U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID)
BUREAU FOR HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE (BHR)
OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (OFDA)    
Sierra Leone - Situation Report #1 (FY 2000)    May 23, 2000




Note: The last situation report was dated January 28, 1998.


BACKGROUND

Sierra Leone has been embroiled in a civil crisis since 1991.  Warring
parties signed a cease-fire agreement on May 18, 1999, and on July 7
President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and the leader of the rebel Revolutionary
United Front (RUF), Foday Sankoh, signed the Lome Peace Accord, formally
ending eight years of civil war. The war claimed at least 20,000 lives
and, at its peak, forced almost half of Sierra Leone's 4.5 million
inhabitants from their homes. Estimates of the number of internally
displaced persons (IDPs) in Sierra Leone range between 500,000 to over one
million, and there are currently approximately 490,000 refugees in
neighboring countries. According to Human Rights Watch, Sierra Leone's
civil conflict was also characterized by some of the worst human rights
abuses on record. Sierra Leone remains in a humanitarian crisis. To date
in Fiscal Year (FY) 2000, the U.S. Government (USG) has provided $46.15
million to Sierra Leone in humanitarian assistance and support to the
peace process. The USG has been the single largest donor of humanitarian
aid to Sierra Leone throughout the civil conflict. Between FYs 1991 and
1999, USG humanitarian assistance for Sierra Leone totaled $293 million,
channeled through USAID's Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP), USAID's
Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), USAID's Office of
Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI), and the State Department's Bureau for
Population, Refugees, and Migration (State/PRM). Assistance included
emergency food, medical and health relief; support for agricultural
recovery, support for refugees, internally displaced persons and other
war-affected people; and technical assistance to the Government of Sierra
Leone (GOSL).

The terms of the Lome Peace Accord provided for a general amnesty,
established a process for the demobilization of combatants, called for the
release of all abducted civilians, and promised unhindered access to
humanitarian organizations. Both the RUF and the second rebel group, the
Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), which is principally made up of
ex-Sierra Leonean Army (ex-SLA) soldiers, were invited to join a
power-sharing Government of National Unity. Elections are scheduled for
February 2001. The GOSL officially launched the Disarmament,
Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) program, called for in the Lome
Accord, on November 4, 1999. The DDR program aims to demobilize an
estimated 45,000 combatants, including the RUF, the AFRC, and the pro
government Civil Defense Forces (CDF), traditionally known as Kamajors.
The DDR program entails disarming combatants and then providing them with
a $300 payment, training and assistance packages in one of 11 planned
demobilization/reintegration camps throughout Sierra Leone. In addition,
on October 22, 1999, the UN Security Council approved a 6,000-strong UN
peacekeeping force, known as UNAMSIL, for Sierra Leone. The first
contingent of 130 UN peacekeepers arrived in Sierra Leone on November 30.
On February 7, 2000, the Security Council approved the expansion of the
peacekeeping force to 11,000 troops and is currently considering a further
expansion to 13,000. As of May 22, 10,246 peacekeepers from 30 countries
(mostly Nigerians, Kenyans, and Indians) had arrived in Sierra Leone. The
Nigerian-led Economic Community of West Africa Peace Monitoring Force
(ECOMOG) troops, who had supported the GOSL during the war, completed
their withdrawal from Sierra Leone on April 30, 2000. UNAMSIL forces
inherited the ECOMOG mandate to provide security for Freetown, since there
is currently no viable Sierra Leonean army.

Total FY 2000 USG Assistance to Sierra Leone $46.15 million


NUMBERS AFFECTED AT A GLANCE

According to a February 2000 report by the GOSL's National Commission on
Resettlement, Reintegration and Rehabilitation (NCRRR), the number of
registered IDPs is 84,818 were located as follows: the Western Area (the
Freetown peninsula), 32,856; the Eastern Province, 39,043; the Southern
Province, 12,919. No figures were available for the Northern Province.
These figures do not include the IDP camp at Waterloo, where USAID/OTI
reported there were approximately 5,000 IDPs. That addition makes a total
of 90,000 registered IDPs who were receiving assistance. Estimates of the
actual total number of IDPs are widely divergent, ranging from 500,000 to
1.2 million. According to a May 22 IRIN report, fresh fighting has
displaced an additional 40,000 people. An estimated 490,000 Sierra Leonean
refugees remain in neighboring West African countries, mainly in Liberia
and Guinea. The rebels are still detaining several thousand civilians,
including more than 2,000 children.


