ANGOLA

The MgM mine clearance project Bengo (2)

"GOOD HOPE"

In 1992 the peace treaty between the MPLA government and the rebel organization UNITA fell apart following the first democratic election. As a result, the entire population of central Bengo, called Nambuano, fled to Luanda. They were not allowed into the overcrowded city, so the WFP - the World Food Program of the United Nations, rented a desolate piece of land that became a camp for 75,000 civil war refugees. The name of the camp was Boa Esperanca, Portuguese for "Good Hope". The distribution of food and the retention of town structures in groups of huts were handled by the DWHH, the German World Food Aid organisation.

In 1996, on the initiative of the then German Ambassador in Angola, Mr. Helmut von Edig, the WFP Director Ramiro da Silva and the land coordinator of the DWHH, Dr. Lange, the decision was made so promote the return of the population of Boa Esperanca to their old homes. Nobody knew the situation in central Bengo even though it was only 180 kilometres away from Luanda. Access to the area was totally closed by the fear of mines on the broken and overgrown roads and the impassable bridges. The only available information came from a helicopter flight of one of our Ambassadors with NPA (Norwegian Peoples Aid), and from a map made in 1962.

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