Angola
"Angolan govt doesn't seem to care about humanitarian crisis"

afrol News, 13 August - The US-based organisation Refugees International criticises the situation in Angola, which it describes as "Poor people in a rich government's country." While the country is experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, unaccounted for state revenues keep streaming in and international donors are called for.

- The people of Angola should not be among the poorest in the world, says Veronika Martin form the US group. World Bank statistics put Angola's GDP at close to US$ 9 billion, with more than 50 percent coming directly from the sale of petroleum. Yet, Angola ranks 161 out of 173 countries on the Human Development Index of 2002. 

- Where is Angola's wealth going? she asks. "A complete lack of transparency and accountability by the government of Angola (GOA) make this question difficult to answer," Martin says. A British based rights group, Global Witness, estimates that US$ 1.4 billion were unaccounted for in 2001 alone.

According to some reports, the bulk of available revenues are spent on military build-up. But with the war over, pressure is building for the Angolan government to use these funds for humanitarian assistance. 

According to the World Bank, the per capita national income of most Angolans is US$ 290. More than half of the population is undernourished. Maternal and child mortality is estimated to be the second highest in the world. And life expectancy is a mere 44 years. 

To add to the tragedy, Angola's soil is fairly fertile. Before the civil war, Angola was able to provide for all of its food needs except wheat, and was even able to export coffee and cotton. Now, because of an estimated six million landmines, only two percent of the land is usable. "Clearing land mines is critical to a society that is 85 percent agrarian," Martin concludes. 

To make matters worse, one third of Angola's population is internally displaced. Whether living in camps, forgotten in government-run transit centres, or recently discovered in newly accessible areas, these people are dependent on assistance until they can return to their areas of origin and farm. 

With nearly one million internally displaced people living in camp-like conditions, an additional million now in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, and another million expected to return home within the next year, the Angolan government has a large task in stepping in to save lives and helping its people return to peaceful and productive lives. 

According to Martin, Angolan displaced persons she talked to insisted that "they only need seeds, tools and three to six months of food in order to return to their homes." Their expectations were low; they had not even asked for clinics and schools. "We don’t want to stay here," one elderly woman in Cruzeiro camp had told Refugees International. "If I have seeds, tools and food, I would go home tomorrow." 

- In the newly accessible areas of rural Angola, the time to provide assistance is critical, Martin warns. In need of food and medical care, mothers were walking for three days to receive one pound and a half of corn flour. "Those too weak to walk are brought in by government trucks or left to die," she had observed. 

Therapeutic feeding centres in the provinces are full. More people arrive everyday in search of life saving assistance. Mortality rates in the newly accessible areas are 5.7 per 10,000 per day, two and a half times greater than the emergency threshold for children under five. While on a site visit to Chittembo settlement in Bie Province in late June, the group's staff witnessed two funerals in the few hours they were present. "More than five people die every day in this village of 2,600," one representative from the Ministry of Social Welfare and Reintegration (MINARS) said. 

The international aid community is overstretched and aid officials point fingers towards Angola's wealth. Earlier in 2002, the government pledged US$ 50 million to current humanitarian efforts with a special focus on the quartering areas, where UNITA forces are being demobilised. Recently, the government pledged an additional US$ 90 million for resettlement costs. 

- Thus, Angola plans to spend a total of US$ 140 million this year (about 4.3 percent of government reported oil revenues) on the urgent humanitarian needs of several million of its people, Martin sums up. "Moreover, it is not clear exactly how and when all of these funds will be spent. Given the dire state that Angola and its people are in, the government must do more with its wealth." 

Meanwhile the donor community is faced with a difficult dilemma. The Angolan government has the means to meet urgent needs, but is slow to do so. Government officials are giving no indication that they are seized with the sense of urgency that the UN and humanitarian organisations are demonstrating. 

At nine o'clock at night at the office of the UN humanitarian agency OCHA in the capital of Luanda, the halls are often buzzing with activity. "We are doing the most we can with the resources we have," the Head of Unit explains, "but we are only 35 percent funded." A senior humanitarian worker complained, "Ten days of Angolan oil money would fund the total Consolidated Appeal for Angola." Martin thus raises the question: "does the international community care more about the Angolan people than does the government of Angola?" 

- To save lives, the only response the international community can take is to meet emergency needs while pushing the government to take on long-term development projects critical to the recovery of its country, she concludes. "These include the physical reconstruction of the country's infrastructure, the resettlement of millions of returning internally displaced people and refugees, and the establishment of community development programs that enable people to live productive and healthy lives." 

- In the end, it is the people of Angola who will need to call on their government to give them the assistance they need, Martin goes on. "How the government uses this opportunity of peace will be key to securing local and international cooperation and approval, and cementing a durable peace that benefits all Angolans." 

Refugees International therefore recommended that the government of Angola immediately funds and embarks on reconstruction works throughout the country. The government should also cooperate better with the UN and humanitarian organisations in removing mines, resettle displaced people, providing seeds and facilitate other humanitarian assistance. 

To achieve this, civil servants needed to improve their work, a poverty reduction policy needed to be defined and transparency and accountability in regards to petroleum revenues needed to be established, the group concluded. 

Sources: Based on RI and afrol archives

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