ANGOLA: UN WITHDRAWAL COULD LEAD TO ANOTHER HUMAN RIGHTS DISASTER © Amnesty International 24 OCTOBER 1996 On United Nations (UN) Day, Amnesty International warned member governments that Angola could witness another human rights catastrophe unless measures to protect and promote human rights are fully integrated into the peace process. "As the peace process draws to a close in Angola, it is vital that steps are taken now to ensure that human rights are protected," Amnesty International said. "Without this, the peace process will amount to nothing, and the months and years spent by thousands of people trying to lay the base for reconciliation will have been wasted." The United Nations Angola Verification Mission (UNAVEM III) is due to pull out of Angola in February 1997, after two years spent trying to implement the peace accords signed between the government and armed opposition in 1994. The implementation of these accords is still far behind schedule. Amnesty International is urging that in the following months, steps are taken to ensure that human rights are protected after the withdrawal. "Lasting peace cannot be achieved while each side fears a repetition of the mass killings and other human rights abuses which occurred with total impunity during the conflict. Both sides have bound themselves to protecting human rights; they should now transform their words into deeds." Amnesty International is calling for the establishment of a body of experts to take over the human rights work begun by the UNAVEM III Human Rights Unit - the body which has been primarily involved in human rights protection and promotion in the country - and which is due to pull out in February. Its replacement should be impartial, independent and competent, and provided with adequate funding to carry out its work. The organisation is urging international governmental organizations and aid donors to provide financial and other support for human rights initiatives. The UN Security Council should ensure that the peace process is not considered complete until there is adequate protection for human rights. Both the government of President José Eduardo dos Santos and the Uniao Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA), National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, led by Jonas Malheiro Savimbi, are attempting to build a Government of National Unity and Reconciliation in a context of bitterness, mistrust, and lack of accountability on both sides. Amnesty International is concerned that if human rights safeguards are not included as a central plank of the new government's mandate, the world could see a repetition of events which followed previous attempts to implement peace. After the September 1992 elections mass killings occurred, followed by sieges and aerial bombardments of cities which caused mass starvation and deaths. Both sides were guilty of serious human rights abuses. When the conflict started, government forces took hundreds of civilians into custody, and shot others before burying them in shallow graves. One mass grave is reported to be at Morro da Luz, a steep ravine in the Samba area of Luanda, where suspected UNITA members were taken and then pushed off. UNITA forces also deliberately targeted civilians - in one attack, scores of people were killed in Gombe in April 1993. One victim was Matias Inácio da Silva Neto, a member of the MPLA Provincial Committee, who was reportedly buried up to his neck and left to die. UNITA soldiers have also forced villages to watch public executions. Other punishments included tying victims upside-down to the trunk of a tree and leaving them overnight. Both the government and UNITA have deliberately killed internal dissidents - people who opposed or were suspected of opposing their respective leaders' policies. Very few government security officials responsible for human rights violations have been arrested and fewer have been prosecuted. Pervasive corruption compounds the problem, as arrest or prosecution can be evaded through bribery or the intervention of powerful friends. "The establishment of an independent criminal judicial system, perceived by all sides to be impartial, should be made an imperative. Both sides could help ensure that the peace process is successful by taking immediate steps to ensure that any of their forces committing human rights abuses are brought to justice," Amnesty International said. Most newspapers and radio stations are under government or UNITA control: the rest are intimidated into self-censorship. Journalists who criticize either side have received death threats, been demoted, or lost their jobs. "What is encouraging in Angola is that many people, particularly in non-governmental organisations, the legal and teaching professions, religious groups and political parties, are keen to carry out human rights promotion as they recognise that reconciliation is impossible without respect for human rights," the organisation said. "If Angola's peace is to last, it is vital that the government, UNITA and the international community supports these groups and recognises that their responsibility for the peace process does not end with the UNAVEM III withdrawal. February 1997 should mark the beginning of the real peace process in Angola."		