An attack against Caxito in early May lead to the further displacement of an estimated 50,000-70,000 people. Humanitarian principles and human rights remain a major preoccupation. Evidence continues to mount that populations, including women and children, are suffering from extended periods of forced porterage and other gross violations in rebel areas. An increasing number of these populations, the overwhelming majority of whom are in extreme distress, are seeking safety and assistance. Forced displacement, looting, physical assaults and forced recruitment are continuing and are concentrated in areas where armed combatants do not receive adequate logistics support.
Humanitarian access remains severely limited.
Populations forced from their homes by military operations receive humanitarian assistance after they reach provincial capitals and larger cities. Of particular concern, increasingly large numbers of people, perhaps in the tens of thousands, are assumed to be on the move in the bush without assistance. Based on information from sources on the ground, agencies estimate that there are numerous pockets of malnutrition in inaccessible areas and that catastrophic conditions similar to Camacupa exist in hard-hit regions. Following the adoption of the Norms for the Resettlement of Displaced Populations by the Government in October 2000, agencies expected that resettlement into safe areas with good quality land would continue and perhaps accelerate, as a result of expanded security perimeters. Agencies estimated that as many as 500,000 IDPs might be relocated during the course of the year.