United Nations | Saturday
THE World Food Programme (WFP) has again suspended cargo flights to Angola after a missile exploded near two of its planes on Friday, the United Nations said.
The incident occurred at noon local time near Kuito, in the highlands of central Angola, 570 kilometres southeast of the capital, Luanda, representative Manoel De Almeida e Silva said.
“Two planes carrying 17 tons of maize bound for Kuito were flying 20 nautical miles from Kuito when one pilot saw an explosion in the air, which he identified as a missile,” Almeida e Silva said.
“One of the aircraft had WFP markings and the other did not,” he said; “however, this flight has been occurring on a daily basis.”
Almeida e Silva said recalled that “this is the second time in recent weeks that WFP has reported a shooting incident near their planes,” and added: “It is not confirmed yet who did this, or why.”
The planes were forced to return to Catumbela, 300 kilometres (190 miles) west towards the Atlantic coast, “preventing them from completing the flight to Kuito,” he said.
“WFP says Kuito has six days of food left to feed an increasing number of internally displaced persons,” he said.
“WFP has suspended all cargo flights until further investigation takes place on Monday,” he added.
Only one day earlier, the agency said it had resumed humanitarian flights to Luena, in eastern Angola, where rebels fired a missile at another of its planes on June 8.
On Tuesday, the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) admitted in a statement to firing a missile at the plane, a Boeing 727, as it landed in Luena.
The crew of the jet, chartered from a private firm, Transafrik, managed to bring it safely to the ground in Luena, 1,300 kilometres southeast of Luanda.
After the attack, WFP suspended its flights to Luena and the neighbouring town of Saurimo, but on Thursday it said the missions had resumed.
One WFP flight arrived in Luena with passengers on Monday, and another flight left Luanda the next day with food for the town, which hosts 100,000 villagers who have fled fighting in the countryside, said WFP representative Cristina Muller.
Angola’s civil war, which broke out in 1975 following 14 years of fighting against the country’s Portuguese colonial rulers, resumed in earnest in 1998 after the collapse of a 1994 peace accord.
At least 500,000 people have died in the civil war, while four million people have been displaced, out of a total population of 12 million.
Unita is under UN sanctions, which include a diamond trade embargo and travel restrictions on its leaders. – AFP