President dos Santos consults civil society on election date

Consultations on the date for holding the next general elections in Angola have been continuing since the crisis caused when members of opposition parties suspended their participation in the National Assembly’s constitutional commission on 12 May, stating that they would not return until President José Eduardo dos Santos announced a date for elections.

Among those consulted were the Supreme Court, the Audit Court, the Attorney General’s Office, religious bodies, Angolan NGOs, ministries and university departments, as a prelude to broad public consultations on the draft text once it is agreed on.    

Many appeals were made to the opposition to resume discussion of the constitution.   Norberto dos Santos, the MPLA’s information secretary, interviewed by the Voice of America, said that ‘far from speeding up the process, the withdrawal of the opposition could further delay the holding of elections’.

President José Eduardo dos Santos held direct consultations on the issue in late June.  He received Ntony Nzinga, secretary-general of Coiepa, the Inter-ecclesiastic Committee for Peace in Angola, on 24 June.

Coiepa, which was formed in April 2002, groups together the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé, the Council of Christian Churches of Angola and the Evangelical Alliance of Angola.

Coiepa has stated that the urgent drafting of a national agenda of consensus is a priority before the next elections are held.   Ntony Nzinga told the press after the meeting that ‘eighteen months is the time needed to work seriously in preparing for elections.

The President subsequently had separate meetings with a delegation from the Catholic Church led by Dom Damião Franklin, archbishop of Luanda, Gaspar Domingos, the Methodist bishop, Raúl Araújo, head of the Bar Association, Bento Raimundo, head of the association of young Angolans coming from Zambia, Fernando Pacheco, director of the NGO Action for Rural Development and the Environment, and Adriano Botelho de Vasconcelos, secretary-general of the Angolan Writers’ Union. 

Dom Damião Franklin called for dialogue, understanding and political will, saying that ‘two years ago there was the political will to end the war, there were negotiations, the memorandum on peace was signed and Angolans showed they were able to overcome their differences by themselves’.

Gaspar Domingos said Angolans had already suffered too much during the years of war and that now essential national issues should be dealt with more calmly.

Raúl Araújo, for his part, expressed the views of the Bar Association, which had already formally proposed that the ideal date for elections was July 2006, preceded by a ‘perfectly reasonable and functional period of preparation’. 

The representative of Angolans coming from Zambia said his organisation would support the government on holding elections in 2006, ‘because we know the realities experienced by the people living in the provinces, municipalities and communes’. 

Fernando Pacheco said he had no date to propose, it being more important to start a process that ensured that elections were free, fair and well organised and to avoid past mistakes.   

Botelho de Vasconcelos felt 2006 was an ideal date.  He said people should be patient and that the period proposed would give all the parties time to prepare for facing the vote of the people.   

Earlier that week, the President had convened a meeting for 2 July of the Council of the Republic, his consultative body, to discuss the same issue.

PM holds meeting with provincial governors

Prime Minister Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos ‘Nandó’ had a meeting on 27 June with the provincial governors with whom he discussed action to be taken to create jobs and combat hunger and poverty.

During whar was the second such meeting this year, attended also by members of central government, they discussed  preparations for the next agricultural year, identifying and locating essencial crops and technical and  material assistance.

Also on the agenda were fish catches, processing and marketing, the production and iodising of salt, patrolling the coast and protecting marine species.  They further discussed the food processing industry and relaunching Angolan industry.

South Africa awards posthumous medal to Agostinho Neto

Roberto de Almeida, president of the National Assembly, attended the ceremony in South Africa in mid-June at which the Oliver Tambo Medal was posthumously awarded to Angola’s first President, Agostinho Neto, for his contribution to the South African people’s struggle against the apartheid regime and his commitment to the total and complete independence of Africa.

Roberto de Almeida described this initiative of President Thabo Mbeki as a worthy tribute to Agostinho Neto and the Angolan people for the sacrifices made in bringing change to Southern Africa.

