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-----
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Sent: Friday, May 28, 1999 6:30 AM
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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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