Critical Issues

• Access to the municipality of Nambuangongo, Bengo Province, needs to be established before the rainy season begins.
  
  
• Broken bridges were rehabilitated in Kuanza Sul and Moxico Provinces expanding humanitarian access.
  
  
• The Saurimo-Dala road remained closed due to the discovery of an anti-tank mine in Lunda Sul Province.
  
  
• Humanitarian partners are very concerned about the lack of sanitary conditions for children interned for paediatric care in the Luena hospital, Moxico Province.

Provincial Update

Bengo Province: Access to the municipality of Nambuangongo needs to be established before the rainy season begins. Returnees who arrived more than a year ago have not received humanitarian assistance.

During the reporting period, seeds and tools were distributed to 900 families in Bula Atumba Municipality, 350 resettled demobilised families in Sassacaria and 109 resettled Congolese refugee families in Sungue village, Dande Muncipality.

Health care workers in Cabiri commune who have reported a suspected increase in malnutrition in the area will receive a one-day training in malnutrition screening methods.

Benguela Province: During the reporting period, almost 370 people were living in the Benguela transit centre Tchapiandalu, 5 km outside the city centre, due to lack of onward transportation. Most are from Kuando Kubango Province and will return to Bocoio, Balombo, Ganda, Cubal and Caimbambo. Local authorities have assisted with food but lack of water and sanitation facilities are still a problem.

The following areas were assessed and opened for humanitarian operations:

• Ganda to Ebanga commune, approximately 26,400 persons
• Ganda to Chicuma, approximately 27,740 persons
• Ganda to Cangola, approximately 4,600 persons
• Chicuma to Caluquembe, Huíla Province
• Benguela to Kalahanga, Baia Farta

Bié Province: Local health authorities began emergency vaccinations in Muhango commune, Kuemba Municipality after nine cases of measles and one related death were recorded.

More than 365,000 children, a coverage rate of 119 percent, were immunised in the second phase of the anti-polio campaign. Local health authorities now intend to intensify routine vaccination campaigns through fixed health posts and mobile health teams.

Huíla Province: Broken bridges throughout the process continue to hamper return movements and humanitarian access, particularly in the municipalities of Caconda, Chipindo, Chicomba and Kuvango. Local Authorities will discuss the issue with FAA in order to involve them in the rehabilitation. Demining of the Kuvango - Cutato road are continuing.

Kuando Kubango Province: Security assessments are needed in the areas of Nankova, Likua and Rivungo which remain inaccessible to humanitarian partners. Opening of the Caira - Cuangar road and the Cuangar - Nankova road will facilitate the delivery of food assistance to returnees and demobilised families in those areas. People from Nankova seeking aid have been arriving in Caiundo, according to the local administration there.

The areas of Cuelei and Jamba Missesse are below the specified Norms for return and resettlement areas and malnutrition has been reported in Cuelei. During September, approximately 330 people arrived in Mavinga from inaccessible areas due to lack of food and medicines.

In September, nearly 7,650 square metres were demined and 21 AP mines, seven UXO and 34 small arms munitions destroyed in Mavinga. Six new mine fields were demarcated in Menongue Municipality.

The orphanage in Mavinga is housed in a few old tents. The 21 children need to be moved to a permanent structure appropriate for long-term stays and included in family tracing programmes.

Kuanza Sul Province: A mission to evaluate the economic impact of mine infestation on the province took place the last week of September.

It was feared that lack of funds for transportation and logistic constraints would hamper seeds and tools distribution for approximately 4,000 families. The start of the rainy season has made access to Gungo and Amboiva locations only possible by 4x4, raising the transportation costs of some humanitarian partners. In Kibala Municipality, 1,000 agriculture kits were distributed from 700 returnee households and 300 demobilised families.

Humanitarian partners also expressed concerns about the quality of the seeds distributed. The beans have a germinability rate of less than 70 percent meaning that 4,500 square metres cultivated would yield less than 40 kg for each household.

Three broken bridges were rehabilitated over the Gango, Longo and Pombuije rivers, opening the Quibala - Mussende main road for humanitarian access. The trip from Quibala to Mussende will now take approximately 2.5 hours. However, constraints during the rainy season will limit access to approximately 18,000 people. Quienha, Mussende Municipality, and Atome, Kassongue Municipality, remiang isolated from the rest of the province due to two destroyed bridges and suspected mine infestation.

Lunda Sul Province: The closing of the Saurimo-Dala road due to the discovery of an AT mine 28 km from Saurimo hampered access to more than 4,000 families in need of humanitarian assistance.

Local authorities reported the spontaneous arrival of almost 4,000 Angolan refugees from the DRC and Zambia. An additional 218 refugees arrived during the reporting period as part of the organised repatriation process.

Malanje Province: A meningitis outbreak continued to be registered although the epidemiological antennae reported that the numbers are decreasing. During the reporting period one death and 17 new cases were recorded bringing the overall toll as of the last week of September to 139 cases and 74 deaths.

An Angolan soldier was injured in a UXO incident while the FAA demining team was trying to clean a mined area in Lombe commune 24 km northwest of Malanje town.

More than 6,500 persons in Kwale and Massango were not assisted during the reporting period due to blocked access from an overturned truck on the bridge over the Luhaxi river.

Moxico Province: During the reporting period, truck traffic began using the new bridge over the river Mucussueji on the Luacano-Luau corridor, the only route open to reach Luau from Luena. Humanitarian partners warn that when the rainy season peaks the road will become impassable and access to Luau will be possible only by air.

Humanitarian partners conducted a land mine assessment in Cavungo Commune, Alto Zambeze Municipality, on 22 September. The area had been inaccessible due to muddy conditions on the Luau-Cavungo road. The team identified several mine fields and suspected mined areas, including:

• Nhanutenga, 867 metres east of Cavungo town
• Manufactura de Arroz 173 metres east of Cavungo
• source of the Cacueleca riversource of the Cavungo river
• location 540 metres east of Cavungo with visible UXO
• Capango village where a tripwire and improvised device is visible
• 'Kilometre 11,' outside Cavungo town, two mines were found and removed previous to the survey.

The Cavungo-Cazombo road is well-travelled and no incident has been reported.

Demining partners are clearing the priority mined areas in Liangongo commune, Leua Municipality. By the end of August, approximately 60 percent of the residential perimeter and 73,821 square metres had been cleared and nine AP mines and two UXO removed. However, deminers report that mine detectors have been ineffective in Liangongo as they cannot detect the Vs-K2 type of AP mine and efforts have been complicated by ground interference from metals in the soil. Almost 3,000 people received mine awareness training during the month.

According to humanitarian partners, more than 15,000 children in the province have received the cedula, or identity documents. However the municipalities of Luacano, Lumbala N'guimbo and Bundas have not been covered due to lack of access.

Although the number of malnourished children admitted into the Luena hospital has decreased humanitarian partners are very concerned about the conditions. There are no mosquito nets, few bedcovers, lack of water supply and cleaning activities and some children have lost weight while interned.

Local Authorities stated it would not be possible to resettle the 25,000 IDPs still living in camps around Luena town this year due to logistical contstraints.

OBSERVATION: Please note that the information contained in this report may have changed since it was received by OCHA Luanda.