According to a World Food Programme spokesman in Angola, about 250 tons of food has gone to child centres and a local hospital, with another 2,200 tons expected to arrive before the end of August.

WFP staff who visited Malanje, east of the capital Luanda, last week described the situation as critical, with an estimated three to four people dying of hunger each day.

WFP representative Francesco Strippoli said the scale of the tragedy was "incredible" and one of the worst he had ever witnessed.

"Thousands of children and the elderly are in really unbearable conditions," he said.

Eating mice

Reports on Tuesday said about 50 civilians were shot and killed at the weekend by Unita rebels after they left Malanje for a nearby village.

The Portuguese news agency, Lusa, quoted a survivor of the attack on Saturday as saying they had been taken from the village of Quipacassa south of Malanje, marched to a nearby river, and shot.

The unverified reports said the desperate villagers left Malanje because of famine.

Recent bomb damage in Malanje (NPA photo)

The UN says Malanje is crammed with 130,000 displaced people, and has been without regular relief supplies since the beginning of the year when Unita rebels began shelling the city.

Recent reports from towns affected by fighting say people have resorted to eating cats, mice and grasshoppers to survive.

According to local health administrators in Malanje, malnutrition levels among children under five are the highest in the country.

At least 25% are malnourished and at least 15% are what aid workers term severely malnourished.