As the peace process begins to take root in Angola, displaced communities have turned to indigenous forms of therapy as a way of dealing with the psychological scars left behind by nearly three decades of civil war.

The UN World Food Programme has announced that the number of Angolans in urgent need of food aid has increased to 1.8 million, compared to 1.5 assisted in September. The increase is putting additional pressure on the already limited resources available to assist those in need.

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos opened a two-day summit of southern African leaders with a call to bolster regional peace efforts. "We have made regional efforts to end armed conflicts, but we still have much to do to achieve stability," Dos Santos said.

About 570,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have resettled or returned to their areas of origin in Angola over the past five months, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest situation report.