00.01.00.00

V/o: Life in Huambo goes on. It goes after more than 25 years of civil war. It goes on in spite of the UNITA troops gathering to fight for this city for a third time. It goes on as if it were normal to live in ruins.

01.20

Refugees, forerunners of the war, gather in Huambo. They occupy every empty building...every available inch of floor.

Almost one hundred thousand are thought to have arrived here.

01.44

Dominga Canrida came with her family to Huambo, She had to walk for two long days to avoid UNITA soldiers.

01.50

Dominga Cantida - refugee

Dominga: The nuns used to come and help us. The nuns gave us food. Now we don't get anything. Since the end of December we haven't received anything.

02.02

V/o: Angola's government has invested everything in fighting this war. They have nothing to offer the refugees. Huambo's displaced live on an island surrounded by battle. As always they are dependent on foreign aid. But aid comes slowly these days.

02.18

Carlo Batallas, ICRC,

Head of delegation Huambo

Batallas: By now Huambo is isolated, there is not enough food coming in. If the situation continues like this, in one or two months perhaps, there will be nothing to eat. A real food crisis.

02.34

V/o: It is shameful what is happening in Huambo. The international peacekeeping force can do nothing but standby and look. There is no longer any peace to observe. UN soldiers have no mandate or equipment to try and separate MPLA and UNITA soldiers.

02.53

Issa Diallo

UN special rep. to Angola.

Diallo: We have not succeeded in crossing the finish line. War has resumed because UNITA refuses to disarm and finally the government has decided to use force. Slowly and slowly war is dragging us...dragging us into its own logic.

V/o: That logic seems to be that it is time for the UN to leave Angola. After almost nine years here and with and 1,5 billion US dollar spent they have failed to create the conditions for peace and disarmament.

At the height of UN involvement more than 7000 peacekeepers were deployed here, today there are just over 1000. For the Angolans who that had placed all their hope with the UN it's a bitter disappointment. Some accuse them of bungles.

03.52

Miquel Somatressendje -

vice governor of Huambo

Somatressendje:  UNITA recruited young men in the villages to pose as their soldiers. They presented them to the UN for demobilisation. The UN, who are mostly foreigners, stupidly accepted what UNITA presented to them.

04.08

V/o: Last time the war broke out, at the end of 1992 after the elections, the government hired help from the renowned South African mercenaries, Executive Outcomes. They trained troops and most likely took part in the fighting against UNITA. That gave the government the upper hand that forced UNITA to agree to a peace plan in 1994. Now the government troops are ill disciplined and are loosing ground to UNITA. It has been reported that UNITA is now using mercenaries itself.

04.47

Miquel Somatressendje

Somatressendje: A war never ends with the total defeat of the enemy. There are fights and there are battles but in the end it is necessary to sit down and talk. We do not believe that bullet for bullet fighting will bring peace but it is also necessary to weaken a stubborn "partner".

05.22

V/o: Most observers believe that there can be no military solution to the Angolan conflict. But neither the government nor UNITA is willing to compromise again. Too much power is at stake for them to put down their arms. Now no young men are safe, at any given time they can be forcibly conscripted to fight on either side in the evil circle of war that surrounds the country.

05.47

Issa Diallo

Diallo: It is wrong to think that the role of the UN is to stay at any cost. It is wrong. The role of MOUNUA, UN is to have a mandate. If the mandate can be fulfilled, yes we have to stay for that purpose. If the UN cannot perform the mandate, for what .. ?

06.21

V/o: In the wake of the fighting the situation for civilians is rapidly deteriorating. The international aid agencies here are now diverting all their efforts into emergency aid. The long term development projects have fallen by the way side. They have to watch while their efforts are destroyed.

06.53

Laurenent Jenneret -

Swiss Humanitarian Aid, Huambo

Jenneret: We saw something happening. There was a lot of traffic at the airport. Since September 98 more and more troops came to Huambo. But we were always optimistic. We never thought something would happen.

V/o: But it did happen. Once the Swiss were the biggest employer in Huambo. In this old furniture factory they produced parts for bridges. But the war has made bridges redundant. Nobody knows how long the battles will last this time. And as long as there is war there cannot be development.

07.30

Laurent Jenneret

Jenneret: We are very sad, but our problem are minor. For our workers and the people of Huambo all this is a tragedy.

Yes the people of Huambo know that they are living in tragic times. The frontline is only 20 to 30 km away.

They are cut off from their surroundings.

07.53

V/o: The bridge of Kalima is abandoned. Built with Swiss aid the bridge is an important supply route for Huambo. But renewed fighting has meant renewed mine laying. This road and scores of others are now best avoided.

Kalima is just another ordinary village. But if Savimbi's troops make it here, they can shell Huambo's airport which lies just 15km away. And if they take the airport conquering the entire city will be easy...

The people of Kalima know that their town is strategically important. The few villagers who remain here tell a British de-mining team about the new mine victims and the bomb shells they've found nearby.

Only two weeks before this truck drove over an anti tank mine on the road to Huambo. The truck was carrying 30 farmers to the local market. 14 of them were killed.

08.45

Flora Kapombo - injured

Kapombo: The car was lifted into the air and then hit the ground. I looked for my sister in law. She'd fallen out of the other side of the car and had died on the spot. I ran to her. Her intestines were lying next to her.

09.20

V/o: Huambo's hospital is crowded with survivors of mine explosions and people who have been wounded in the crossfire. These are the lucky ones. Very few wounded make to the isolated city.

This is the only city in the province with a working surgical theatre but it has very few drugs.

The fighting takes place in the country surrounding Humabo. But you can still hear the shelling and shooting and sometimes there is smoke on the horizon.

09.46

The last checkpoint on the way to the front is manned with soldiers and police. The few trucks coming back from the war carry soldiers and some civilians. They are lucky enough to receive a friendly greeting - government troops have already cleared them.

Huambo is a symbol for the never-ending Angolan civil war. They believe they can make more gains with bullets than diplomacy. Their deadlock condemns the population to war after a quarter of century of fighting for power.

Humabo Resident

Resident: The people who are involved in this war have their weaknesses. But they also have their own interests and  they are never interested in the population.

ENDS

11.03

V/o: The people are ignored and have been so for a long time. Generation after generation have had nothing but conflict surrounding them. For them there is no prospect of peace and without peace they cannot hope for a decent life.