UN appeals for $172 million in relief aid for Angola

In order to deal with one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, stemming from the decades-long civil war in Angola, the United Nations is appealing for nearly $172 million to fund more than 150 life-saving projects until the end of the year.

In a mid-term review of the consolidated inter-agency appeal for Angola, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the strategy for relief agencies until the end of 2002 is to continue to expand access to populations in distress, stabilize these populations through integrated emergency interventions, and support normalization by providing assistance to populations returning to their areas of origin or resettling.

"The situation until then will remain precarious," OCHA warns. "If humanitarian assistance is withdrawn, or slows substantially during the next year, a quarter of the country's population is likely to slip into deeper crisis."

According to OCHA, 250,000 Angolans were displaced from their homes during the closing stages of the civil war, while government figures show that more than 30 per cent of the overall population - or some 4 million people - have lost their homes, the majority by force.

Since the start of the year until early August, the UN has received 46 per cent of the funds needed to carry out relief projects, up from only 13 per cent in May. The infusion of funds enabled relief agencies to rapidly expand programmes and consolidate pipelines of key commodities, including food, non-food items, and seeds and tools.

By the end of July, the situation of some 750,000 people had been stabilized and some form of assistance provided to 1.8 million others, OCHA reports.