‘No one is unaware of the outstanding role Angola played, even in the success of the democratic transition in South Africa,’ he said, stressing that it had caused incalculable loss of life and material damage. 

He went on to say that it was an honour for the Angolan people, who were thus starting to be rewarded for the sacrifices made in contributing to the liberation of other peoples, particularly in Southern Africa.

Roberto de Almeida was accompanied by Maria Eugénia Neto, the widow of Agostinho Neto.

Angola and Brazil to have concerted positions in UN

Angola and Brazil are to act together in dealing with major African and international issues in the UN. 

This was stated in Luanda on 4 June by António Guerreiro, director of international relations in the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, after a meeting with an Angolan delegation headed by his counterpart Virgilio Marques Faria.

He said the positions taken by the two countries in the Security Council would be taken on behalf of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries, and that ‘we are going to continue to extend the number of issues on which we will take a joint stand’.

António Gerreiro said there had been far-reaching agreement on the most important items on the Security Council agenda, especially African ones. 

He went on to say that  he was very pleased with the assessment the Angolan government had made of the issues they had discussed, which would be very useful to Brazil during meetings of the Security Council, of which both countries are non-permanent members.

Angola wins dispute with De Beer

According to a reliable source, Angola has won a dispute raised by De Beers regarding a contract signed by the South African multinational and Endiama, the national diamond company. 

From 1990 to 1991, De Beers and Endiama negotiated a contract for the purchase and sale of diamonds from the Luzamba Project. Yet when the negotiations were concluded, Nicky Oppenheimer, vice-president of De Beers, instead of signing the contract on behalf of De Beers, did so in the name of DCS, one of the companies in the group. 

Seven years later, in 1998, an addendum was signed under which SDM, the Sociedade de Desenvolvimento, also became a party to the diamond purchase and sale contract. 

In 2001, De Beers disagreed with legislative measures taken by the Angolan government to restructure the diamond industry and started three arbitration procedures, one of them related to this contract.  De Beers vainly tried at the time to convince the international arbitration court that the Angolan state was a party to the contract, though the only legitimate parties were Endiama, DCS and DCS, the signatories.

De Beers hoped that the ruling would go against Endiama and SDM, so as to pave the way for seizing Angolan assets abroad.  The legal battle between De Beers and Endiama had already been going on for three years when an Angolan team, supported by the Brazilian firm Olavo Baptista, was able to defend national interests, resulting in a court ruling that ‘the petitioner (De Beers) is a sophisticated international organisation, with considerable knowledge and experience of Angola, so that the arbitration court does not accept that there was any confusion on the part of the petitioner between Endiama and the Republic of Angola’.

The arbitration court rejected the allegations made by De Beers, stating that there had been no breach of the law or absence of good faith on the part of the Angolan government.  

In September 2003,  Endiama also won a court case in São Paulo, Brazil, related to three diamond prospecting contracts, in which De Beers had been demanding that Angola refrain from applying Angolan law on the prospecting of kimberlites and that it be made to pay De Beers US$35 million in compensation.  As a result, De Beers lost the rights it had in the Quela, Mavinga and northeast Lunda concessions.

Output from Laurica project expected to increase

The diamond companies operating on the Laurica project, Lucapa, Lunda Norte Province, expect an increase in production when work starts on nine new diamond blocks this year.  A press statement issued on 22 June by Endiama, the national diamond company,  stated that they were part of more than 200 already identified blocks.

This will also have a positive effect on local communities, helping to reduce unemployment in Lucapa, which comprises three communes and has a population of about 111,000.

The Laurica project is a partnership between Endiama, the majority shareholder with 40 percent, the South African company Trans Hex, 35 percent, and two Angolan companies, Micol, 12.5 percent, and Som Veterang, 12.5 percent.

The partnership agreement was signed on 30 August 2002 and work started in April 2003.  There are 439 workers employed on the project. 

