wfn.org | Rebuilding Angola

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

NEWSBRIEF

September 13, 1996

REBUILDING ANGOLA

War raged in Angola for more than 30 years, killing more than
500,000 people and leaving many more injured and disabled,
displaced and destitute.  What could have been one of Africa's
richest countries was left in political and economic ruins.
Since the 1994 Lusaka Accords between UNITA and the Angolan
Government, progress has been made to rehabilitate and rebuild
this damaged country. However, many people in Angola still suffer
hardship and an urgent need for humanitarian assistance
continues, according to Action by Churches Together (ACT).  A
recent ACT assessment found the living conditions of the people
to be pitiful, especially regarding health care, food and
hygiene.  Schools and health centers were found to be in
disrepair.  ACT is a worldwide network of churches, including the
Lutheran World Federation, meeting human need through coordinated
emergency response.  Children have not attended school for more
than two years. There are no primary health care facilities.
Uige was a besieged city for nearly two years.  The city once had
a hospital, three health centers and 46 health posts; by 1995
only the hospital was still operational.  People are still
confined to the city center, according to ACT, as movement is
restricted due to destroyed infrastructure and the presence of
land mines in the countryside.  According to ACT the previously
inaccessible Uige province has been opened to humanitarian
assistance.  ACT will work to rehabilitate schools and health
posts, providing medicine and equipment and re-training staff.
As the planting season starts this month agents of ACT will
distribute seeds and tools for 2,500 families to stimulate and
rehabilitate family agricultural production and equip
war-affected people of that region with the basics for farming.

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service,
(312) 380-2958 or AHAFFTEN@ELCA.ORG; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir.,
(312) 380-2955 or FRANKI@ELCA.ORG