Head of state wants broad participation in elections

President José Eduardo dos Santos said in Luanda on 30 September that conditions needed to be created to win the confidence of all Angolans and ensure the broadest participation in elections.

“For this reason, he said, the elections had to be ‘very well prepared for’.

In my capacity as President of the Republic,’ he said, ‘I told the leaders of political parties with whom I recently had meetings about the efforts the government is making to carry out its programme of restoring facilities.’

Speaking at the opening of a meeting of the MPLA central committee, the President said he hoped ever more work would be done to accelerate the country’s reconstruction and economic and social development.

In this preparatory phase, he continued, his party had taken the initiative in strengthening national reconciliation and pressing the government to speed up social, political and military integration and disarming the civilian population.

The meeting examined the political bureau report on the economic and social situation and internal party issues.

About seven million expected to vote in elections

Virgílio Fontes Pereira, Minister of Territorial Administration, said in Luanda on 6 September that about seven million people would probably vote in the next elections, planned to take place in 2006.

“The programmes we are working on indicate that the total population in 2006 will be fourteen million and a few thousand Angolans. We calculate that about seven million citizens will be potential voters.’ The figures, he said, might be a little higher or lower, but they gave an approximate idea of the size of the electorate.

The Minister went on to say that all Angolan citizens in the country aged eighteen or more had the right to vote and should do so. There would be voting stations near all populated areas and mobile stations might be used in areas to which access was difficult and where the population was extremely dispersed.

He said it had not yet been decided if the presidential and legislative elections should be simultaneous, but that this was one of the issues President dos Santos was discussing at the meetings he was currently having with the leaders of political parties.

Virgílio Fontes Pereira said that among the government’s concerns were the disarming of the civilian population, the discovery of still existing arms caches and mine clearance. There were still more than 300 minefields in the country.

On the allotment of tasks, he said the inter-ministerial commission chaired by the Minister of Territorial Administration was responsible for ensuring voter registration and the National Electoral Commission would supervise the process.

Brazilian Ambassador says Angola has been penalised

Jorge Taunay, the outgoing Brazilian Ambassador to Angola, speaking in Luanda on 7 September at a ceremony to mark the 183 rd anniversary of his country’s independence, said the international community had been unfair to Angola.

Over the past year, he said, Angola had tenaciously pursued its efforts to rebuild its facilities, adjust and modernise its economy and improve the living conditions of its people.

To do this, ‘it was necessary for the Angolan government to seek resources from alternative sources, owing to the failure of the international community to keep its promise to hold a donor conference, like those held for other countries whose social and economic situation fell short of the preconditions demanded of Angola’.

“Everything indicates that some of those countries are still very far from achieving peace; the same peace that Angolans had the merit of achieving and the wisdom to negotiate without needing the help or advice of anyone whatsoever,’ he continued.

The Ambassador, who has been in Angola since 1999, said he was glad to have had the pleasure, during his term of office, of seeing the end of the war that had devastated Angola for three decades and witnessing the start on the road to reconstruction and economic development.

Angola marks National Hero Day

There were many activities to mark 17 September, National Hero Day, in tribute to Agostinho Neto, Angola’s first President, the doctor and poet who led the country’s struggle for independence.

President José Eduardo dos Santos laid a wreath on the statue of Agostinho Neto in Independence Square and inaugurated a monument in the municipality of Cazenga in Luanda to the heroes of 4 February, built to honour those who took part in the uprising against Portuguese colonial rule in 1961.

A government statement stressed the role played by ‘the leading figure in our recent history’ in accentuating factors of unity, defending the collective cause and contributing decisively to the advent of true national consciousness., enabling the Angolan people, ‘despite suffering aggression from many quarters and constant destabilization by its enemies, to succeed in consolidating their sovereignty over these past three decades, strengthening unity and preserving the country’s territorial integrity’.

It said that in international forums he had been the faithful interpreter of the Angolan people’s wish to reject neo-colonial domination and to fight without let-up for national liberation and the total independence of all oppressed peoples.

The statement said that Agostinho Neto’s main concerns were always raising the living standards of the poorest people and ensuring national reconstruction. ‘This legacy,’ it continued, ‘has been passed on to subsequent generations in the felicitous phrase “The most important thing is to solve the problems of the people”.

