Dateline ACT

Angola 0202

A missing generation

Geneva, May 24, 2002
By Rainer Lang

The people crossing the small bridge on their way to the town of Lobito in western Angola are mostly women and children. "The young men between 18 and 30 are missing", says William Temu, World Council of Churches (WCC) Africa secretary, who travelled to Angola recently as a member of a WCC staff team. All the places the team visited were the same: the young men are missing. They have either died or are still in the bush – a striking effect of the protracted civil war of 25 years.

Leaders of the member churches of the Council of Christian Churches in Angola (CICA) described the situation in the country as a humanitarian nightmare. Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, the global alliance of churches and church-related agencies responding to emergencies, through its members, brings relief to this country. Church leaders in Lobito and ACT member Lutheran World Federation (LWF), stressed the need for strengthening the humanitarian efforts: "If the people are not given aid, Angola may not recover. If we miss the chance now, there will be no peace."

Some 50,000 soldiers of the rebel movement UNITA along with their families - about 300,000 persons - are in the process of demobilization. Having lived for many years in the bush, their condition is described as "miserable" by aid workers. The former fighters are malnourished and in many cases ill. Many of them are reported to have died in the demobilization camp because of the lack of food.

Without adequate food for these people, all the peace and reconciliation efforts started by the churches will not be successful, church leaders warn. The churches, which have systematically called for peace since July 1999, started not only peace and reconciliation programs but are also monitoring the peace process and preparing people for the upcoming elections. First of all, they are mobilizing all resources to support the people in need. But this is difficult when the church leaders themselves struggle with the same tragic conditions as those they minister to. One pastor, who lost a leg because he stepped on one of the mines which are littered all over the country, is now working with traumatized people. Another pastor had just learned that his son, who was abducted by the rebels and presumed dead, is in fact alive and returning to the village- but the father still does not know his son's condition. And sometimes the needs are even more basic. "Even the staff of the churches do not get a full meal a day", Temu observed.

WCC staff member Evelyn Appiah reports that she saw many malnourished children on the streets in the capital Luanda as well as in Lobito and Benguela. Most schools are in ruins because of the war and the illiteracy rate is high. Orphans from the war are living in the streets. Many children are desperately trying to find their missing parents. Rubbish piles up everywhere, clean water is scarce and the health system is non-existent. "The health center in Lobito is completely destroyed, only the walls are left", she said. "The people we met were asking for food, clothing and money. They are roaming the streets, but it looks as if their spirits have left them." For Appiah one of the key issues is to change the mentality: "After so many years of civil war the idea of solidarity is no longer there."

The end of colonial rule in Angola in 1975 brought decades of conflict. A peace accord between the government and UNITA signed in 1994 and the formation of a government of national unity in 1997, did not lead to lasting peace. A ceasefire signed after the death of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi earlier this year is seen as the first real chance for peace and reconciliation in Angola. It is estimated that up to 1.5 million people have died in the fighting over the last 25 years. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) or have moved to big cities like Luanda, where the population has steadily increased from about 450,000 to more than three million today.

ACT members are addressing the needs of the IDPs. One memebr, LWF is working in 15 areas in 15 camps for IDPs and providing assistance for about 80,000 people. ACT issued an appeal for IDPs in Angola in February 2002 (relief and rehabilitation for IDPs). This appeal includes ACT members LWF, Igreja Evangelica Reformed d’Angola (IERA) and the Ecumenical Agency for Social Development in Angola (EASDA). Due to the changing situation and the immense humanitarian needs in the country a new appeal is being prepared.