This opportunity should be exploited. The Angolan government plans to provide some land within the security perimeter of Kuito and Huambo to internally displaced families, a step that would give uprooted Angolans a chance to achieve a measure of self-sufficiency. Aid programs that encourage and support Angolan civilians' remarkable capacity to sustain their own livelihood in times of conflict will help reduce long-term aid dependency. Continue small-scale development programs in parts of the country removed from the conflict. The humanitarian situation in Angola is complex.
Needs vary greatly from region to region.
Seed multiplication programs and surplus agricultural production in relatively stable parts of the country along the coast and in the southwest, such as Lubango, can help support programs aimed at increasing food security in provincial capitals in the interior that have become isolated from the surrounding countryside, such as Huambo and Kuito. Portray the complexity of the current humanitarian situation in Angola with more accuracy. Most aid workers on the ground agree that the situation has not yet reached emergency proportions as of June-July 1999, despite occasionally inaccurate reports to the contrary. However, the situation could dramatically deteriorate in the last half of the year. Donors must respond immediately to increasing humanitarian needs in order to prevent a full-blown crisis.