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Contact the WSWS ... Books Online OTHER LANGUAGES German French Italian Russian ... Indonesian LEAFLETS Download in PDF format WSWS Africa BBC programme depicts catastrophic conditions since war resumed in Angola By Barry Mason 16 July 1999 Use this version to print War has raged in Angola practically ever since independence from Portugal in 1975. The country was invaded by South African troops, backed by America. The invasion was repelled by the MPLA (People's Liberation Movement of Angola) government, but South Africa, along with the CIA, maintained a war of subversion through the activities of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). The renewed war between the government and UNITA, which began again in December 1998, has led to 1.75 million refugees facing hardship and starvation. These new refugees are in addition to those from previous conflicts. United Nations General Secretary Kofi Annan has said that unless money is made available, hundreds of thousands could die. The Angolan Minister of Social Affairs and Humanitarian Aid, Albino Malungo, spelt out some of the dire statistics: 3 million Angolans in extreme need; 100,000 children orphaned or in extreme circumstances. The programme's presenter went to Kuito, a hill town in the Angolan highlands, where she spoke to a 14-year-old boy who had been driven from his village when it was attacked by UNITA forces. They had killed his mother and father. He escaped with his grandmother and other family members by walking 40 miles to Kuito, which is surrounded by land mines and UNITA heavy artillery. Some 66,000 refugees live in straw huts in the town. UNITA has a policy of terrorising people to drive them from their land and villages, so that they must become refugees in towns like Kuito. | |
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