Angola - ICRC tracing activities, one year on

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• The protracted civil war in Angola (1975-2002) resulted in huge displacements of population and the separation of families both within the country and across international borders. Within Angola, barriers between areas controlled by the different parties to the conflict, coupled with the threat of landmines, meant that many areas were cut off. This has resulted in a large number of cases where the loss of family contact dates back to the first decades of the war.

• Since the cease-fire one year ago, working in cooperation with the Angola Red Cross (Cruz Vermelha de Angola), the ICRC has set up a major tracing programme and opened 139 tracing offices around the country to allow the Angolan people to: re-establish and maintain family links interrupted during the war, open tracing requests to find family members whose fate or location is unknown and find families of separated children and trace children based on parents'requests.

• In addition to traditional tracing methods, the ICRC has launched the Red Cross Gazette, listing the names of people sought by their loved ones. This list is also available on the ICRC website: https://familylinks.icrc.org .

• This comprehensive programme aims to help rebuild the social fabric of Angola. By enabling people to contact loved ones, through the exchange of thousands of Red Cross messages, and by locating their missing family members the ICRC hopes to contribute to stability in the country.

  REX 03/481 - Update No.10/2003