CURRENT SITUATION

During the first week of May 2000, the peace process was dealt a serious
setback when RUF fighters killed at least four UN peacekeepers and took
hostage approximately 500 UN peacekeepers and UN civilian personnel in a
series of attacks in the north and east of the country. The RUF released
157 of the detained UN personnel on May 14 and additional 13 detainees on
May 21. The U.S. Department of State reported that 322 UN personnel were
still detained or unaccounted for as of May 22. UN and news reports of a
rebel advance on Freetown over the weekend of May 6 and 7 created panic in
the capital, although the reports were subsequently retracted. On or about
May 7, the UN, the U.S. Embassy, and international non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) had evacuated most expatriate personnel to
neighboring countries (many have since returned to Sierra Leone). The
United Kingdom (UK) has fielded military support personnel (nearly 1,000
paratroopers) to secure the airport at Lungi, to facilitate evacuation of
UK and Commonwealth citizens, and to allow for airlift of additional
UNAMSI forces. A U.S. Air Force team also arrived in Freetown on May 16 to
survey Lungi airfield. The number of UNAMSIL troops deployed on the ground
was increased from 8,400 at the start of May to 10,246 as of May 22. With
ECOMOG's departure on April 30, there is currently no international peace
enforcement in Sierra Leone. As of May 22, Freetown was calm, the U.S.
Embassy was still open, and RUF leader Foday Sankoh, who had disappeared
for nearly ten days, was in the custody of Sierra Leonean authorities.
Former AFRC chairman, Johnny Paul Koroma, presided over the remobilization
of AFRC/ex-SLA troops, joining a loose conglomerate of new SLA and CDF
forces in support of the government. Hostilities have now resumed.
Currently, pro-government forces are pushing east and north, forcing RUF
rebels to fall back.

Many relief operations are suspended. Currently, the following programs of
USAID grantees have stopped operations: CARE programs in Moyamba (programs
in Freetown continue); Catholic Relief Services (CRS) programs in Lunsar,
Kambia and Masiaka (programs in Bo and Kenema continue); Merlin programs
in Freetown (their programs are still active in Kenema but Merlin
facilities in Newton were looted); World Vision programs in Kono (all
their programs are active in the South); and Action Against Hunger (ACF)
program in Makeni (rebels completely looted the ACF office in Makeni). For
many operations that continue, NGOs are largely relying on their national
staff. Overall, aid agencies are active only in the Freetown area, some
areas of the Southern Province including Bo, and Kenema in the east. The
UN's World Food Program (WFP) warned on May 19 that the renewed
hostilities would likely seriously disrupt relief distributions and hurt
an already low agricultural production.


POLITICAL/MILITARY SITUATION

These recent attacks are the culmination of numerous cease-fire violations
and atrocities, which persisted despite the peace accord. A series of
incidents, including outbreaks of fighting between RUF and ex-SLA forces,
skirmishes between rebel and ECOMOG forces, numerous attacks on civilians
(mutilations, rapes and killings), and abductions of civilians and
international aid workers, have occurred since the Lome Accord,
threatening the stability of the peace and delaying humanitarian access to
insecure areas. In recent months, rebels had stepped up attacks against
civilians in Segbwema, Buedu, Lungi, Port Loko, Rogberi, Lunsar, Kabala,
Kenema and areas of Koinadugu. In a number of incidents, humanitarian
organizations were specifically targeted; rebels looted ECOMOG, UN and
humanitarian vehicles and supplies (everything from food to ammunition).
According to Human Rights Watch, many of the attacks occurred during raids
in which rebel soldiers entered villages looking for food, livestock and
money. While authorized to use force if necessary, the UN peacekeepers
have mostly avoided confronting rebels who continue to harass civilians
and pillage rural villages with impunity. In response to the recent RUF
offensive, UNAMSIL accelerated its deployment with the aid of a donor
airlift of new troops, bringing the total number to 10,246. UNAMSIL troops
are now deployed throughout much of Sierra Leone. However, RUF forces
continue to block them from entering key areas, such as RUF-controlled
sections of the diamond-rich Kono District. In addition to soldiers, there
are also 260 unarmed military observers to monitor the cease-fire and
report on violations.