It was meanwhile revealed that Endiama expects to produce 15 million carats by December 2004.  José Chimupi, administrator of Sodiam, the diamond marketing company, said the expected rise in the output of diamonds, Angola’s second source of foreign exchange earnings after oil, was due to fourteen new exploration and development projects in Catoca, Lunda Sul Province, one of the biggest mining areas in the country.

Manuel Africano, Minister of Geology and Mines, said net revenue from the diamond industry was US$800 million in 2003 and forecasts for this year amounted to US$900 million.

Angola to import cattle from Uruguay

Angola is to import dairy cattle from Uruguay to set up an experimental artificial insemination station, within the framework of bilateral cooperation, which was relaunched last October when Uruguayan President Jorge Battle visited Angola last October.

This was announced in Luanda on 18 June by Uruguayan businessman Esteban Valente, after a meeting with Prime Minister Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos ‘Nandó’.   

He said Uruguayan veterinary personnel would be arriving in Angola shortly to make a forty-day survey of cattle diseases in seven regions of the country, taking blood samples for analysis in laboratories in Kenya and South Africa.

Another project, he said, was a model farm in Cela, Kwanza Sul Province, for growing rice, so as to reduce imports, and Angola’s climate meant there could be two harvests a year.   

Valente went on to say that Uruguay would be supplying water treatment plants to reduce the use of chemicals for purifying water.  Ten would be arriving in the country this year and they could subsequently be produced in Angola for all the regions. 

With regard to culture, he said the Uruguayan organisation ‘Mundo Afro’ would establish itself in Angola in order to boost relations in this area.  He said that very many Afro-Uruguayans were of Angolan origin.

Capanda agricultural centre to boost production

Zacarias Sambeny, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, revealed in Capanda, Malanje Province, that an initial area of 314,000 hectares of land is to be prepared for assorted crops in the agricultural centre there, especially sunflowers, tobacco and sisal, with the aim of developing agriculture in the region and reactivating the cooking oil plant in the city of Malanje.

Zacarias Sambeny said this during his presentation of João António Manuel, the new director of the Capanda agricultural development office.

He went on to say that it was a very fertile area, between a lake and the hydroelectric scheme, which would facilitate irrigation.

Sambeny said the agricultural development office had been set up under an agreement between his Ministry, the Ministry of Energy and Water and the Malanje government, with a view to increasing agricultural output in the province and in the country as a whole, and experts from his Ministry would soon be arriving there to help guide the work.

Sonangol and partners announce new oil strike

The national oil company, Sonangol, and its partners in Block 31 have announced a new oil discovery in ultra-deep water with the drilling of the Venus 1 well.  It was the fourth discovery after the drilling of the Plutão, Saturno and Marte wells, 16, 11 and 13 km from Venus.

A Sonangol press release said the group were continuing development studies north of the block and that the closeness of the four wells would make it possible to develop them together.

Sonangol is the concessionaire in Block 31, with a 20 percent interest.  BP, the operator, has a 26.67 percent holding, Esso Exploration & Production Angola 25 percent, Statoil Angola AS 13.33 percent, Marathon Petroleum Angola 10 percent and EPA Ltd 5 percent.

Lunda Norte to have hydroelectric dam

The government has given the green light to the building of a dam on the Luapasso in Lunda Norte and has already authorised the Ministry of Energy and Water to negotiate the project with Escom Mining/GES. 

According to a press statement issued after a meeting of the standing committee of the Council of Ministers on 23 June, the project was decided on owing to the shortage of electric power in the province, and was to benefit the population and existing and future diamond mining projects.

Chicapa River diverted for hydroelectric scheme

Work on the building of a dam over the Chicapa River, Lunda Sul Province, which started in May this year, entered a decisive phase on 10 June when the river was diverted by the Hidrochicapa company.  