Agostinho Neto was born in Icolo e Bengo, Bengo Province, on 17 September 1922. His funeral was on 17 September 1979.

1,200 km of highways to be repaired

By the end of 2006, a total of 1,200 km of highways will have been repaired on Angola, as part of a programme of definitive rehabilitation started in 2005, according to Higino Carneiro, Minister of Public Works.

Speaking in Huambo during the awarding of the tender to the Monte e Monte construction company to repair the 23-km highway from Huambo to Caála, he said the national highways institute would continue, dynamically, to carry out the highway building programme approved by the Council of Ministers in June.

Work would soon start on the road from Huambo to Chianga and efforts were being made to prepare conditions for repairing the one from Huambo to Luanda, the capital, he said.

He added that studies were currently underway to determine the cost of a project to rebuild the road from Kuito, capital of Bié Province, to Luanda.

Tenders have so far been awarded, the Minister went on to say, for repairing the Kifangondo-Catete, Kifangondo-Bengo-Uíje, Benguela-Lobito and Viana-Maria Teresa (Catete) highways.

Work to rebuild the 91-km Viana-Maria Teresa highway in the Catete area, Bengo Province, part of the road repair programme under way in the country, will be carried out by the China Road and Bridges Corporation, according to a press office source of the national highways institute, Inea, who said the project would take twelve months.

The China Road and Bridges Corporation was awarded the contract as one of 33 companies that submitted tender bids.

Micro-credit programmes launched

Micro-credit programmes launched in Bailundo, Huambo Province, will benefit about 10,000 small farmers, teachers and health workers in rural areas.

The government has granted an estimated US$10 million for the programmes aimed at helping to reduce poverty and increasing the output and quality of goods produced and, therefore, reducing imports.

Paixão Júnior, chairman of the board of directors of the Banco de Poupança (Savings Bank) and Sebastião Labrador, his counterpart from the Banco do Sol signed an agreement on 17 September to carry out the project. The two banks will act as partners of the National Union of Angolan Peasants, Unaca, and the Agricultural Development Institute, Ida. Paixão Júnior said the provinces would initially receive US$300,000 for the project. Loans will be for a minimum of US$100 and a maximum of US$1,500.

They will be reimbursable in two tranches and the annual interest rate will be eight percent.

Sebastião Labrador said that because the lack of a banking culture among farmers could delay the process, it had been decided to involve peasant associations, traditional chiefs, NGOs and municipal governments in the process.

Paolo Kassoma, governor of Huambo Province, said he believed such incentives would help to reduce the differences between town and countryside and contribute to economic development.

Dairy farming project

The Economic Development Fund, FDES, is implementing a family dairy farming project in Waco Kungo, Kwanza Sul Province. The programme, supported by the Keve Regional Bank and the Ministry of Finance, has involved the introduction of a breed of highly productive dairy cows. Interested families must have at least two members with livestock experience who are prepared to work full time on the project.

Teodoro Paixão Franco Júnior, chairman of the FDES board of directors, said loans would be provided for participants through the Keve Regional Bank installed in the area, and every family would be able to acquire what it needed to produce sufficient milk. Eighty percent of the milk produced will be bought by a central body, which will sell the families seeds, fertilisers and animal feed, as well as making and marketing dairy products and providing the families with equipment.

The programme, he said, was aimed at encouraging small producers to stay in the countryside, guaranteeing them an income, boosting production in a rural area and providing a model of integrated and sustained development.

Moxico receives cattle from Huíla Province

One hundred and thirty head of cattle, the first batch of 500 ordered from Huíla Province, arrived in Luena, capital of Moxico Province, eastern Angola, on 14 September.

António da Silva, provincial director of agriculture, said they would help to restore the animal population of the province. Sixty would be used as draught animals and the remainder distributed to interested peasants.

He said there were also plans to develop goat and poultry production and 1,000 chickens had already been imported to start a breeding programme, with the aim of increasing the earnings of the population and reducing poverty.

The director said 400 hectares of land had already been prepared for the next agricultural year.

It was planned to prepare more than 2,500 hectares in all and the local government had allocated US$270,000 for the purchase of agricultural inputs, he said.