Even before the remobilization of many combatants this month, the DDR
process has been proceeding very slowly, due in part to serious logistical
and funding constraints in some DDR camps, but mainly because of poor
participation by combatants, be it from fear and mistrust or a lack of
commitment to the peace process. As of mid April, according to the GOSL's
National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration
(NCDDR), 23,009 of 45,000 former combatants have reported to disarmament
centers (4,373 RUF, 7,698 CDF, 5,671 AFRC/ex-SLA, 3,804 current SLA, and
1,463 others). Some of those in disarmament camps have reportedly
remobilized in recent weeks. The DDR process was also troubled by violence
in the camps, either between different factions in the camps or because of
riots by discontented ex-combatants demanding quicker payments.


RELIEF EFFORTS AND OVERALL HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

The Western Area (including Freetown), the Southern Province and some
parts of the Eastern Province enjoyed relative stability and improvements
in humanitarian conditions in the last year. Since December 1998, however,
the rebel-controlled eastern and northern areas of the country have been
largely inaccessible to humanitarian agencies, jeopardizing the lives and
well being of thousands of vulnerable people. Despite the promises of the
Lome Accord, access to many parts of the country opened up much more
slowly than had been hoped. There were significant improvements in access
(for example, Bombali and Tonkolili were successfully reopened in March).
The recent unrest has disrupted relief efforts in the north, including
Kambia, Lunsar, Makeni, and Kabala. Humanitarian assessment missions,
which had recently reached as far as Kailahun and Kambia, are now blocked
by rebels.

Even if security improves in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, poor road
conditions, recurrent fuel shortages, including aviation fuel, and
inadequate logistics facilities continue to hamper humanitarian assistance
throughout the country. Relief agencies, such as WFP and World Vision,
implemented road repair projects, such as repairing the Kenema-Kailahun
road in the Eastern Province. On January 1, 2000, RUF rebels formally
reopened the roads, which had been closed for several years, linking
Kenema and Koindu, Kono and Kailahun in the north and other places in the
east. Despite the improvement, road conditions remain poor. With the
approaching rainy season (April - October), road conditions are likely to
worsen, causing the delivery of relief commodities to become even more
difficult. In addition, many bridges are destroyed, and there are no
operating ferries for river crossings; food commodities are currently
ferried across rivers in small canoes. With the rainy season, also
considered the "hungry" season, the humanitarian situation will likely
deteriorate.

Despite these constraints, humanitarian assistance has been ongoing. The
emergency relief needs of war-affected and vulnerable populations in the
Southern Province and accessible areas in the Northern and Eastern
Provinces were largely being met. The humanitarian community, including
the UN system, international and national non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) and civil society groups, is actively engaged in the areas to which
it has access in the sectors of health, nutrition, water and sanitation,
child protection, agriculture, and food aid. Humanitarian coordination
mechanisms are generally functioning effectively. USAID/OFDA supports the
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' (UNOCHA's)
Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Unit (HACU) to provide coordination
and information reporting services for the humanitarian community in
Sierra Leone, as well as for donors. HACU has been instrumental in
organizing regular coordination meetings in the various sectors,
organizing and participating in assessment missions, determining
appropriate responses that are not duplicative yet cover the gaps,
promoting a humanitarian Code of Conduct, and reporting on the overall
humanitarian situation.


