DATE=8/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=UNHCR / ANGOLA (L-O)
NUMBER=2-265204
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The U-N Refugee Agency says its efforts to
assist hundreds-of-thousands of internally displaced
people in Angola are gaining momentum. Lisa Schlein
in Geneva reports the agency says thousands of
uprooted people continue to flee insecurity in the
countryside and head for main urban centers.
TEXT: The U-N Refugee Agency is assisting about 300-
thousand internally displaced people in Luanda, Zaire,
and Uige provinces. About two-thirds of them are
located around Uige.
The agency says it has greater flexibility in moving
around than before. Nevertheless, it says its ability
to help the people varies from day to day. It says
some days aid workers are not able to go to the
surrounding areas because UNITA rebels are carrying
out attacks.
Delphine Marie of the U-N-H-C-R says people around
Uige are living in terrible conditions.
/// MARIE ACT ///
They do not have any shelter. They are mostly
being accommodated in warehouses or transit
centers, sometimes in churches or schools. They
are putting tremendous pressure on the existing
water systems also, for instance. These
systems, some of them were destroyed by the war
and some of them were already insufficient for
the local population.
/// END ACT ///
Ms. Marie says there is a need for medical supplies,
clothes, seeds, and agricultural tools so people can
begin subsistence farming. She says the agency is
also assisting the local population, which is
suffering as a result of the huge influx of people.
/// 2nd MARIE ACT ///
U-N-H-C-R is helping a lot with the government
and N-G-O's (non-governmental organizations) in
assessing the viability of some sites that have
been earmarked. These sites will be able to
receive a lot of the internally displaced
persons who have no shelter at the moment, who
are camping in a very precarious manner.
/// END ACT ///
The U-N Refugee Agency appealed for eight-million
dollars two-weeks ago. Ms. Marie says the Agency's
ability to provide humanitarian assistance to these
unfortunate victims of Angola's long-running civil war
will depend on receiving the money. (SIGNED)
NEB/LS/GE/RAE
07-Aug-2000 10:36 AM EDT (07-Aug-2000 1436 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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