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Angolans: free but hungry
26/03/2004 11:06 - (SA)
Liezel de Lange
Luanda - Freedom of speech was given a boost recently when the first political demonstration since 1992 was approved by the Angolan government.
The protesters were a group of opposition supporters who demonstrated in front of the American embassy citing Dos Santos as a dictator, Sapa-AFP reports.
Various independent newspapers regularly criticise government sharply - without fear of being muzzled. 'Here we have each other, and peace' say refugees
"We have lots of laughs, friends, chats and peace, but our tummies are never full. We are always hungry."
Describing their situation is Fransisco Vietnam, leader of a group of interior refugees living in a camp in Viana, south of Luanda.
In 1993 the community of 110 fled Moxico, in the east of the country ahead of Dr Jonas Savimbi's Unita forces. They came to Luanda.
We ran
"As soon as planes carrying (MPLA) soldiers landed with supplies we ran. Those who were able to fight for a seat on the plane got out," says Pedro do Mingos, 25. He left 23 family members behind in Moxico when he fled at the age of 14.
In Viana a few mud homes are scattered among faded tents and children are playing everywhere. The narrow path between tents is clean swept and the camp is rigidly ordered and tidy.
"Please excuse the flies, we never had the problem in the past but the government has recently dug ash pits next to our camp," says Vietnam.
Nobody here has a permanent job. They get their electricity from illegal connections and their water source is a broken pipe. They last received emergency supplies two years ago and survive by doing odd jobs.
Nobody wants to go home
Even so, nobody wants to go home, since there it is even worse, they believe.
"Most of the people we had left there have died since. Our farms are packed with land mines and our homes are gone," explains Vietnam. "We have been here for 11 years. We help each other."
The Viana community forms part of an estimated 4,1 million people who had been displaced by the time peace was declared in April 2002.
During the war communities in Unita-controlled areas had been subjected to violence, bush justice and plundering, an Institute of Security Studies (ISS) report says.
Anyone suspected of supporting the government faced severe punishment.
Scorched earth
The MPLA followed a scorched earth policy, forcing communities to leave rural areas in an effort to try and prevent Unita from recruiting soldiers or foraging for food, the report says.
Thousands fled to camps in provincial capitals. Here they were able to get food from aid organisations and find shelter from the violence.
The ISS estimates that about 3,8 million people had returned to their own homes by the end of last year.
"If we return we will only be refugees once again, because once you arrive there you have to live in a camp," says Vietnam.
"They have to determine whose land belongs to whom. And then there are the landmines."
Andre Bastos Macina, 27, says many people in Viana returned to Moxico shortly after the war, but they soon returned. "Here at least we have electricity, water and each other."
His two-year old daughter had been seriously ill of typhoid the previous evening. "Everybody contributed toward the $50 (about R325) I needed for treatment in the state clinic.
They could help
"Fortunately they could help. Usually the clinic refers us to four or five other clinics, since they don't have the drugs.
"Once they send us to the pink hospital in Luanda (provincial hospital) we start arranging the funeral.
"We don't have the money to get there and often they are not able to help us."
Vietnam walks towards a heap of rags lying in front of a mud home. He lifts the rags. Underneath lies an old woman. He says she is waiting to die.
She has been referred to the pink hospital.
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