The United Nations Security Council has delayed the start of its New Year break to hold an urgent session later today 1600G on the deteriorating situation in Angola.

Full-scale civil war has resumed there, following the collapse of the1994 peace accords between the government and UNITA.

After four weeks of fighting in the central highlands, tens of thousands of civilians are in flight and in dire need of food.

The Angolan President, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, has said he is no longer prepared to hold talks with UNITA; he blamed the rebel leader, Jonas Savimbi, for the breakdown.

The UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, has expressed his dismay at the failure of both sides to provide access for a rescue operation at the site near Huambo where a UN plane crashed on Saturday, with fourteen people on board.