REFUGEES AND IDPS

Sierra Leone has approximately 90,000 officially registered IDPs located
in 23 camps throughout accessible areas of the country. Widely divergent
estimates put the total number of IDPs (most are not registered) at
between 500,000 and 1.2 million. The number of registered IDPs had
decreased in the last nine months, but the countrywide presence of armed
rebels and general instability has frustrated IDP resettlement. An
estimated 40,000 people have been displaced due to the current fighting,
although some have reportedly already returned home as British and UN
troops have restored security to Freetown and nearby towns. New IDPs
remaining in Freetown have been absorbed into existing camps or housed by
relatives.

During the war, some 490,000 Sierra Leoneans were forced to seek refugee
in other West African states, primarily Guinea (360,000) and Liberia
(96,000) and other West African states (34,000). The UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on May 11 that an additional 325 Sierra
Leoneans have fled on foot or by boat to neighboring Guinea to escape the
recent renewed fighting. However, RUF forces are reportedly blocking many
more people from crossing the border into Guinea. Liberia has not reported
any significant new influx of refugees. According to UNHCR, Sierra Leone
is the leading country of origin for African refugees. Even before the
current crisis, Sierra Leonean refugees were reportedly afraid to return
home. UNHCR and State/PRM estimate that large-scale refugee return is
unlikely until 2001. Kailahun, Kono, Kambia, Kenema, Pujehun and Freetown
are anticipated to be the principal areas of return. Before the latest RUF
offensive, UNHCR had reported a small but steady increase in spontaneous
refugee returns, mainly from the Sinje and Vahun camps in Liberia. Between
November 1999 and March 2000, an estimated 10,000 refugees returned from
Liberia to major towns in the Southern and Eastern Provinces of Sierra
Leone. Reports indicate that most of the recent returnees are from Kenema
or Kailahun Districts. UNHCR also estimated that as many as 25,000
refugees returned to Kambia District in early 2000 based on a
re-registration of refugees in Forecariah Province, Guinea. Following the
May RUF offensive, only 324 new refugees fled back to Forecariah.

In FY 2000 to date, State/PRM contributed a total of $3,350,000
specifically to assist Sierra Leonean returnees and IDPs inside Sierra
Leone. This contribution included $2 million to UNHCR for Sierra Leonean
refugee repatriation and reintegration, $350,000 to the International
Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) for Sierra Leonean Red Cross programs
for returning refugees and IDPs, and $1 million to the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for medical rehabilitation programs for
Sierra Leonean war amputees and severely injured rape victims. In
addition, State/PRM provided $5.43 million to UNHCR and NGOs to assist
Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea and Liberia. In addition to these
earmarked contributions, State/PRM provided $50 million in FY 2000 for
UNHCR's Africa programs, a portion of which supports Sierra Leonean
refugees, and contributed $34.5 million to ICRC for its Africa programs, a
portion of which supports Sierra Leonean victims of conflict. USAID/FFP
also supports Sierra Leonean refugees through refugee feeding programs.
USAID/FFP provided the UN World Food Program (WFP)/Guinea with 11,950
metric tons (MT) with a value of $7 million and 500 MT worth $552,000 to
WFP/Liberia of food aid for refugees in those two countries.


FOOD SECURITY

Food security continues to be a major challenge in Sierra Leone. The
country now suffers a chronic food deficit and is dependent on external
aid. Food distributions to IDPs and other vulnerable groups are continuing
in accessible areas, mainly in the Southern Province. Food aid in the
rebel-controlled parts of the Eastern and Northern Provinces has been much
more difficult and sporadic. There are reports that civilians in towns
under rebel control, such as Makeni, Lunsar, Magburaka, and Fadugu, have
been subjected to the imposition of arduous food levies. The few
humanitarian missions that have been conducted in these areas have found
that food security varies widely, depending on security and the
population's access to the fall 1999 harvest and to roads and markets.
Limited food distributions (mostly small-scale school feeding) have been
carried out in recent months by food aid agencies in Makeni and other
areas in the north and east, including Kabala and four chiefdoms of Kono
(GOSL-controlled areas). Despite the current unrest, food distributions
are continuing in Freetown, Bo and Kenema. However, WFP had had to halt
food distributions to approximately 200,000 beneficiaries. WFP has also
curtailed school feeding to about 30,000 children in Makeni, Lunsar and
Magburaka.