Francisco Meireles, administrator of Hidrochicapa, said that the US$45-million project, to be built by the Russian firm Al-rosa Veneshproi, would take two and a half years to build, employing 155 workers.

The Chicapa hydroelectric scheme will provide electricity for diamond mining companies operating in Catoca and for the provincial capital, Saurimo, which is 12 km away.  

Speaking at the ceremony to mark the new phase, Botelho de Vasconcelos, Minister of Energy and Water, said that the project itself respected the environment and that diverting the river was being done in such a way as to ensure that the effects were minimal. 

‘This is one of our concerns,’ he said, ‘and we are working with the Ministry of the Environment to reduce whatever effects there might be.’  He said the transfer of people affected by the flooding of the area that would form the lake had been negotiated with traditional authorities and the local population.

The Russian Ambassador, Vladimir Raevsk, said the Russian diamond mining company Alrosa had spent US$5 million since November 2003 on mine clearance, levelling and earth removal.  This year, he said, it would provide US$23 million for continuing work on the project.   

The provincial governor, Marcial Miji Itengo, said the building of the dam marked a turning point in the history of the province, since it would contribute to the development of the region.

Dam to be built in Uíje

Botelho de Vasconcelos, Minister of Energy and Water, announced in Uíje on 7 June that work would soon start on building a two-turbine hydroelectric dam in the province to improve the electricity supply to the local population.

Speaking to the press during a brief visit to Uíje, he said the equipment was already in the country and they were waiting for the completion of a study in order to start work.

Relaunching agriculture in Benguela

The Benguela government is to spend US$800,000 on rehabilitating pumping and irrigation systems in the agricultural valleys of Cavaco, Catumbela and Canjala, which have been inoperative for more than fifteen years, in order to relaunch agriculture on the coastal strip of the province.

Speaking to the Angop news agency on 4 June, Abrantes Carlos, provincial director of agriculture and rural development, said the work could start immediately, as soon as funds allocated under the Public Investment Programme were made available.

Abrantes Carlos, who is an agricultural engineer, said that rehabilitating irrigation systems would mean added value, since despite the potential of the Cavaco valley on the outskirts of the city of Benguela, crops were being grown on only 3,811 hectares of land, whereas 6,400 hectares could be irrigated.   

Crops should not depend on rainfall, he continued, referring to the poor harvests back in December, when there had been very little rain.   He added that the peasants would subsequently be given increased technical and material assistance.

With an urbanisation rate of about 70 percent, Benguela Province had been relying almost exclusively on produce from municipalities in the interior and from neighbouring provinces, especially Huambo and Huíla.

Substantial improvements in agriculture

There were substantial improvements in the 2003/2004 agricultural year in Angola, according to a joint mission of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation and the World Food Programme.

The FAO-WFP mission, which visited the provinces of Uíje, Huíla, Bié, Kwanza Norte, Malanje, Moxico and Huambo, said their assessment of the harvest of major crops – cassava, groundnuts, maize, sorghum and beans – had been positive.

During a meeting to present the preliminary results of their assessment attended by Minister of Agriculture Gilberto Lutucuta, Thierry Aube, who headed the mission, said that despite excessive rainfall in some areas, especially Huambo, the results were satisfactory.

He said the country had impressive agricultural resources, combined with the clear willingness of farmers to work hard.

Thierry Aube spoke of the need for the government to provide more farm tools and seeds and to improve access routes, so as to make it easier to increase production.

These constraints, he said, had a negative effect on progress in agriculture, because they prevented the movement of people and goods and the exchange of goods between town and countryside.

The Minister of Agriculture said shortages of seeds and fertilisers had been a constraint, since funds allocated were not always sufficient to meet needs.  ‘

‘We will have greater capacity in the 2004/2005 agricultural year to assist our peasants through the distribution of tools, fertilisers and seeds,’ he promised.

South Africans to build sugar factory

A delegation of South Africans from the Transvaal Suiker Beperk, TSB, visited Zaire Province in early June to look into the building of a sugar factory. 

