The third world agency Concern has warned the UN against withdrawing its mission in Angola, noting that after the reduction of the UN force in Rwanda nearly a million people were massacred.
Concern's chief executive, Mr David Begg, was speaking after the agency received a grant of £120,000 sterling from the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund for its work with people injured by landmines in Angola.
Mr Begg said the UN Security Council should not withdraw its mission in Angola and should fully implement the economic sanctions imposed on the UNITA rebel forces, including a ban on the sale of diamonds.
"Whilst there are doubts about the effectiveness of the UN Angolan observer mission, which has been cut from 7,000 personnel to just 1,000, the Security Council must learn from similar experiences in Rwanda, where shortly after the reduction of UNAMIR, the international UN force, almost one million people were brutally killed in a genocide that could have been avoided.
"To date the UN has failed to enforce sanctions on UNITA, particularly the ban on the sale of diamonds on the international market, which is one of UNITA's main methods of financing its war chest. UNITA has been responsible for laying new anti-personnel mines. This is a deeply worrying aspect of the escalating conflict," he said.
Mr Begg said because of the recent intensification of fighting between UNITA and government forces, Kuito, Huambo and Malanje, where Concern is working, have been virtually cut off from the outside world. Almost 600,000 civilians are now without food supplies.
The grant will go towards Concern's vocational training centre in Kuito, which aims to improve the social and economic status of poor people, particularly those who have been the victims of landmine injuries.
Angola is one of the world's most heavily mined countries, with about one mine for every resident and an estimated 70,000 people maimed or severely disfigured from landmine injuries.