Angola has announced a $4.2 billion infrastructure program to tackle prolonged drought in the southern part of the country.
The Program to Combat the Effects of Drought in Southern Angola (PCESSA) covers Cunene, Huila and Namibe provinces and aims to replace emergency humanitarian aid with permanent water‑retention and distribution systems, Angola’s Energy and Water Minister João Baptista Borges said on September 10, according to ANGOP.
Under PCESSA, Huila receives the largest allocation at $1.6 billion for 12 structural project lots, followed by Namibe with $1.4 billion and Cunene with $1.18 billion for eight projects, he added.
In Cunene, the package includes completed works such as the Cafu Canal, the $195 million Calucuve Dam and its $178 million associated canal, and the $205 million Ndúe Dam, alongside interventions in Ita‑Ita, Otchinjau, Ondjiva and Cachiado. President João Lourenço inaugurated the Ndúe and Calucuve dams in Cuvelai, Cunene, on September 5 as part of the program.
In Huíla, plans include dredging the Tundavala Dam to strengthen water supply to the Quilemba Centrality and rehabilitating and expanding the Nossa Senhora do Monte borehole field.
In Namibe, the program foresees rehabilitating 21 reservoirs in Bibala, Camucuio, Saco‑Mar, Virei and Lucira, and advancing six major dams — Bero, Carunjamba, Giraul, Inamangando and Curoca — with work already under way on Bero Dam to supply potable and agricultural water to Moçâmedes.
Borges said the objective is to secure water for people, livestock and agriculture across the drought‑prone south.
The infrastructure push comes amid conflicting accounts of why Angolans are moving into Namibia. Angolan authorities have denied reports that drought and food insecurity are forcing citizens to flee, with Cunene Governor Gerdina Didalelwa instead accusing a network of Angolan and Namibian nationals of trafficking minors and adults to work on Namibian farms.
Her remarks follow an Amnesty International report alleging that southern Angola’s Cunene, Huíla and Namibe provinces have been among the hardest hit by recurring droughts, worsened by El Niño, undermining pastoral and farming systems and pushing people to seek food, water and work across the border.
The UN World Food Program estimates that around 2.2 million people in Angola need assistance, of whom 1.8 million are food insecure and 1.3 million require nutrition support, while the FAO has focused on restoring livelihoods in the south rather than food distribution.
