Angola: UN food agency resumes relief flights after attacks on its aircraft

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today resumed humanitarian assistance flights in most areas of Angola, ending a six-day suspension forced by attacks on its aircraft.

In a statement issued at its Rome headquarters today, WFP urged all parties in the Angolan conflict to respect the neutrality of its humanitarian operations and allow unhindered delivery of aid.

The agency had halted its air deliveries on 15 June, when the crews of two airplanes used by WFP reported seeing a missile explode on their flight path from Catumbela to Kuito. Prior to that incident, on 8 June, a Boeing 727 cargo plane had been fired on and damaged as it approached Luena, prompting an end to WFP's flights to and from that airport. The use of the Luena airport resumed on 12 June.

According to WFP, attacks on its aircraft - which are painted white and clearly marked with the agency's insignia - endanger not only aid workers but also the provision of vital humanitarian assistance, thereby threatening the health and welfare of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people. Sixty per cent of all inland WFP food deliveries are made by air.

Compounding the problem of delivering aid to the airport in Kuito - a city of some 200,000 inhabitants including 40,000 severely malnourished children - is the poor condition of the runways. Due to repairs, the deliveries to Kuito were not resumed today, WFP official Francis Mwanza told the UN News Service. Like most of Angola's province capitals, Kuito has been practically isolated for months because military activity impedes access by road.

WFP's programmes currently assist and feed over one million people in Angola.