18 January 2000
Angola's Situation Alarming, Security Council Told
(Holbrooke: War only damages Angola's great potential) (1130) By Judy Aita Washington File United Nations Correspondent United Nations - During a public briefing on the situation in Angola January 18, the Security Council heard a description of Angola's dire humanitarian situation caused by UNITA's continued resistance to the government - along with new information that UNITA forces deliberately shot down two UN planes. The meeting was another in a series of special briefings on Africa arranged by US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke for his presidency of the council during the month of January. Other sessions have focused on AIDS and refugees; Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo will be focused on later in the month. Holbrooke told reporters that he hoped "the world is listening very carefully; and I hope that the people in the jungles of Angola who have continued this war unnecessarily for so long will hear this message -- dim though it may be by the time it gets there -- and understand that this war benefits nobody and damages the great potential of the people of Angola. "There was a real unanimity in the room expressed by the Troika (of Portugal, United states and Russia) and everyone else that the sanctions regime should be tightened and even further enforced," Holbrooke said. Then, speaking as the US representative to the United Nations and not as council president, Holbrooke said that "the United States government will do everything it can -- and more than it has done in the past" -- to enforce the sanctions against UNITA. "The impression that we have here is that the policy in Angola is picking up momentum with a lot of international, multinational support," the ambassador said. "Over the next few weeks and months the United States government will be looking for additional ways to support the sanctions regime. "At the same time we want to make clear that the sanctions are only one part of an overall policy to bring peace to one of the most troubled nations on the face of the earth," he said. Angola's situation "is beyond lamentable," he said. "It is the single worst place on earth for a child to be born -- it has the highest infant mortality rate, the highest chance the child will not live to the age of 5. It is an extraordinarily sad situation, and making the sanctions work and stopping Savimbi's behavior, is only part of the answer to this problem. "The world's tendency to look away from Angola while its resources continue to be exported for the benefit of the rest of the world is not an acceptable policy," the US ambassador said. In a statement read by Russian Ambassador Sergey Lavrov, the three observer states to the Angola Peace Process - Portugal, Russia and the US - also referred to as the Troika, said that "the primary cause of the continuing conflict in Angola is the failure of the Uniao Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA), under the leadership of Mr. Jonas Savimbi, to comply with its obligations under the Lusaka Protocol and relevant resolutions of the Security council, in particular its failure to demilitarize and its resistance to extension of state administration. "Members of the Troika share the assessment of the secretary general that the overall situation in the country could only benefit from an improved human rights environment and from persistent efforts to eliminate human rights violations," the statement also said. The United Nations has appealed for $258 million for humanitarian assistance for Angola in the year 2000, and the Troika called upon the international community to help the government of Angola address the needs of its people. Undersecretary General Kieran Prendergast told the council that the humanitarian situation is particularly critical. "The war-affected population in Angola is estimated at almost 4 million, about a third of the country's population," Prendergast said. "Almost 2 million people are internally displaced and both resident populations and internally displaced people show high levels of malnutrition. In addition, the humanitarian situation of another third of the Angolan population living in inaccessible areas is still unknown but is thought to be critical." More than 20,000 Angolan refugees have entered Zambia since October 1999, adding to some 160,000 Angolans already there and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees expects the figure could rise another 10,000 in the next few weeks. Namibia also has had a new influx of about 10,000 refugees since the fight along the border escalated in September. Prendergast outlined a situation in which the property and infrastructure of Angola has been destroyed, roads are being re-mined, and humanitarian aid efforts are facing increasing risks from mine accidents and ambushes. Government forces appear to be successful and the dos Santos government is gradually re-taking territory, the undersecretary general said. But he added that "for an enduring peace to become a reality in Angola, a political solution to the conflict will have to be pursued. "There is no question that UNITA bears the primary responsibility for the continued humanitarian and human rights catastrophe in Angola," Prendergast said. But he pointed out that reports of human rights abuses by both UNITA and by government forces have continued to be received from all parts of the country. Those reports state that both sides have forced civilians, including minors, into military units. "It is incumbent on the government to ensure that all those living in areas recently under UNITA control are treated in accordance with international humanitarian law, and to do everything possible to improve the human rights situation in the country," he said. Canadian Ambassador Robert Fowler, head of the council's Angola Sanctions Committee, told the council of his mid January visit to Angola and about his interviews with former UNITA military officers and officials. His presentation included showing an edited version of 15 hours of filmed interviews with the former UNITA members who have now joined with the Angola government in opposition to UNITA. Fowler has been leading a new effort by the Security Council and its Sanctions Committee to cut UNITA's sale of diamonds to finance its war machine. According to the information Fowler obtained in his interviews in Angola, UNITA did not sell the diamonds in world diamond markets -- but instead used the diamonds as currency to pay arms dealers and fuel suppliers. The former UNITA officials also told Fowler that UNITA, on orders from Savimbi, shot down two UN aircraft in December 1998 and January 1999 killing 23 people. They said that the planes were destroyed and the bodies buried in an attempt to conceal the incidents. Fowler will be submitting a full report of his mission to the council in the next few months.
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