TSB, which won a Ministry of Industry tender for building a sugar factory, plans to start building the US$250 million undertaking in 2006 and complete it by 2011. It will produce an estimated 150,000 tonnes of sugar a year and create new jobs in the province.

The delegation was accompanied by Kiala Gabriel, director of the Institute of Industrial Development, IDIA.

Development plan for Cabinda

The standing committee of the Council of Ministers, meeting in Luanda on 2 June, approved a development plan for Cabinda Province, to cost an estimated US$370 million.  It is to be financed by taxes from the oil industry and budget allocations.

The plan, to be carried out over a six-year period, includes investment in power and water supplies, health, education, vocational training, transport, fisheries, industry, the environment and the hotel industry.  In respect of education, a higher technical school is to be set up, as well as a petroleum institute, so as to provide the province with human resources capable of contributing to its development.

Priority in health is to be given to combating HIV/Aids, as well as campaigns against malaria and other endemic diseases. 

The committee further approved the building of 2,500 houses in the provinces of Bengo, Kwanza Norte, Uíge and Luanda, at a total cost of US$47 million.

Fifty percent of the financing will be by the Malaysian MPK construction group, to be repaid exempt from interest over a ten-year period, according to a statement issued after the meeting.

The meeting also assessed progress on the building of the university campus in the Golfe area of Luanda, in an area of approximately 2,000 hectares. It will have nine faculties and four central buildings for a student population of 17,000.   It was noted that the work was proceeding as planned and that some of the buildings and infrastructure had already been completed.

The standing committee also took note of work on the New Village project aimed at boosting agricultural and economic development in Wako Kungo, Kwanza Sul Province.

The project is to involve large-scale investment in physical and social facilities, the rehabilitation of family farms, the resettlement of demobilised soldiers and their families, and the building of industrial plants to support agriculture.

Pilot solar energy scheme funded by UK and BP

A pilot solar energy scheme in the small town of Paranhos, Bengo Province, was inaugurated on 24 June by Aguinaldo Jaime, assistant Minister to the Prime Minister.

The community project is the first of its kind in Angola and includes three systems, providing power for the medical post and the water treatment plant,  uninterrupted electricity for the population of Paranhos and lighting for homes, streets and schools.

The project cost US$460,000, funded by BP and the British government, with the Ministry of Assistance and Social Reintegration, the Ministry of Energy and Water and the Bengo government as partners. 

Aguinaldo Jaime said this kind of project showed that international partners had seen that good business was possible only with political and social stability. 

‘The international community has witnessed the efforts made by the Angolan government for the social well-being of the people and the very long awaited conference of donors,’ he said.  He went on to say that the national reconciliation process was going well and was irreversible, because Angolans were setting a great example of rebuilding what had been destroyed during the armed conflict.

John Thompson, the British Ambassador to Angola, stressed the importance of this type of project, which benefited especially the rural population.

National Assembly passes law on HIV/Aids

The National Assembly passed a law on HIV/Aids on 24 June with 158 votes in favour, none against and no abstentions.    The law, which was discussed at length by deputies after it was tabled by Minister of Health Albertina Hamukwaya, is aimed at protecting and promoting full health through the adoption of measures needed to prevent, control, treat and investigate HIV/Aids.

It sets out the rights and duties of sufferers, health personnel and others at risk of contagion and of the population as a whole.

Those affected have, among others, the right to free public health care, employment and confidentiality in respect of information on their state of health.

Their duties include practising safe sex and informing their spouses, partners or others with whom they have or intend to have sexual relations of their HIV status. The new legislation makes it an offence punishable by law to transmit HIV intentionally or through negligence. 

The Minister revealed to the press during an interval in the parliamentary session that her Ministry had been notified of 3,000 new Aids cases in Angola.  She said she was worried about the spread of Aids, saying that the current great increase in the movement of people in and out of the country was a situation in which it might spread rapidly.

