The difference in levels of Western concern and intervention in relation to
eg Kosovo and Angola is something that hasn't escaped the notice of those on
the African continent - South African newspapers have been making this point
for some time. And the lack of concern and intervention comes after decades
of Western and Soviet military support for Unita and the Angolan government
respectively: on one level the West and Russia are directly culpable for
these awful conditions and ought to take more responsibility for finding a
solution.
But this history of intervention also puts into some perspective the real
difficulties concerning advocating intervention - anywhere. On the one hand
we can be horrified at the failure of Western government and citizens to
address these serious calamities, or to try and assist in ending these wars
(or even to notice what is happening). On the other hand, we should be very
concerned about what kind of intervention is likely to result: would it
necessarily be politically acceptable to us? And anyway, it is likely to be
very difficult to implement. The US, SA and Russia were quite involved in
the previous attempt to negotiate peace in Angola - which seemed to be
successful for a while, but failed to disarm Unita or to reach acceptable
solutions in terms of government representation. And the logistics of
military intervention are likely to be really unfavourable. What would one
advocate? More efforts on the part of international powers and agencies to
encourage the parties to negotiate a peace might help.
You are quite right, though Becky, that the difference between these two
contexts is striking and disturbing. But the similarities might also be
interesting, especially in terms of the questions it raises about whether
and how international bodies or powerful countries should intervene - and
whether they really can hope to be able to shape situations like these?
Jenny Robinson
-----Original Message-----
From: Becky Kennison [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 28 May 1999 16:23
To: 'Critical Geography Forum'
Subject: FW: Angola Slides Towards a Catastrophe
I've been intrigued that in all the discussion on this list on
Kosovo-whether there should be bombing or not, whether what is
happening is
genocide, what the role of propaganda might be, etc.-there has been
almost
no discussion of other places almost completely out of the media eye
where
equally horrific acts are happening, such that in Angola described
below-not
to mention Sierra Leone or the Congo or East Timor, for that matter.
These
places, where the displacement of and atrocities committed on
millions of
civilians make what's happening in Kosovo and Yugoslavia look like a
summer
picnic and where there is no international policy in place other
than to let
it go on unchecked, would seem to be areas this list could discuss
quite
fruitfully as to what should (or should not) be done in situations
like
this-since nothing is-and (more to the point) the reasons behind
action
being taken in the Balkans while Africa (as a point of focus) is
(once
again) ignored.
Becky
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
<mailto:[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]>
Sent: Friday, May 28, 1999 6:30 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: Angola Slides Towards a Catastrophe
Angola Slides Towards a Catastrophe
.c The Associated Press
By BARRY HATTON
SAURIMO, Angola (AP) -- Almost 40,000 newcomers to this crumbling
rural town
huddle in the shade and plead for food, just a fraction of those
fleeing a
renewed civil war that is pushing Angola into humanitarian crisis.
Since fighting resumed in December, rebels trying to oust the
government
have overrun the countryside, forcing 1 million Angolans to flee to
already
overburdened government-held cities.
As a result, this southwest African nation has been sliding toward a
catastrophe-unnoticed by Western nations gripped by the war in
Yugoslavia
and the plight of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees.
The Angolan government and aid workers in Saurimo, some 620 miles
east of
the capital, Luanda, say they cannot cope with the influx of
displaced
people into the town and that the entire nation is on the brink of
collapse.
"We haven't the means to set up another camp for the displaced,"
Antonio
Malomalo, the local delegate of the Ministry for Social Assistance
said.
"We've got no food or tents."
The rebel group UNITA-a Portuguese acronym for the National Union
for the
Total Independence of Angola-appears to have adopted scorched-earth
tactics.
The rebels blow up bridges, mine roads and burn entire villages.
"UNITA arrived and started shooting, hacking and setting fire to
everything.
We just scattered," said Venancio, a village elder from Tchissambue,
describing a UNITA attack on his village.
Venancio said he led a group of about 20 women and small children on
the
90-mile trek to Saurimo. He didn't know what had happened to the
rest of the
village's residents.
By triggering a wave of displaced people, the rebels apparently aim
to throw
Angola into chaos and force the collapse of the government, analysts
say.
Angolans have seen more than three decades of war-starting in 1961
when they
began fighting for independence from Portugal. When they won it in
1975,
they turned on each other. Since then, there have been just five
years of
uneasy peace.
Saurimo was once the thriving capital of a diamond-mining region
near the
border with Congo.
Now it has no running water or electricity and most of its residents
live in
adobe or straw huts. The influx of refugees has doubled the
population, aid
workers said.
The rebels surround the town, choking off supplies. The only way for
the
U.N. World Food Program to bring food is by plane, under constant
threat
from rebel surface-to-air missiles.
Despite the WFP's efforts, only 9,000 of the almost 40,000 displaced
people
in a camp on the edge of town are receiving food. The rest must get
by as
best they can.
There are no official figures for the number of deaths, but already
many are
succumbing to disease because they are weak and undernourished.
Aid agencies have only about of a quarter of the $110 million they
need this
year, prompting the United Nations to plan an urgent international
appeal in
June.
"If there's no quick response to our new appeal, there's no doubt
that we'll
have a humanitarian catastrophe in Angola," warned Fernando Freire,
spokesman for the U.N. Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit.
AP-NY-05-28-99 0629EDT
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