The Ruin of Riches
940
It might look like any dirty, poor street in the tropical northern countryside of Angola but its common name is Antwerp Street, and from all over the world people are lured to it to seek their fortune. With them comes barbed wire, weapons and satellite dishes.
At Antwerp Street, in Nzage, northern Angola it is possible to purchase anything, from medical drugs to television sets, anything ... at a price. Everywhere some kind of trade is going on and the most lucrative is this, the diamonds of Angola. Nzage is one of the centres where the country's precious stones are mined and traded.
Belgian diamond buyer Andre Roque da Silva is one of four legal licensed traders operating here. He has been granted a state concession. and each week he buys more than 2 million us dollars worth of stones. For four years he has had an office in the diamond areas of northern Angola.
Andre Roque da Silva (diamond trader): " In 1996 there were no people here and the "gariampeiros" the people who dig for the diamonds came direct to my office and it was very cheap. One could make a lot of money but today that is not possible."
In each room of his office there is a heavily armed guard. The trade has become more and more dangerous as the region descends further into anarchy. In Nzage there are four legal diamond buyers, but there are another 700 illegal traders.
They pay bribes or ´´commission`` to corrupt police and military and dominate the industry.
Andre Roque da Silva: "They let the people come in I do not know how but I think they pay the police and everything, they can pay every month 100 to 500 dollars so they can stay but they destroy the business."
It is now more clear than ever that the natural wealth of Angola also contributes to it's downfall. The diamond diggers who day in and day out stay in the mud to dig for the stones are the furthest down in a hierarchy with plenty at stake, if they are lucky they can make a few hundred dollars a day per group, but those who are highest up on the ladder, those who control the industry through government concessions or in conjunction with rebels or local warlords can take home millions of dollars. As long as the conflict in this country continues the wealthy and powerful will continue to enrich themselves leaving nothing behind.
Diamond digger: "We work very hard and we are still poor, if the government had wanted to stop this war they could have done it long ago, but they profit from it."Andre Roque da Silva: "The business is better when it is war because you don't have illegal people here and for us, we have our security then it is more easy for us, that is the only difference.
Antonio (field worker): "When UNITA attack some positions the first thing they do is cut off the connections between places."
Nzage is under government control but UN peace keeping forces, and aid workers believe that it soon may be attacked by the rebel UNITA movement. Unita has already attacked villages nearby and a big internal displaced population has poured in to Nzage. About 15 000 people are trying to escape the violence. Violence that comes from all sides, rebels, government troops and police and private mercenary-led groups.
Internal displaced person: "We make a garden and when we come to harvest there is an armed man to shoot us and take the food, now we are afraid to make new plantation because armed people come and take what we have planted all the time."
Antonio: "Besides being a strategic position it is also a very rich place, that's why they want to attack Nzage. Because UNITA last year lost a lot of money as the government took back all the places where UNITA used to dig for diamonds.
The UN's World Food Program is trying to give the growing numbers of refugees the basics for survival. Outside the UN local office people displaced by the fighting queue for hours. Without the emergency food they'd starve and for those that have been working with food aid for years the contrasts of Nzage are a slap in the face. All the natural wealth and fertile soil on the one hand and at the same time a population on the run and starving.
Antonio: " All the money and all the riches from this country is going to Luanda or outside the country, it's going everywhere else except to stay here that is the bad way of the government this is not the fault of the people so that is why we have to help the people because they stay here with nothing"
Around the country the situation for Angola's 11 million people is the same.South of the capital Luanda is Huambo the country's second biggest town. It was once the country's industrial heart and a highly productive agricultural centre. Today there is only the shell of what once was such a proud city. More than 30 years of war, looting and neglect have left the country in ruins.
In an effort to re-establish basic infrastructure a Swiss Aid organisation is paying 200 men to rebuild destroyed bridges.
It is a way to give them a small income but most important it will connect the communities in and around Huambo thus facilitating the renewal of trade and agricultural production. But landmines and the ever-present threat of violence is often a stronger force than hunger.
George Kessler (People against Mines): "The situation in Angola is special people are traumatized by mine accidents and mine incidents some have been locked up in provincial cities for months during the last war and now a mere rumour that someone has been remining creates panic and all traffic stops."
Antonio Alfredo Mela (Bridges for Peace): " For sure nobody nobody would like to fight anymore but it is the attitude of the leaders on both sides that creates this situation and the people can do nothing to improve their lives"
But people's wishes and dreams for the future are not a major concern for those with the real power in Angola. Recently most of the men that were building bridges for peace were arrested and forcibly conscripted into the military.
Antonio Alfredo Mela: " I have been in the army so I know what the war is all about. Never again will I will go back to that only it they take me by force."
The war drum has never stopped in one of Africa's most beautiful countries and as the conflict engulfs Angola again it is the common people who will each bear the brunt of the deprivation and suffering. The country's wealth has always and will always belong to somebody else.