She said there were cases in all the country’s provinces, with the greatest numbers in Luanda, Cabinda, Cunene and Huíla.

Most oil companies do not comply with labour legislation

Most of the oil companies operating in Angola do not comply with the General Labour Law and do not allow Angolan workers employed by them to join trade unions.

This was stated by Manuel Viage, general secretary of the National Union of Angolan Workers, Unta-Sindical, at the 11^th meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Unctad, held in São Paulo, Brazil, which he attended as a representative of civil society.

He said that Chevron, based in Malongo, Cabinda Province, was one of the companies guilty of this, at a time when there was a worldwide struggle to ensure that trade union rights were respected.  Workers in these companies, he said, had no means of defending themselves and they were subject to the conditions of individual contracts. 

Manuel Viage said that before signing any contract on labour with multinationals and other companies, the government should consult civil society.

In the case of Malongo, he said, it was no surprise to him that there was no freedom of collective negotiation, as provided for in the country’s laws and documents of the International Labour Organisation.

In a seven-point declaration, the representatives of world civil society at the Unctad meeting recommended that international trade and related institutions and agreements should comply with the principles of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man and agreements and conventions of UN conferences.

The statement further recommended that multinationals should be prevented from using legal artifices against states in respect of development policies, ensuring protection for the population and guarantees that legal action will be taken against investors who violate the rights of citizens.

United Kingdom support for humanitarian work

The British Department for Overseas Development, DfID, gave US$1.2 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross this year for the second phase of the repatriation of Angolan refugees from Zambia, DR Congo and Namibia.

Speaking in Luena, capital of the eastern Province of Moxico, Martin Johnston from DfID said his government was funding other projects, with US43.5 million going to Unicef for combating malnutrition, and US$400,000 to the World Health Organisation for the anti-HIV/Aids programme. 

This year the British government would also be donating US$1.2 million for health, through the Irish NGO Goal, and another US$200,000 to the British mine clearance group MAG.

In Luena, Martin Johnston and his delegation had a meeting with the acting provincial governor, Mário Salomão and visited the commune of Liangongo, about 80 km east of Luena, to see the mine clearance work being done by Norwegian People’s Aid.

Reconstruction in Bié Province

Afonso Jorge Assasse, head of the statistics and planning office in Bié Province, told the Angop news agency in Kuito on 17 June that US$400,000 had already been spent on rehabilitating power and water supply systems in the municipalities of Chinguar, Andulo and Camacupa.  He said that US$20 million had been earmarked for the two-year programme.  

As part of efforts to improve basic services, the initiative had also made it possible to repair schools and hospitals and to acquire seeds and agricultural implements. 

There was also a special minimum programme for the reconstruction of the city of Kuito, under which the provincial government headquarters, the National Bank of Angola building, the main post office, hospitals and children’s centres were in the process of being rebuilt, he said.

Agreement signed with Spanish university

Agostinho Neto University signed an agreement in mid-June with the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on MA courses and doctorates in medicine and nursing.  The three-year agreement also provides for research programmes, teacher training, the training of health and social workers and strengthening institutional capacity.   

João Teta, chancellor of Agostinho Neto University, said that Spain had already helped to carry out a number of projects in education, particularly the Faculty of Agricultural Science in Huambo, which had received US$500,000 to restore the veterinary course.

He stressed the importance of the agreement, under which Spanish research workers could participate in joint projects aimed at developing medicine and nursing.

Social Support Fund projects in Cabinda Province

Silvestre Cabango, the local director of the Social Support Fund, FAS, said FAS would be spending US$1.6 million in Cabinda Province on community and economic projects this year. 

These, he said, would include ten primary schools, three health posts, an orphanage, a women’s education centre and housing for health workers and teachers. 

Since it was first established in Cabinda Province in 1995, FAS has carried out 191 projects, worth US$5.9 million.

