Annan calls for expanded UN mandate

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan this week called for an expanded UN mandate in Angola to provide vital support to ensure the success of the peace process and to strengthen humanitarian assistance. Since the 4 April peace accord, humanitarian organisations have struggled to cope with the magnitude of the crisis, with three million people estimated to be in need of emergency assistance. In his report to the Security Council on Angola, Annan said the proposed new mission would focus its work on two broad areas. The first would cover the political, human rights and military aspects and the second the humanitarian (including mine action), economic recovery and development issues. If authorised by the Council, the new mission would be called the United Nations Mission in Angola (UNMA) and would have an initial six-month mandate from 16 August 2002 to 16 February 2003. It would be headed by a Special Representative of the Secretary-General who would assume the lead on the provision of UN support for the political and military functions envisaged in the first and second phases of the peace process, and help to conclude the implementation of the Lusaka Protocol. This would include the demobilisation and re-integration process for former UNITA soldiers. The official news agency ANGOP reported on Thursday that Angola had become a single army nation after the incorporation of UNITA soldiers into the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) started on Wednesday at Chicala locality, in eastern Moxico province. The process would continue throughout the country. The new mission would require an increase in personnel for the military tasks which include participating in the Joint Military Commission overseeing UNITA's demobilisation. Sixteen UN human rights officers would be needed in key provinces to assist in the promotion and protection of human rights, in close coordination with humanitarian personnel already on the ground. The deployment of a Child Protection Adviser would also be considered. Children constitute over half of Angola's four million internally displaced people, with many suffering from severe malnutrition, malaria, measles, diarrhoea, respiratory ailments or other preventable diseases. The logistical and administrative capacity of the UN Office in Angola would also need to be augmented to support the new mission with new vehicles, staff and equipment, including a long-range helicopter, Annan said. However, he said the most urgent task of the UN system with regard to the consolidation of peace, was the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the millions in need. Key priorities would be the rapid delivery of food assistance to prevent hunger, support for resettlement, the provision of health packages, improved access to health care, an expansion of access to safe water and adequate sanitation systems, and the promotion of education and mine action. To achieve all this, additional resources were urgently needed from donors, Annan said. The UN's World Food Programme has already warned that it does not have the resources to assist 1.5 million hungry people over the next 18 months. Annan thanked humanitarian workers currently working in the country, and said that although the people of Angola had gone through "great suffering" during three decades of civil war, it was encouraging to note that the prospects for long-term peace were better today than at any time before. See the full report