Calling on the international community to "remember Angola", UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the country's protracted conflict had led to levels of suffering that were "truly shocking".

Fleeing fighting in the Angolan countryside, more than 5,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) arrived in the eastern city of Luena in January, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest situation report.

The MPLA government and Jonas Savimbi's armed movement, Unita appear ready for a new effort at peace talks to end Angola's almost 30-year civil war, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Advisor on Africa, Ibrahim A. Gambari told reporters Monday. "I went to Angola to persuade Savimbi to come to the table and it appears to be working."

The United Nations has warned of a humanitarian crisis in central Angola, where every month thousands more people are being driven from their homes and fields, and seeking emergency assistance in the towns.

More senior UNITA soldiers have been captured, lending support to claims by the Angolan army that Jonas Savimbi is surrounded with the net tightening. The Angolan army is reported to have recovered personal property belonging to Jonas Savimbi, indicating that it is getting closer to capturing the leader of the rebel-movement UNITA. Amongst the items recently seized near Cassamba in Moxico province was a hunting rifle given to Savimbi by former South African President PW Botha.