THE CURRENT SITUATION OF ANTI-PERSONNEL MINES, AMPUTEES AND DISPLACED PEOPLE IN ANGOLA By: Rev. Elias Isaac, Congregational Church of Angola Originally prepared for educational use by the Canadian Non-governmental Organization, Development Workshop. The problem of land mines in Angola dates back in 1961 when the war for national liberation against Portuguese colonial system began. The exact number of Anti-personnel mines (APM) planted in Angola is not known and it will never be known, because so many army expeditions landed in Angola namely the Portuguese, the South African, the Cuban, the Russians, the Americans, South Western African People's Organization (SWAPO), the African National Congress (ANC), National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the Rebel Movement in Angola, and the present Angolan Government. There are likely more land mines than there are people in Angola, a South West African country of 10 million (1993 estimates) roughly the size of Quebec. It is perhaps the most heavily infested country in the world. Military estimates of land mines (anti-personnel and anti-tank) planted across the country range from 9 to 20 million plus many more in Government and UNITA stocks. No maps are available for the location of the planted mines. Most of the time people involved in the work of mine clearing have to be guessing the whereabouts. The provinces most affected by APMs are Kuando-Kubango, Moxico, Kunene, Malanje, and recently Benguela and Bie, Lunda-Norte and Lunda-Sul. Currently, five (5) international NGOs in conjunction with the United nations Verification Mission in Angola III (UNAVEM III), UCAH, Angolan Government and UNITA are involved in mine clearing and training of nationals as mine clearers. The NGOs are CAP ANAMUR, HALO TRUST, THE NORWEGIAN PEOPLES AID, MINES ACTION GROUP, AND SAVE THE CHILDREN (USA). The Angolan Government agency for APM clearing is the National Institute for Removing Obstacles and Explosives (INAROE). The UN estimates that it costs US$300 - $1,000 to uncover and deactivate each mine. Approximately 1 million APMs have been neutralized and destroyed since 1992. The clearing has been mainly carried out on the main roads and strategic areas and spaces. About 6 brigades of APM clearers have been trained. Each brigade consists of about 16 people and have been placed in the most affected provinces. For a country like Angola with about 1.247.000 sq kms or 481.353 sq miles and which has been in war since 1961, only 96 nationals are trained and actively involved in APM clearing. Most of the APM clearers are ex-soldiers from the Government and UNITA sides. There are some few national NGOs and Christian organizations such as SCAM, the Ecological Youth of Angola and ADRA that have trained personnel, but are lacking the means and the equipment to participate and contribute in APM clearing. Other few NGOs are involved in education programmes and APM awareness among the civil rural populations and uprooted peoples. But much more needs to be done. It is hoped that by the end of the current year two to four more brigades will be trained and make the number of APM clearers increase to about 150 people. It is estimated that there are currently 75.000 to 100.000 amputees (the highest number in the world) who are direct victims of APM explosions in Angola. It is worth noting that before the 1994 elections the number was about 35.000 to 50.000 amputees. And in two years of renewed post-elections conflict the number has doubled. This is a clear indication of the scale of use of APM in the war in Angola. Most victims of APMs in Angola are civilians, men, women and children from rural farming areas. But recently it was discovered that a good number of APMs have been planted in the public parks and playgrounds victimizing school children. Since neither UNITA nor the Government have publicly declared a moratorium or a ban on the use of APMs, whenever roads have been cleared sometimes new APMs are planted killing and victimizing the civilian population and the UNAVEM III personnel. There are about six (6) international NGOs involved in the physical rehabilitation of APM victims and the production of artificial limbs - prosthesis - namely the Handicap International (HI), the Swedish Red Cross (SRC), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), the Medico International / Veterans International (MI / VI) and the Voluntary Relief Doctors (VRD). At the moment only five (5) Orthopedic Workshops are operational in the production of prosthesis and physical rehabilitation. It is hoped that by the beginning of next year five (5) other Orthopedic Workshops will be in operation. About 250 artificial limbs - prosthesis - are being produced and it is envisioned this number will double by the beginning of 1997. Still, for a country with more than 80.000 APM victims this number is almost nothing at all. At present most of the prosthesis or artificial limbs being used for physical rehabilitation are imported. The local production is very low and cannot meet the needs. Most of the Workshops give priority to civilians specially women and children. But due to some cultural norms women do not come easily to the Workshops and children do not come at the time of their amputation but later on when they are grown ups. The main problem facing the APM victims is their emotional and social rehabilitation. At present there is only one professional training center for the disabled in the whole country, which malfunctions. Nothing