The week began on a positive note, with Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Secretary-General's special adviser on Africa, ending his visit to Angola by urging civilians to continue working for peace. Speaking in Luanda on Saturday, Gambari said: "Progress is being made to find solutions for the conflict and to end war in Angola. I am happy to note that the dialogue on the future of Angola is already taking place at various levels. Indeed the civil society has taken a particular interest in promoting and participating in this dialogue and President dos Santos himself has recently contributed to the public debate on the way forward in the peace process." He also left Angola with a memorandum from the Catholic Bishop of oil-rich Cabinda, where separatists have been waging a war for independence, calling on the United Nations to place Cabinda on its agenda.

On Wednesday Roman Catholic Church leaders in Angola said they could not verify if UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi was the real author of a letter published asking them to help restart ceasefire talks with the government. The church said it had received the letter on Monday. "Up to now, we have not been able to confirm the authenticity of this letter's origins," said a statement from the Catholic Conference of Angola, Sao Tome and Principe. "Only a ceasefire, implemented quickly and honestly, can end the spiral of violence. We ask (Mister) Savimbi to work toward this and we repeat the same thing to the government. More decisive and concrete steps should be made towards dialogue," said the bishops, who also promised to make their "best effort."

UNITA, meanwhile, promised to search for and return about 60 children kidnapped by its soldiers during an attack on a children's home in Caxito, about 55 km outside the capital Luanda. Without accepting responsibility for the kidnappings, the rebel movement said in a communiqué released on Tuesday that "the UNITA General Staff has ordered a strict inquiry aimed at identifying children who might have been forced to accompany the Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FALA) in the wake of the 5 May 2001 raid ... ". It said the children would be handed over the closest Catholic mission if they were found.

In the same communiqué, the rebel movement issued a stern warning to the Danish aid agency, People to People Development Agency (ADPP). "FALA's General Staff regrets the insulting language used by the director of ADPP [People to People Development Agency] in Luanda, despite the fact that politicised and disciplined guerrillas held a cordial meeting with more than 15 foreigners working for that non-governmental organisation. ADPP is hereby advised not to establish a presence in areas likely to be attacked by FALA forces. The FALA General Staff declines any responsibility for the safety of ADPP and its personnel," the communiqué said. However, it stressed that UNITA did not "wish to interfere" with the activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other agencies providing humanitarian aid in Angola.

WFP reported on Thursday that it had distributed 15 days' worth of emergency rations to about 3,000 people who fled Caxito after the UNITA attack. The Cacuaco municipal authority, just outside the capital Luanda, resettled about 2,500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Caxito on four hectares of land in Bairro Caop Velho, Funda, the WFP said . In addition, 514 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) refugees who had been living in Boa Esperanca in Caxito, and who were already receiving WFP aid, had been resettled at Sonefe in the same municipality. The emergency distributions followed a recent multi-agency visit to the area to assess IDPs' needs.

For the full IRIN story see: http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/archive/angola.phtml