Nawaal Deane
In the week that Angola prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary of independence, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has published a blunt account of the horrendous mutilation and terror suffered by civilians during the country’s lengthy civil war. Contrary to the claims of the Angolan government that the situation has stabilised, the MSF says the population is increasingly exposed to the violence of war.
Its new document on the country – dubbed by MSF as a “blunt, realistic picture” – criticises the support of the international community as ineffective and says the fruits of foreign investment are visible only in Luanda. The organisation further reports that the Angolan authorities display a complete lack of interest in the health of the population.
Witness accounts gathered by the MSF tell of reprisals not only against men but also against pregnant women, children and the elderly – especially in regions controlled by the rebel movement Unita, where humanitarian organisations struggle to gain access. Civilians are forced to flee into the bush, to hide for longer and longer periods to escape murder and forced enlistment, says MSF. Angolans, says the report, are used by both sides as a weapon of war and are literally displayed in humanitarian “shop windows”, at best to secure maximum access to donor funds – at worst to secure the approval of the international community. More than ever before in the country’s history, Angolans are paying the price of the war, says MSF. The large-scale displacement of the population has provoked a serious food crisis. The complete dependence on the parties to the conflict and total dependence on humanitarian aid has led to malnutrition and high increase in mortality rates. The United Nations is severly critised in the report for not demanding impartial access to Unita zones to ensure the protection of the civilians. The UN should adapt their aid programmes to renounce the principal of neutral and indiscriminate access to populations. The MSF staff does not have access to a large part of Angola where hundreds of thousands of people are suffering in zones controlled by Unita, which refuses humanitiarian access.
Many accounts of war crimes by both Unita and Angolan armed forces are related in the document. A displaced person from Bie Province tells how he was mutilated by Unita soldiers: ” Three men held me while a fourth struck me on my forearm with a machete. At the second blow, my forearm fell on the ground. The soldier [Unita] said : ‘This is because the government troops reached Belo Horizonte and you wanted to join them. Now we have cut off your hands and you will not be able to do it.'”