OCHA Situation Report No. 1
Mauritania - Drought
25 September 2002
Situation


1.  At least 60,000 Mauritanians face serious imminent food shortages. The
problem is particularly acute in the southern enclave of Aftout, which has
suffered six successive poor harvests.  Mauritania is facing a cereal
deficit of 205,000 MT, equivalent to five months' cereal consumption
needs, primarily because of extremely poor rains.

2.  On 1st September 2002, the Mauritanian Government declared a state of
emergency and issued an appeal for 37,000MT of cereals and 14,000MT of
other foods for emergency distribution to meet the needs of people in the
most affected areas for 3 months.

3.  The Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS) reported in July that
rainfall had been insufficient throughout the country.  This has had an
adverse impact on both crop and livestock farming.


Needs

4.  The needs concern mainly food assistance for emergency distribution in
the most affected areas.  There is also a need to provide seeds,
fertilizer, pesticides of veterinary medicines and fodder.

5.  Beyond food assistance and production inputs, external technical
support is required to develop sectoral contingency plans, as the current
crisis is likely to continue until the harvest in December 2003.


International and National response

6.  A joint assessment mission including the Government, WFP, FAO and FEWS
was deployed to the affected areas from 19 to 31 August 2002.  The mission
alerted the international community on the worrying food security
situation.

7. A cooordination meeting including all UN agencies, based in the
country, took place on 4 September.  This meeting focused on the
formulation of a relevant strategy to cope with the emergency.

8.  OCHA is in close contact with the UN Resident Coordinator office in
Nouakchott and will revert with further information, as it becomes
available.

9.  This situation report, together with further information on ongoing
emergencies, is also available on the OCHA Internet Website at
http://www.reliefweb.int


Telephone: +41-22-91712 34
Fax: +41-22-917 00 23
E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officers:
  Mr. Marcel Mikala, Mr. Max Bonnel
  Direct Tel. +41 22 917 1729 / +41 22 917 1457

Press contact:
  (GVA)  Ms. Elizabeth Byrs, direct Tel. +41-22-917 2653
  (NYC)  Brian Grogan direct Tel. +1-212-963-1143


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