Angolans face hard road home

Millions have been displaced by war

By Justin Pearce BBC, Luanda

Hundreds of thousands of Angolans displaced by the civil war are trying to return to their homes but with no means of survival.

Concern has been growing recently over the large number of people heading back to their home areas before proper preparations have been made for their return.

Government/UN conditions for resettlement

People must have shelter

Education and health services must be provided

Land must be free of landmines

People must have seeds and tools to cultivate the land

Central government has now ordered the local authorities not to encourage people to start moving until basic necessities like food and shelter are available in the places to which they are going.

The opportunity for displaced people to return home came with the signing of a peace deal by the Angolan Government and the Unita rebel movement in April.

This finally ended decades of war and unstable ceasefires.

The last ten years of war in Angola forced three million people from their homes.

Fighting continued in many areas of Angola right up to the early months of this year causing more people to leave their homes, but in some areas of the country where fighting had stopped some people had already started returning home.

UN agencies say that around 10,000 people a month are trying to get back to their old homes.

Landmine threat

Many people trying to go home are returning to areas which may have been abandoned for many years.

To try to cope with this, the government and humanitarian agencies agreed on a set of guidelines for the return of displaced people.

Angola is littered with landmines and shells

The areas to which they were going must have basic facilities like shelter, education and health services, the land must be declared free of landmines and the people must have seeds and tools to start growing food.

Since the peace treaty between the government and Unita was signed in April, people have become far more confident about going home.

The UN's humanitarian office estimates that 570,000 displaced people have gone back to their areas of origin in the last five months.

But it says that only 10% of the people going home are doing so in accordance with the conditions laid down by the government - the rest are going to areas whether they have no shelter or no means of producing food and where there may still be a risk from landmines.

Banditry

Aid workers say that many of these people are being encouraged to go home by local authorities who have in some cases made false promises of assistance once the people arrive back in their home areas.

Some former Unita soldiers are also being told that the quartering areas where they live are soon to be closed and they will have to disperse - this is giving rise to fears that they will turn to banditry if they do not receive the help that they have been promised as they return to civilian life.

The Social Assistance and Reintegration Minister Joćo Baptista Kussumua presented a different view, saying that most of the returns had taken place in a "regular" manner.

The Council of Ministers has however declared that it is up to the local authorities to ensure that displaced people go home to adequate living conditions.

"According to the guidelines, the local state administration has responsibility to create mechanisms for the functioning of public services in resettlement areas, as well as the obligation for planning material and spiritual assistance to returnees," a statement from the Council of Ministers said.

Aid officials have welcomed these statements of intent by central government - but are waiting to see whether they are heeded at local level.

As people disperse to widely-scattered villages, it is going to be difficult to monitor exactly what their living conditions are.