Agricultural development programme

This year the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minader, will start to implement a rural extension and development programme aimed at providing economic and social facilities for the inhabitants of farming areas. The programme includes the establishment of systems to harness, treat and supply piped water, providing electric power and building shops, warehouses, schools and hospitals, as well as other projects, while improving the living and working conditions of farmers and peasants in rural areas.

The programme, which was approved by the Council of Ministers in 2004, will be implemented by the Institute of Agricultural Development, Ida, which comes under Minader.

Speaking to the Angop news agency in Luanda on 12 September, Miguel Manuel Pereira, head of the support, organisation and management department of the Agricultural Development Stations, Edas, said every effort was being made to ensure the official start of the programme this month.

The Ida is the institution responsible for carrying out Minader policy on agriculture, especially as regards preparing for agricultural years, distributing fertilisers and seeds to peasants and supplying them with hoes, machetes and other farm implements. It has offices all over the country and 77 Edas in the provinces.

Black granite output in Huíla

Huíla Province produces more that 500 cubic metres of black granite a day, a quantity it was thought would be attained only in 2007.

This was stated by provincial governor Ramos da Cruz, speaking to the press after the presentation of the digital system of the Movicel mobile phone.

The governor said the granite was being extracted by fifteen medium-sized companies and two big ones. He added that the environment was being respected, because the companies had followed Ministry of Geology and Mines instructions.

He said industry was growing. The cigarette factory had increased output and most of the small industries were functioning normally.

With regard to health, he said all the hospitals and the maternity clinic were being rehabilitated, hospitals had been built in all municipalities and another two hospitals would be built next year within the framework of a programme with the Chinese government.

All the schools dating back to the colonial period had been refurbished. Initially able to take in 200 pupils, they had been expanded to hold 2,000. Primary and secondary schools had been built in all municipalities. The Tchivinguiro high schools had been rehabilitated, as had the Education Institute and the branches of the law and economics faculties.

Ramos da Cruz said the problem of electric power had been lessened, owing to investments made in the Matala dam, and two generator sets were also functioning.

“As regards water,’ he said, ‘that is more of a problem. We have a master plan worth US$150 million. It is a programme financed by the national budget.”

Armed forces rebuild 47 wooden bridges

Forty-seven wooden bridges in the eastern province of Moxico have been rebuilt since 2002 by the engineering company of the 3 rd military command of the Angolan Armed Forces.

General Matias Lima Coelho ‘Nzumbi’, the local commander, told military attachés accredited in Angola who were visiting Luena, the provincial capital, that during the same period the army had deactivated more than 1,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, as well as 4,286 explosive devices of different kinds. This had cleared an area of 258,934 square metres and 1,800 km of highway. The programme, an initiative of the local command, had permitted the free movement of people and goods and the return of thousands of people to their home areas.

João Ernesto dos Santos ‘Liberdade’, governor of Moxico Province, told the military attachés that central government had allocated US$10 million this year for social and economic projects. This would be spent on education, health, power, water and the rehabilitation of bridges and roads.

He said three schools were under construction, as were hospitals and other public facilities.

Preparations for the next agricultural year

Two thousand hectares of land are being prepared for the 2005-2006 agricultural year in the communes of Chile and Cubal do Lumbo, municipality of Bocoio, 102 km from the city of Benguela.

António Saraiva, the local administrator, said they already had 50 tonnes of maize seeds and 110 tonnes of fertilisers and were waiting for bean and sorghum seeds. More than 18,000 families were involved, he said, and the soil was being prepared with tractors. It was planned to provide agricultural technicians to advise the peasants, he said.

He said the provision of material and technical support would enable the peasants to produce enough to feed themselves and to have a surplus with which to meet other needs of their families.

Direct government support for the work of peasants, he said, was part of the programme to fight hunger and poverty in rural areas.

Joaquim António, director of agriculture, rural development and fisheries in Huambo Province, has said that the re-use of vegetable and animal genetic material and natural resource management will be priorities, so as to ensure increased food crop yields.

Speaking in Caála on 7 September at the opening of a consultative meeting of his department, he said agriculture was on the right track and ‘the indicators for the 2004-2005 year are encouraging’.

