SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS ‘HEINOUS’ TARGETING OF RELIEF FLIGHTS IN ANGOLA

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS ‘HEINOUS’ TARGETING OF RELIEF FLIGHTS IN ANGOLA

The following statement was issued today by the Office of the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General strongly condemns the attack in Angola on Friday

15 June against two World Food Programme-chartered planes, which were en route to Kuito with food supplies.  Fortunately, there were no casualties.

This is the second deliberate attack in the last 10 days against WFP flights and directly impacts on the well-being of the country's most vulnerable civilians.  At present, Kuito has only two days of emergency food stocks to sustain a population of over 200,000 people.

The Secretary-General reiterates that this heinous targeting of relief personnel, who carry out humanitarian operations on the basis of impartiality and neutrality, is unacceptable.

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