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Apathy rules Wild West Angola
26/03/2004 11:09 - (SA)
Liezel de Lange
Huambo - People living in Huambo in central Angola have started patching up the mortar bomb and bullet holes in their homes.
Finally, after four decades they believe the war has come to an end. And the sceptics need only read newspapers - to see images of Unita leader Jonas Savimbi's body again splattered all over the headlines two years after his death.
"Previous cease-fires were never taken seriously, but after Savimbi's death and the accord of April 2002 people started piecing their lives together again.
"Finally it's worth plastering over the holes," says Fernando Arroyo, United Nations (UN) chief for the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Huambo.
Conflict in Angola flared up in the 1960s during the liberation struggle against Portuguese colonial domination. Following independence in 1975 the struggle deteriorated into a Cold War conflict and by the 1990s it had become a power struggle between Unita's Savimbi and President José Eduardo dos Santos of ruling MPLA.
Savimbi was killed on February 22, 2002 in Huambo - ten years after refusing to concede defeat in Angola's first general election in 1992.
Bring your own chair to school
Angola's second election is set for 2006 reports the Angolan Peace Monitor, an independent web news service. That should enable government to promulgate new election and land bills, in order to conduct a census and compile a voters' roll.
"People want to pursue their politics in a peaceful environment. They want to vote, but enormous challenges await peaceful and fair elections," Arroyo warns.
Research conducted by the South African Institute for International Affairs (SAIIA) shows that at least three quarters of the population of about 14 million are living on less than $1 (about R6,50) a day, and that a third of Angolans are internal refugees.
More than 50% of the population suffers from malnutrition and up to 80% of schools and hospitals were destroyed during the war. Half of all children are not at school. Those who attend school are often seen walking there carrying tins or plastic or wooden stools as seats since many school have no furniture.
Arroyo adds that the transport network has been all but destroyed and thousands of landmines are distributed across the country.
"Angola is estimated to have four thousand minefields, set by various defence forces," says Domigos Justino chief of Halo Trust, a landmine disposal organisation.
Bad roads and landmines have resulted in some remote areas being isolated to the extent that not even the most hardened aid organisation is able to reach them. It is highly unlikely that residents would appear on any voters' roll, that they would be exposed to election campaigns or that they would be able to vote on election day.
Time bomb ready to go off
"We cannot discuss peace solely because shooting has stopped," says the Reverend Daniel Ntoni-Nzinga, secretary of influential Interdenominational Committee for Peace in Angola (ICPA).
"The country is rich in resources like oil and diamonds but there is a saying in Angola: 'You might be rich in money, but you are very likely to die of hunger if it lies in someone else's pocket.'"
SAIIA figures estimate that Angola produces 900 000 barrels of oil per day, most of it in Cabinda - the only area in the country where armed conflict has not stopped because the population demands self rule.
There is definitely money - 4x4 vehicles, restaurants, hotels and mansions on Luanda's beachfront bear testimony to that. However, far fewer Angolans are to be found in restaurants than those surviving on the city's refuse dumps.
"Some people became rich during the war and this has made the poor bitter," says Ntoni-Nzinga. "Abject poverty has sown the seeds for a new time bomb."
The ICPA believes it is imperative that elections be held as soon as possible, but is concerned over voters apathy.
"We have to spur the people to vote. Many say they voted in1992, but that things deteriorated following elections."
World Vision (WV) is among non-governmental organisations preparing the war-torn population for democracy and elections.
Conflict resolution training is part of their job - imperative in a country where a man is likely to kill his neighbour over noise, or where nobody bats an eyelid when an unfaithful wife is beaten to an inch of her life.
"Sometimes it's like the Wild West. The strongest and those who are armed are usually given their way," says Nardi Souza, WV's civil training chief in Luanda.
A remote dream
"We want to empower people. They are suffering and do not know where to find help. Thousands are fighting for survival - their rights and the idea of a constitution are remote dreams," says Souza.
WV is co-operating with government and community leaders to develop civil society.
"We want to teach people their rights and how to identify and solve problems," Souza notes.
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