had been registered and WFP and World Vision had identified a “secure site” outside the provincial capital for an expected influx of displaced from Golungo Alto. A World Vision truck was in the area “to transport staff as they are found, as well as women and children in need of assistance,” the agency’s statement said.

The reason for the suspected UNITA raid remained unclear. World Vision was due to deliver a monthly food ration to more than 4,000 people in the area on Monday. Aid workers said Golungo Alto was also the site for a planned World Bank resettlement programme for displaced in the province. Kwanza Norte, sandwiched between Malanje, Uige and Bengo, “has seen a lot of population movements” in Angola’s long-running civil war, one humanitarian official said.