By Virginia Kapembeza
The provision of food aid has not been so much of a problem in Angola, but the same cannot be said for non-food aid. Pledges for the improvement in health, education, shelter, provision of seeds and agricultural tools and access to safe water and sanitation, have been insufficient.
Mercedes Sayagues, the World Food Programme (WFP) regional information officer, said in Harare recently that “pledges for aid other than food lag far behind needs.”
In besieged cities, the WFP provides logistics support to other UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to ensure that sufficient medicines, blankets and soap reach affected populations.
Last year, donor agencies felt there was little point in providing seeds and tools or clearing roads of landmines, but that priority should be feeding displaced or needy people and getting the war stopped.
Since early March, no relief aid was reaching Dondo in Kwanza north province by land because of road insecurity. The WFP has been airdropping food, medical supplies and blankets.
Poverty as a result of below average harvests, lack of basic relief supplies and a collapsed social service network is widespread. Geoffrey Dennis, director of the British Red Cross, said when he visited Angola in February, “… hospitals lack the most basic supplies. One hospital I visited was crammed full of 500 war-wounded but had no food or medical supplies at all.”
As access by relief flights to previously inaccessible areas in Angola became easier, the UN called for more financial aid for its emergency programmes for a six-month period beginning in January 1994.
The 1994 UN Revised Inter-Agency Appeal listing Angola’s requirements for aid was launched on
28 February. It shows that an estimated US$179 million is needed to help more than 3.3 million Angolans.
Of the total amount needed, aid for health, water/sanitation, shelter, education and demining amounts to US$159 million. In May last year an appeal for US$226 million only resulted in US$103 million in pledges.
In November 1993, health care had reportedly collapsed with no child vaccinations for the past 15 years.
The United Nations Childrens’ Fund (Unicef) set about expanding programmes in the health sector, through immunization campaigns and the distribution of Oral Rehydration Sugar CORS) sachets. Another priority is combatting the increase of diseases traditionally associated with the rainy season.
The UK Overseas Development Administration (ODA) sent 10 nurses, medical aid supplies and a health coordinator to Unicef in Angola for a 30-day mass immunization programme in conflict areas such as Kuito and Huambo with a target of 70 000 children.
The supplies consisted of over 33 tonnes of equipment such as fridges for storage and stand-by generators. Medicines included vaccines for measles and tetanus, oral rehydration kits and vitamin supplements. Measles and malaria have become Angola’s main killers in the absence of adequate facilities. In February and March this year agricultural implements were distributed in preparation for the next planting season in September to ensure sufficient stocks for mid-1995. At least 13 433 million tonnes of seeds are required to meet the needs of displaced, war and drought-affected populations. A project to stimulate organic fertilizer production has been designed by Concern, an Irish NGO, and is awaiting funding.
Bureaucracy has negatively affected the distribution of agricultural aid. According to the Norwegian Peoples’ Aid, seeds and tools, including 25 000 hoes, donated for Bengo and Kwanza south provinces are stranded in Luanda port awaiting customs clearance.
The UN appeal sensitized the international community to the humanitarian situation in Angola. An increased number of donor delegations have visited the country since then.
Britain, Canada and Sweden offered immediate support while Japan, Germany, the US, Denmark and South Africa, in April, were reviewing the support they can offer. Italy and France were planning further bilateral aid. The European Union (EU) offered support to various NGO projects pledging $18 million
ECU in total to the humanitarian programme in Angola.
Increased nutritional levels and the closure of more feeding centres have meant a shift towards more rehabilitative aid and focus on water and sanitation programmes, vaccinations, and educational training for teachers and students. The war has reduced buildings to roofless shells and most schools, post offices and hospitals now lie in rubble.
In December 1993, UN’s aid coordinator, Manuel Aranda Da Silva, acknowledged that health problems remained serious with a persistent shortage of water, medicine and special foods for acutely malnourished children of which there are around 30 000.
Thousands of mines and left-over explosives continue to pose a daily hazard to the war-weary population. A German humanitarian organization, Cap Anamur, is engaged in mine-clearing and ammunition destruction. They reckon by clearing landmines they are engaging in preventive health care as they ensure fewer or even no amputees in Angola. They have cleared 75 000 of an estimated total of 20 million landmines as well as 60 000 bombs, missiles and more than 200 small calibre ammunition from unguarded dumps.
The Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) briefing paper reported in June last year, that Angola needed 100 000 tonnes of non-aided food but the on-going war has increased demand for non-food items. (SARDC)
