IDP transit centres in central highlands closed

The United Nations in Angola on Thursday welcomed an initiative by the Provincial Government in Huambo Province to move thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from “inadequate” transit centres within the town of Caala for resettlement in nearby villages. Officials told IRIN that since the resettlement programme began on 5 August, five of the 15 transit centres had been permanently closed. Their residents were moved to new sites near the villages of Cantão Pahula and Cassoco. The others would be moved shortly. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Angola, Zoraida Mesa, said: “The UN had been aware of the inadequate and unacceptable conditions at the transit camps and had been in cooperative discussions with the Provincial Government for a solution to the pressing problem caused by the continued influx of IDPs into the town”. Caala lies some 40 km southwest of Huambo, Angola’s second city. Huambo Province has one of the highest concentrations of IDPs in the country as a result of the continuing civil war, which has caused millions of Angolans to flee the countryside for the safety of the towns and cities. Since January 1998, approximately 2.65 million people – or more than 20 percent of the Angolan population - have become displaced by fighting between government forces and UNITA rebels, according to figures from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In the first six months of this year alone, more than 217,500 people have been uprooted across the country. A humanitarian official said the sheer weight of numbers had stretched the resources of the social services and humanitarian organisations and created “very overcrowded and unsanitary conditions” in some places. In Huambo Province alone, a relatively small province in geographical terms, there are over 325,000 IDPs, according to OCHA. But the UN stressed that, despite the urgency in resettling the IDPs in the Caala transit centres, conditions in the resettlement areas had come up to standard. “It is certainly good news that these transit centres will no longer be used to accommodate these displaced persons,” Mesa said. “However, the United Nations would like to take this opportunity to emphasize that resettlement of IDPs in Angola should take place in the context of the government’s minimum operational standards. Security is a prime consideration, as are acceptable living conditions and the means for self-reliance through the provision of arable land and seeds and tools.”