is being done concretely on the emotional and social aspect of their being. According to one NGO expert "the priority now is to clear the APMs out of the land and provide the amputees with prosthesis. Angola has no experts to deal with the emotional and social trauma of these people. So we do what is possible at the moment." The Center for professional training for the disabled is faced with many problems and lack of means. It is not able to meet even the most basic demands of the disabled population. Most of the amputees that are not accommodated by their families live in the streets, begging money from car drivers, and others who are more frustrated and separate survive from garbage. Here are two stories of two young men: Basilio Livro, aged 24 Lost his right leg in Benguela when he was 11 years old and doing 6th grade. Since then he has never been back to school. He left his village because his parents could no longer support him. He came to Luanda, the capital city, alone and cleans shoes to survive. When he was young he dreamt one day to be a pilot or a soccer player. For the past 13 years he has been struggling to get a prosthesis and rehabilitated in an Orthopedic center. He desires to get some professional training in order to get a good job and have a family and lead a normal life because he believes that even though he is an amputee he is not 100% disabled. Silvio Lopes, aged 26  Lost his right leg when he was 20 years old, in Kuando-Kubango province. Because of the economic hardships he was rejected by his family and society does not care. Abandoned to his fate he now survives by eating from garbage. Silvio does not have any hopes. He is completely frustrated and emotionally hurt that he does not care what will happen to him. He doesn't believe any more in society nor in the Government which he describes as being insensitive, corrupt and irresponsible. There are now about 3 to 4 million displaced people inside Angola. The majority of them are rural people who were forced by the war to flee their villages and communities. Today their farming fields are full of APMs and they cannot go back to their communities. The planting of APMs in the fields has completely devastated and destroyed rural communities and economies that once were self-supporting, viable and sustainable. The presence of APMs in the rural farming areas has fully contributed to the total disruption and collapse of the nation's food supply. Angola once produced 90 percent of its own food; today it only produces three percent. Rural people are today heavily dependent on the urban food supplies which are largely imported or donated by international humanitarian assistance. How can a people survive like this? The problem of APMs in Angola calls and challenges the International community, the NGOs and the church to reflect and take serious and concrete steps in order to ban the use of APMs and help the Angolan people to free themselves from this new bondage they find themselves. The problem of APMs is no longer a merely political or military issue, but it is a moral and ethical issue, it has turned to be a theological and spiritual challenge and dilemma, because the APMs cripple and destroy God's creation and God's given life and joy to humanity. It is urgent that the governments of the world understand that development, peace and social well-being of the people of Angola is connected to the safety of the land and environment in which they live and engage their social and economic activities. There is need to change the present humanitarian food and relief assistance to a more comprehensive and sustainable project assistance which will enable the people to produce their own food. This requires that the present programme of APM clearing becomes more extensive in the rural agricultural areas. There is also need that the process of APM clearing empowers the nationals to be fully involved. More training of nationals, more education materials on APM awareness, more equipment for a national campaign for clearing APMs is urgently needed in Angola. Other three big concerns that need urgent attention of the Churches and the NGOs involved in the rehabilitation of the disabled people are: The psychological and emotional trauma that the APM victims have to live with, and how to help them to deal with it. The social and professional opportunities that need to be created in order to enable the APM victims have a normal life just like any other human being. There is an urgent need for a national plan and programme for physical, social and emotional rehabilitation of APM victims in Angola. There is no doubt that for 10 million APMs to be cleared from Angolan soil, it will take many years and most certainly many of these APMs will never be found or neutralized. So the Angolan people will have to learn to live with these APMs which will continue to pose a danger to the social, economical and community development and stability of Angola and still produce many more amputees and other victims. For more information concerning the APM clearing programme in Angola, contact:  Mr. Angelo Lopes I.N.A.R.O.E. Chief of the Information Department Av. Comandante Valodia 206 6th floor Luanda, Angola Africa Tel. (244 2) 34 87 82
What on Earth would you do? / Country Profile / The Canadian / Hot Topic / Bullets to Buckets / The Killing Fields / The Filomena Phenomenon

��