He went on to say that natural resource management should be a community responsibility, especially with regard to reforestation, so as to reverse the ratio of tree felling and replanting and create a sustainable ecosystem for future generations. He also acknowledged the importance of the private sector in food production.

During the meeting, Ministry of Agriculture officials from municipal and communal seats discussed the day-to-day work of peasants, with a view to being able to meet their needs.

They also reviewed the results of the current agricultural year, activities in agriculture, livestock production, fisheries and agricultural mechanisation, preparations for the 2005-2006 agricultural year, the rural extension programme and public investments.

Simão Aires, municipal administrator of Cacuso, in Malanje Province, told the Angop news agency on 6 September that material and human resources for the successful start of the 2005-2006 agricultural year had already been mobilised, and that the provincial government and municipal administration were supporting agricultural activity with a view to increased production and ensuring food for the population.

He said the land distribution programme had already been drawn up, and peasant families would grow crops with the support of Mecanagro, the agricultural mechanisation company, which had provided twelve tractors.

Meanwhile, seeds and agricultural inputs, as well as about 5,000 hoes, 6,000 machetes and 6,000 axes were being made available to the peasants.

Cacuso currently has 72 peasant associations.

US$10 million investment in unleaded petrol

Angola is spending US$10 million to put unleaded petrol on the market. The money is being spent on adapting the Luanda refinery and other facilities, filling stations, personnel training and awareness work.

Aníbal da Silva, Deputy Oil Minister, said the unleaded petrol, to be launched on the market on 14 October, will have many ecological benefits and also prolong the life of engines. The type of unleaded petrol to buy, super or with an additive, would depend on the age of the vehicle, and drivers would be advised which to use through a booklet or at filling stations.

Lucinda Guimarães, an Oil Ministry technician, said Angola was still importing 60 percent of the fuel it needed to meet the daily requirement of 1.2 million litres, since the Luanda refinery capacity was only 600,000 litres a day.

Aníbal da Silva said the unleaded petrol would not mean an increase in prices. Petrol is sold at about 50 US cents, Lucinda Guimarães added, pointing out that the real price would be US$1.10.

Electric power development plan

José Marinho, production and transport director of the national electricity company, Ene, has said that the company’s strategic development plan included the rehabilitation of dams, substations, power lines and distribution systems in isolated parts of the east of the country.

Other action during the five-year plan, he continued, involved improving the output of thermal energy centres in Cabinda, linking up the northern, central and southern systems from the Cambambe dam and repairing power lines.

He was speaking to the Angop news agency on 3 September at the end of a workshop on the presentation of the strategic plan.

He said special attention would be paid to distribution and they would seek to extend the systems to areas where there was as yet no electric power.

Brazil diversifying investment areas in the country

Brazilian investments based on partnerships with Angolan companies are growing, especially in the areas of agriculture and livestock production, pharmaceutical products and the building industry.

This was stated by Carmo Filho, president of the association of Brazilian entrepreneurs and executives in Angola, during the opening ceremony of a week to commemorate the 183 rd anniversary of Brazil’s independence.

He said that between June and July this year, Brazil had exported 2,000 head of Zebu cattle to Angola to help to restore Angolan herds, adding that many people were unaware that many Brazilian goods were being produced in Angola, in partnership with local companies, particularly laminates and aluminium goods, bricks and tiles.

As a result of these new areas of activity, Carmo Filho said, the volume of business between Brazil and Angola amounted to more than US$500 million a year, making Brazil Angola’s third biggest supplier.

He expected this volume of business to increase substantially, in view of the growing exchanges there were between businesses in both countries.

Apart from trade, Brazil was supporting Angola’s programme to combat HIV/Aids and ensure polio vaccination, with many Brazilian technicians and doctors working with the Ministry of Health.

President dos Santos inaugurates Institute to Fight Aids

President José Eduardo dos Santos inaugurated the new Institute to Fight Aids in Luanda on 23 September and handed a diploma to a representative of the technicians trained to work there. The first results of a programme to prevent mother-to-child transmission were also presented.

Among those present at the inauguration were the Minister and Deputy Ministers of Health, government officials, representatives of the United Nations and embassies, national health directors and officials from different hospitals in the capital.

