Angolan women politicians, deputies and social organization representatives started Monday a seminar on basic conflict resolution techniques being run by Angolan Women Network.

Over 100,000 people are in urgent need of assistance in the town of Mavinga, in Angola's remote southern Kuando Kubango province.

The World Bank will assist the Angolan government in the resettlement of 1,500,000 people in their respective areas of origin, the government-owned news agency reports.

The Angolan army has launched an offensive against separatist rebels who operate in the oil-rich enclave of Cabinda, according to reports from the area.

Angola suffered the most landmine casualties in Southern Africa last year, with 660 people - most of them civilians - killed or injured, according to a new report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). The report said more than 34 million stockpiled antipersonnel mines have been destroyed by 61 states, including seven million in the past year.

The World Bank pledged $120 million Thursday to help Angola rebuild after more than two decades of civil war, but told the authorities they must take measures to dispel suspicion of high-level corruption.

Survivors of violence in the developing world are unlikely to respond to western interventions based on individual counselling. This is according to a study conducted in Angola amongst displaced people living in Huila province, the results of which are published in the latest Lancet.

Thousands of hungry people in southeastern Angola are heading for the town of Mavinga in the hope of finding food, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned in a statement.

If not for its oil, Angola would scarcely warrant a second look from most potential investors. Riven by Africa's longest postcolonial war, the country has distinguished itself mainly for poverty, corruption and, most recently, the threat of famine. But the blessings of geography and plentiful crude reserves have earned Angola increasing attention from the United States as Washington seeks to diversify sources of U.S. oil imports away from the volatile Middle East.

Separatist rebels in the oil-rich Cabinda enclave on Wednesday accused the Angolan government of stepping up a military offensive, and warned they would not participate in peace talks until hostilities ended.

The incumbent will research and collect information pertaining to human rights matters from a variety of data sources; keep abreast of issues/events and provide up-to-date information; assist in the analysis of information, to include the impact on the countries and thematic mandates on the human rights situation in assigned area.

An expedition headed to Angola last Wednesday to search for the giant sable, a majestic antelope that scientists hope has survived the southwest African nation's decades-long civil war.

The people of Angola should not be among the poorest in the world. World Bank statistics put Angola's GDP at close to $9 billion, with more than 50 percent coming directly from the sale of petroleum. Yet, Angola ranks 161 out of 173 countries on the Human Development Index of 2002.

Angola's civil war may have ended, but the behaviour and attitudes of its people are still dominated by violence, with women often on the receiving end.

Under the general supervision of the Chief of the Human Rights Unit, UNMA, the incumbent will perform a variety of human rights related functions.

Spontaneous returns of Angolan refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had slowed down, amid reports of the lack of food, schools and medical facilities in Angola, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Kris Janowski said in a statement.

Aid officials in northern Angola have warned of a new humanitarian crisis in that part of the country, once the coming rainy season blocks access to an already vulnerable population.

Thousands of Angolans continue to spontaneously return to their homeland following the end of that country's decades-long civil war, said the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The British-based Mines Advisory Group (MAG) has raised concern over the movement of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Angola and their settlement in areas that are “littered with anti-personnel landmines”.

Whether it is army officers smuggling gems, government officials demanding multi-million-pound bribes for oil contracts or teachers wanting money for exam certificates, millions of pounds are being misappropriated every week. And with more than one million of its 11 million population in need of food aid after the end of decades of civil war, corruption in Angola means yet more human suffering.