CASH-strapped and war-torn Angola on Monday asked South Africa for supplies of food and medicine amid a spiralling humanitarian crisis caused by the resumption of civil war in December. In a list of items sent to South Africa’s trade department and published in newspapers, Luanda-based merchants requested exports of hospital equipment, medicine and food as resources run dry in the decaying capital. Angola’s slide back into a 25-year civil war six months ago has already displaced 1,5 million of its 12 million people and has made most of the country unpassable for fear of landmines or rebel or bandit attack. The United Nation’s humanitarian coordination unit in Angola said the World Food Programme, responsible for feeding the displaced population, had received only half the 120000 metric tons of food required this year to ease the suffering.