Kunhinga now has mother-and-child care centre

The municipality of Kunhinga, 30 km to the north of Kuito, in the central highland province of Bié, now has a mother-and-child care centre inaugurated on 17 September by provincial governor José Amaro Taty.

The 18-bed centre, which is equipped with sophisticated material, cost the government US$180,000.

The services provided at the centre include ante-natal consultations, paediatrics, gynaecology, obstetrics, family planning, child care and other forms of mother-and-child care.

No Marburg cases for 49 days

The Jornal de Angola reported on 15 September that there had been no new cases of the Marburg haemorrhagic fever for 49 days.

The Minister of Health, Sebastião Veloso, speaking in Uíje to thank the Italian government for a donation of material to help overcome some of the shortages in the local hospital, said it was premature to say the epidemic had been eradicated.

He said the most important thing was to know how to move forward with the experience gained in combating Marburg. ‘We can say that through the efforts of Angolan specialists, society and the international community, we can start to attack other diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and sleeping sickness,’ he said.

Fatouma Diallo, representative of the World Health Organisation in Angola, described the last 49 days without any cases of the haemorrhagic fever as a ‘state of grace’ and said that if the situation had not changed by 29 September, she would advise the government to declare the disease eradicated.

She said the post-epidemic period was always difficult and that the WHO had already started to prepare technical teams to carry out tests and ensure the control of infection in hospitals and health centres.

Japanese donation for food aid

The Japanese government has donated the equivalent of US$2.7 million to Angola as part of a food aid programme. The money, which is non-reimbursable aid, is to be used to acquire rice to be sold on the domestic market to raise funds to be used for social and economic projects.

Irene Neto, Deputy Minister of External Relations, and Susumu Shibata, the Japanese Ambassador to Angola, signed an exchange of notes on the donation in Luanda on 14 September.

The Ambassador said his country was prepared to continue working with the Angolan government in a spirit of solidarity and cooperation, and to help with mine clearance, since mines were an ‘Achilles heel’ greatly impeding agricultural development.

Government replaces trucks destroyed during the war

Eighteen truck drivers representing the country’s eighteen provinces received new vehicles on 17 September to replace ones destroyed during the war. President dos Santos attended the ceremony held at the Museum of the Armed Forces in Luanda. It was the third phase of the replacement programme. During this phase 220 trucks with a 20-30 tonne capacity will be handed over, with the state paying 50 percent of the cost initially and the remainder three years later.

Minister of Transport André Luis Brandão said the purpose was to replace the vehicles of owners who had put theirs at the service of the country. It was also to increase the transport capacity, which had been greatly reduced by the war, and to modernise the country’s trucks for the needs of national reconstruction.

The Minister explained that during the war the government had had to make use of privately owned vehicles to meet the needs of transporting supplies to the population and the defence forces. During this process, 3,913 light and heavy vehicles were destroyed while serving the country, according to the claims received by the Ministry of Transport, he added.

The social reintegration of former soldiers

João Baptista Kussumua, Minister of Assistance and Social Reintegration, revealed on 14 September that the government was implementing 30 social and vocational integration projects involving more than 25,000 soldiers demobilised after the peace agreements.

‘These projects are to ensure the reintegration of between 25,000 and 30,000 demobilised troops, but because they all have families, we have to multiply that figure by between five and seven, the average family size, to have an idea of the impact of the projects,’ he said.

Interviewed on national radio, the Minister said the projects were being implemented in the provinces of Huambo, Bié, Benguela, Kwanza Sul, Huíla, Malanje, Lunda Sul and Moxico, where there were the largest numbers of ex-servicemen.

The government had approved a general demobilisation and reintegration programme, with a budget of US$7.1 million, for soldiers from the former Fapla, Fala (Unita) and Elna (FNLA).

These programmes, which were approved by the World Bank, were aimed at ensuring support for vocational training and developing agricultural projects, but they also included increasing awareness on issues such as sexually transmitted diseases, the danger of mines and respect for the rights and duties of citizens, he said.

João Baptista Kussumua went on to say that Angola continued to want a donor conference to finance the reconstruction of the country.

‘The country hopes that the international community understands that we don’t want a conference just to be helped,’ he said. ‘What we want is partnership.’

He went on to recall that a programme had been started in October 2002 to rehabilitate whatever was considered most urgent to improve the provision of basic services for the population.

