The long road to recovery

摘要

For Helen Cahamba, exile is finally over. The 46-year-old widow, who fled Angola in 1976, has just returned from Zambia with her seven children and four grandchildren. Back now in Luena, in Mox-ico province, she feels at home. Since the end of the country's 26-year civil war in 2002, over 320,000 Angolan refugees have come back, and the UN will soon stop its repatriation programme. The end of fighting has brought some improvement and great hope. But in spite of the country's vast oil and diamond riches, prosperity for most Angolans is still a distant dream. Despite occasional violent incidents, the seeds of war seem finally to have been removed. The death in 2002 of Jonas Sa-vimbi, who led the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) with an iron fist, finished off the exhausted rebel movement. About 100,000 former rebels have since been demobilised, and over a third have been helped with training or jobs. UNITA is now part of a government of national unity dominated by its former enemy, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). Isaias Sa-makuva, UNITA'S new leader, is working to turn the guerrilla movement into a democratic political party.