Teacher training for special education

Forty teachers in Ndalatando, Kwanza Norte Province, took a ten-day course in mid-June on teaching people with visual, speech, hearing and mental handicaps how to read and write. The course, given by specialists from the National Institute for Special Education, was the first of its kind in the province.

Marcelina Manuel, one of the monitors of the course, said the aim was to provide participants with knowledge to enable them to teach especially children and young people.

Marcelina Manuel said that similar courses had already been given in the provinces of Bengo, Lunda Sul, Namibe, Cunene, Uíje, Benguela, Huíla and Kwanza Sul, and that the provinces of Kuando Kubango and Malanje were next on the list.

Forum on early childhood

In his address on 14 June to the opening session of a forum in Luanda on care and development in early childhood, Prime Minister Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos ‘Nandó’ said the government and people would make ‘a pact with children, making them an absolute priority on the national agenda’.

He stressed the urgent need to mobilise all of society and government and non-governmental bodies on the importance of children and social responsibility for them. He spoke of community-based activities to reduce the infant mortality rate by 50 percent and malnutrition and childbirth mortality rates by 30 percent, as government goals.

The Prime Minister further stated that policies and practical social action would be boosted to increase women’s awareness of the risk of transmitting HIV/Aids to children, as would the implementation of the plan of action for orphaned and vulnerable children, while expanding and improving pre-school education for children aged from two to five. 

In his address, João Baptista Kussumua, Minister of Assistance and Social Reintegration, said that 250 children out of every 1,000 died before the age of five, putting Angola in ‘dubious third place’ in world infant mortality rates, after Sierra Leone and Niger. 

Luís Bernardino, director of the Luanda Paediatric Hospital, said that reducing infant mortality in the country meant establishing a municipal network of health centres technically equipped to carry out existing programmes.

The aim, he said, was to reduce infant mortality by 50 percent before the year 2008.  This, he added, meant ensuring that the Ministry of Health had a very clear strategy, because there was no time to lose. 

Pierre Pirlot, resident coordinator of the UN system and United Nations Development Fund representative in Angola, reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to support government initiatives on behalf of children. 

Among the many decisions taken at the end of the forum were a government commitment that programmes and projects related to the survival and development of children would be provided with funds from the general state budget.  

It was also decided to set up a National Council for the Rights of Children, as a state body, and an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate action related to early childhood.

Legislative reform is to be speeded up, so as to ensure that national laws are in keeping with the Universal Convention on the Rights of the Child, covering such aspects as sexual, physical and psychological abuse, abandonment, refusing to provide food, the sale and trafficking of children and the rejection of parenthood, among others.

British Airways goodwill mission visits Huambo

A British Airways goodwill mission paid a two-day visit to Huambo in mid-June to identify ways of financing projects in the areas of health, water and sanitation.  

The mission included Kate Walton and Sue Hurley from British Airways headquarters in the United Kingdom, Rob Cooper, the BA manager in Angola and Angolan technicians.

They went to Caála and Ekunha, 23 and 45 km west of Huambo respectively, and visited mother-and-child care centres and the water treatment and supply centre.

Reintegration of demobilised troops in Moxico

US$260 million will be spent over the next three years in Moxico Province on the social and economic reintegration of 105,000 Unita soldiers and their families, and 33,000 former government soldiers.

The general programme for this was presented on 10 June in the provincial capital, Luena, by IRSM, the institute for the social and vocational reintegration of former soldiers.

The government is to provide US$157 million of this sum, another US$33 million will come from the World Bank and the remaining US$70 million from other international donors.

The programme, which started in March this year, is aimed at contributing to the consolidation of peace and national reconciliation.  

It states that equal rights, opportunities and assistance will be given to the target groups in the communities where they settle.  

Following demobilisation, the social and economic activities programmed include generating jobs and income and providing micro-credits and land.