‘The step taken by the government by starting this programme with its own resources was very important and should have encouraged donors,’ he continued, adding that since this initiative did not have the hoped for response from international donors, ‘the government found internal mechanisms to overcome the setbacks caused by war’.

Military exercises with US on dealing with natural calamities

The Angolan Armed Forces, FAA, started a training exercise on 13 September on helping people affected by natural calamities. The exercise, named Med Flag (medical flag) 2005, was held in Ambriz, Bengo Province, 200 km north of Luanda. It involved about 700 members of the three branches of FAA and more than 200 troops from the European command of the US army. Other participants were members of the police force, the fire brigade, the Red Cross and NGOs.

In Angola’s case, a major problem is that flooding caused by heavy rain every year affects many parts of the country, destroying homes and leaving thousands of people stranded.

Similar exercises have taken place with the armed forces of other countries since 1987, among them Niger, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Mali, Guinea Conakry, Mauritania, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa. A different feature of Med Flag 2005 was the involvement of non-military forces, since the Angolans felt this type of action needed to be carried out in cooperation with such organisations.

High-ranking Angolan officers contacted by the press said the US army did not have to teach techniques of intervening in disaster situations, since the Angolan armed forces already have up-to-date knowledge in this respect. The US role was therefore essentially to cooperate with them.

This was shown by the practical demonstration in the old Ambriz shipyard, which was carried out solely by Angolans. There the armed forces and other organisations involved simulated assistance to victims, saving shipwrecked people, removing bodies and evacuating the wounded. Land, air and sea transport was used, especially helicopters to save and transport stranded people.

The following day, the FAA medical services and medical specialists from the US European command treated inhabitants of Ambriz in the American field hospital, providing small-scale surgery and consultations in the areas of ophthalmology, orthopaedics, dentistry, malaria and Aids. The number of patients treated during the exercises totalled 1,345, including 195 surgical interventions.

WFP reduces food aid in Huambo

The World Food Programme reduced the number of people in Huambo Province receiving food aid from 350,000 to 75,000, between June and September this year, owing to the shortage of food in its stores.

Jerry Bailey, head of the WFP base in Huambo, said: ‘We have been forced to reduce the number of beneficiaries in terms of food, because current donor contributions are not in keeping with what we need.’ He added that this was a general problem also affecting other UN agencies and NGOs.

He described the situation of some families in the province as ‘vulnerable’, and said that in the next few days the WFP would be giving the local government a report on the current humanitarian situation in the region in this post-war period.

The WFP said on 19 September that Angola’s children were paying a high price for the lack of resources to fund humanitarian operations, at a time when malnutrition and disease were still taking lives. About 45 percent of Angolan children suffered from malnutrition, while in the central highlands about 52 percent of children under five had stunted growth.

“Many donors think the crisis is already over in Angola,’ said Rick Corsino, the WFP representative in Angola. ‘But the fact is that a phenomenon is emerging that could be as devastating for children as war. Angola runs the risk of losing a generation of children because of diseases related to malnutrition like tuberculosis and pellagra, just because we don’t have enough money to give them the food they need.’

Literacy teaching in Cunene Province

José Júlio Duarte, head of the literacy department in the southern province of Cunene, told the Angop news agency that 7,388 adults in the province had been taught how to read and write since January 2004. He said the two-semester courses had been given by 180 literacy teachers, and this year another 1,373 pupils would be enrolled.

Those who completed the course were then enrolled in adult education secondary classes, he said, adding that the difficulties his department faced included shortages of teaching materials and teachers.

Meanwhile, Minister of Education António Burity da Silva, speaking on 9 September in Andulo, Bié Province, at a meeting to mark International Literacy Day, said his Ministry and the national Unesco commission would shortly be carrying out a survey to establish the rate of illiteracy among adults and adolescents in the county. This would make it possible to set targets for combating illiteracy.

Amélia João, literacy director in Chibia, Huíla Province, southern Angola, said another six literacy classrooms had been opened, added to the 17 there already were in the municipality, making it possible to enrol about another 120 adults. She said this was still not enough to satisfy the demand in an area where most of the population – essentially small farmers and herders – could not read or write.

