The price of rice here has quadrupled. Many of Kuito's poorest citizens are now starving. Scenes in the hospital are reminiscent of medieval torture. The doctors here fled when fighting intensified. Now there are only nurses who have received crash training in the practice of amputation. Without the necessary skills and equipment this rough and ready treatment is all Angola's thousands of mine victims can hope for. Outside of Kuito, government forces are successfully fending off UNITA attacks. In some of the first frontline footage out of Angola, we witness the full horror of the skirmishes. Soldiers here do not take prisoners of war - they only kill. By ringing Kuito with mines the rebels are held back. The legacy of their chosen weapon ensures that even if peace returns to Angola, new casulaties of war will be filling the hospitals for decades.

Produced by SIC TV