Starvation fear over Angola war

A United Nations agency, the World Food Programme, has warned of a new crisis facing one-and-a-half-million people displaced by the civil war in Angola.

Many already close to starvation in the provinces of Bieh and Moxico are facing a risk that remaining relief supplies will be cut off because of a shortfall in contributions from donor countries.

The World Food Programme says it has been promised only a third of the money it needs $208 millions.

The agency's spokeswoman in Luanda Maria Flynn told reporters they would soon have to make the sad choice between the needy and the desperate. Other UN agencies estimate that up to three million Angolans have been driven from their homes because of the fighting, and agricultural production continues to dwindle.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service