Angola: Rekindling hope

10 February 1999
ICRC News 99/06

On 4 February three ICRC delegates and three local employees evacuated 73 orphans from the town of Kuando, in Huambo province, to the city of Huambo. The children had been trapped in the orphanage of the Catholic mission, situated in an area that had become particularly dangerous. They were evacuated at the request of the orphanage’s management.

The children, who had been left in the care of the church, were placed in Catholic institutions in Huambo. A convoy of four vehicles carried out the operation under the protection of the red cross emblem.

The ICRC is continuing to provide non-food assistance to victims of the fighting in Angola. Blankets, soap, kitchen utensils and plastic buckets have been given to 635 displaced people from Katchiungo and Vila Nova who have taken refuge on the premises of a private hospital in Huambo.