This year, she said, about 250 people aged from 15 to 45 were enrolled in literacy classes.

Government creating ozone unit programme

Diakunpuna Sita José, Minister of Town Planning and the Environment, speaking in Luanda at a meeting to mark the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer on 15 September, said that since August the government had been setting up working groups to support the national ozone unit programme aimed at the progressive elimination of all substances depleting the layer. The programme, he said, consisted of public education campaigns.

Coordinated by his Ministry, the programme was being carried out by state and private bodies in partnership with NGOs, especially those involved with environmental issues. Capacity building courses were currently being given in Cabinda, Uíje and Zaire provinces to refrigeration technicians and customs and economic police officials. The aim was to ensure the use of appropriate equipment, collecting and replacing refrigerators and air conditioners using gases that contributed to the greenhouse effect.

Another part of the project, the Minister said, was creating cross-border nature conservation parks with Namibia, Zambia, Congo Brazzaville and DRC Congo, together with the rehabilitation of national parks.

National policy on environmental education

Diakunpuna Sita José, Minister of Town Planning and the Environment, announced on 9 September that a national policy on environmental education and training educators in this area was a government priority, in keeping with the Southern African programme for the UN decade on education for sustainable development. He was speaking at a workshop on education for sustainable development organised by the Ecological Youth of Angola, held in Luanda in the meeting room of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

Such a policy, the Minister said, would make it possible to increase public knowledge and awareness about the environment, with a view to reducing the degradation of resources. The project, to be carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Angolan NGOs, will also involve TV and radio programmes, talks and seminars, including in the armed forces, and school curriculum reform.

Red Cross reunites more than 2,000 families in Benguela

The Angolan Red Cross in Benguela Province reunited more than 2,000 people - mainly former soldiers and street children – with their families in the past three years. José António Neves, provincial representative of the Red Cross, speaking to the press at the end of a first aid course in Lobito, said work to reunite families had been a success, thanks to the cooperation of the armed forces and traditional authorities.

Mine clearance

Officials of the national commission of demining and humanitarian assistance, CNIDAH, from the country’s eighteen provinces attended a seminar in Luanda from 6 to 9 September on the provincial coordination of mine action. Also present were demining technicians and representatives of national and international NGOs and the armed forces. Among the issues discussed were assistance to victims, the destruction of mine stocks, the Ottawa Convention on mines, assessment of the impact of mines, the setting of priorities and provincial and national plans.

Speaking at the end of the workshop, Christian Larsen of the United Nations Development Programme Mine Action Programme said they had talked about the best method of mine clearance. Most of the Angolan and foreign NGOs were still using the system of sappers defusing mines manually. There were also mechanical systems and the use of dogs.

The mechanical systems were very expensive, which was why it was a difficult option for many operators. However, it was the most effective method and could clear much bigger areas in much less time.

The national demining institute, Inad, destroyed seventy explosive devices in Kaluapanda, on the outskirts of Kuito, capital of Bié Province, on 6 September.

Coxe, Sucama, provincial director of Inad, said they would be destroying more such devices in the next few days in the municipalities of Andulo and Kamacupa. After completing mine clearance on the outskirts of Kuito airport, they would start work on the road linking the provinces of Bié and Kwanza Sul.

Film cooperation with Brazil

João Luis ‘Juca’ da Silva Ferreira, Brazil’s Deputy Minister of Culture, has expressed Brazil’s eagerness to move forward on bilateral cooperation with Angola on film making. He said the most important thing was to establish with the Angolan authorities ‘a process of speeding up and giving life to the agreement already signed’ on cinema and other audio-visual media.

Speaking to the Angop news agency in Luanda after participating in celebrations for the anniversary of Brazil’s independence on 7 September, Juca Ferreira said his Ministry was preparing conditions for exchanges of experience and teams working in both countries. The Brazilian government, he said, was interested in gaining experience in Angola of the linguistic diversity of the country. He went on to say that Brazil and Angola had been working together in Unesco with a view to the signing this year of an agreement on the protection of cultural diversity in the world.

He also stressed the need for increased cooperation between civil society organisations in both countries, as well as official contacts between government institutions, so as to strengthen cooperation at all levels. ‘The cultural proximity between Angola and Brazil is conducive to such cooperation,’ he said.