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Article: Rich land, poor land: experts are predicting that Angola may soon overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's principal oil producer. So why, asks Andrew Brackenbury, are its people dying of hunger? (Angola).
- Article from:
- Geographical
- Article date:
- February 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Circle Publishing Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE FOLLOWING PICTURES MAY BE distressing," warns the newsreader. In squalid camps, skeletal figures lie dying beside those perversely swollen from the effects of malnutrition. Pencil-limbed children stare from the TV screen, their eyes desperately hunting for hope. Angola is starving. Exhausted aid-workers recount the daily death toll and implore the outside world to help.
The images are indeed distressing. But decades of Africa's televised woe have desensitised us to such suffering. Corrupt governments, violent conflicts and a cruel climate repeatedly crush hopes of redemption.
Yet the developed world is in many ways responsible for Angola's agony. ...