A HEDGEHOG PRODUCTION - 1998
940
It might look like any dirty, poor street in the tropical northern countryside of Angola but its common name is Antwerp Street, and from all over the world people are lured to it to seek their fortune. With them comes barbed wire, weapons and satellite dishes.
At Antwerp Street, in Nzage, northern Angola it is possible to purchase anything, from medical drugs to television sets, anything ... at a price. Everywhere some kind of trade is going on and the most lucrative is this, the diamonds of Angola. Nzage is one of the centres where the country's precious stones are mined and traded.
Belgian diamond buyer Andre Roque da Silva is one of four legal licensed traders operating here. He has been granted a state concession. and each week he buys more than 2 million us dollars worth of stones. For four years he has had an office in the diamond areas of northern Angola.
Andre Roque da Silva (diamond trader): " In 1996 there were no people here and the "gariampeiros" the people who dig for the diamonds came direct to my office and it was very cheap. One could make a lot of money but today that is not possible."
In each room of his office there is a heavily armed guard. The trade has become more and more dangerous as the region descends further into anarchy. In Nzage there are four legal diamond buyers, but there are another 700 illegal traders.
They pay bribes or ´´commission`` to corrupt police and military and dominate the industry.
Andre Roque da Silva: "They let the people come in I do not know how but I think they pay the police and everything, they can pay every month 100 to 500 dollars so they can stay but they destroy the business."
It is now more clear than ever that the natural wealth of Angola also contributes to it's downfall. The diamond diggers who day in and day out stay in the mud to dig for the stones are the furthest down in a hierarchy with plenty at stake, if they are lucky they can make a few hundred dollars a day per group, but those who are highest up on the ladder, those who control the industry through government concessions or in conjunction with rebels or local warlords can take home millions of dollars. As long as the conflict in this country continues the wealthy and powerful will continue to enrich themselves leaving nothing behind.
Diamond digger: "We work very hard and we are still poor, if the government had wanted to stop this war they could have done it long ago, but they profit from it."Andre Roque da Silva: "The business is better when it is war because you don't have illegal people here and for us, we have our security then it is more easy for us, that is the only difference.
Antonio (field worker): "When UNITA attack some positions the first thing they do is cut off the connections between places."
Nzage is under government control but UN peace keeping forces, and aid workers believe that it soon may be attacked by the rebel UNITA movement. Unita has already attacked villages nearby and a big internal displaced population has poured in to Nzage. About 15 000 people are trying to escape the violence. Violence that comes from all sides, rebels, government troops and police and private mercenary-led groups.
Internal displaced person: "We make a garden and when we come to harvest there is an armed man to shoot us and take the food, now we are afraid to make new plantation because armed people come and take what we have planted all the time."
Antonio: "Besides being a strategic position it is also a very rich place, that's why they want to attack Nzage. Because UNITA last year lost a lot of money as the government took back all the places where UNITA used to dig for diamonds.
The UN's World Food Program is trying to give the growing numbers of refugees the basics for survival. Outside the UN local office people displaced by the fighting queue for hours. Without the emergency food they'd starve and for those that have been working with food aid for years the contrasts of Nzage are a slap in the face. All the natural wealth and fertile soil on the one hand and at the same time a population on the run and starving.
Antonio: " All the money and all the riches from this country is going to Luanda or outside the country, it's going everywhere else except to stay here that is the bad way of the government this is not the fault of the people so that is why we have to help the people because they stay here with nothing"
Around the country the situation for Angola's 11 million people is the same.South of the capital Luanda is Huambo the country's second biggest town. It was once the country's industrial heart and a highly productive agricultural centre. Today there is only the shell of what once was such a proud city. More than 30 years of war, looting and neglect have left the country in ruins.
In an effort to re-establish basic infrastructure a Swiss Aid organisation is paying 200 men to rebuild destroyed bridges.
It is a way to give them a small income but most important it will connect the communities in and around Huambo thus facilitating the renewal of trade and agricultural production. But landmines and the ever-present threat of violence is often a stronger force than hunger.
George Kessler (People against Mines): "The situation in Angola is special people are traumatized by mine accidents and mine incidents some have been locked up in provincial cities for months during the last war and now a mere rumour that someone has been remining creates panic and all traffic stops."
Antonio Alfredo Mela (Bridges for Peace): " For sure nobody nobody would like to fight anymore but it is the attitude of the leaders on both sides that creates this situation and the people can do nothing to improve their lives"
But people's wishes and dreams for the future are not a major concern for those with the real power in Angola. Recently most of the men that were building bridges for peace were arrested and forcibly conscripted into the military.
Antonio Alfredo Mela: " I have been in the army so I know what the war is all about. Never again will I will go back to that only it they take me by force."
The war drum has never stopped in one of Africa's most beautiful countries and as the conflict engulfs Angola again it is the common people who will each bear the brunt of the deprivation and suffering. The country's wealth has always and will always belong to somebody else.
A HEDGEHOG PRODUCTION - 1998