The USAID/FFP Regional Food Monitor reported at the end of April that WFP
had begun providing food rations to ex-combatants in some DDR camps,
taking over this responsibility from DFID. WFP excluded Port Loko South,
Lungi and Daru camps, however, which accounted for the majority of
disarmed fighters; DFID planned to continue to be responsible for food
distribution in these areas. Residents of these camps were mostly ex-SLA
soldiers. Most expressed the desire to rejoin the army (some have
reportedly already remobilized) and were therefore ineligible to receive
humanitarian assistance. No USG food commodities were used to support
feeding in DDR camps.

To date, in FY 2000, USAID/FFP has approved 39,430 metric tons of food
assistance for 438,600 beneficiaries at a total cost of $24,439,000. Due
to insecurity, the actual quantity of food delivered has been less than
planned, and some of the above funding may be de-obligated. With the
arrival of several food shipments between mid-April and mid-May, nearly
30,000 MT of food stocks (most provided by USAID/FFP) are presently
available in Sierra Leone (stored in Freetown, Bo, Moyamba and Kenema),
enough to provide a full 2,100 kilocalorie ration to USAID/FFP's
beneficiary caseload for three and a half months. Four experienced
partners are distributing emergency food aid: CARE, CRS, World Vision and
WFP. Implementation is closely coordinated by the Sierra Leone Committee
on Food Aid, which is composed of the four food pipeline agencies, the
GOSL, USAID/FFP, the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) and
HACU. Operational areas of responsibility covering all of Sierra Leone
have been assigned to the four organizations.

A major portion of food assistance is distributed in the form of
food-for-work or food-for-agriculture. In order to improve long-term food
security, seeds and technical assistance are provided to farmers, along
with food rations. This program has been successful in greatly reducing
dependence on food aid in the areas of the country that have remained
relatively secure. Food-for-work projects include repair of roads and
bridges, rehabilitation of public markets, schools and clinics, recovery
of agricultural land, and construction of crop drying floors and storage
facilities. Food aid is also provided through therapeutic feeding centers
for malnourished children, vulnerable group feeding programs, and
institutional feeding for formal schools and participants in non-formal
education programs.


AGRICULTURE

Agriculture is a key sector in Sierra Leone. It traditionally employs
approximately 80 percent of the population, and agricultural production
contributes to more than 30 percent of the GDP. Even before the war,
agriculture production was declining and the conflict further exacerbated
the situation by leading to the massive displacement of rural people, loss
of properties, destruction of traditional distribution networks, and
destruction of infrastructure. In addition, virtually all livestock were
eliminated in many parts of the country. Compared to the north and east,
the south has benefited from reasonable stability to continue with
agricultural activities during the last two years. Despite some setbacks
(such as road blockages), average farm productivity has increased and farm
families have started reserving their own seeds for subsequent
cultivation. As more displaced and refugee farmers resettle, one of the
major challenges is reestablishing agricultural productivity and household
food security. Planned distributions of seeds and tools have been
cancelled due to the current crisis, potentially disrupting the upcoming
main May-June planting season. In addition, food support for agriculture
programs had to be diverted to meet new emergency needs, undermining
progress toward the nation's long-term recovery.

USAID/OFDA is currently supporting four implementing partners in the
agriculture sector: CARE, Africare, CRS, and World Vision. USAID/OFDA is
supporting CARE for an agricultural rehabilitation project which targets a
total of 14,160 farm families (84,960 individuals) in 28 Chiefdoms in the
Northern and Southern Provinces through seeds (rice and groundnut) and
tools distribution, food for agriculture programs, technical assistance,
and extension training. Their hope is that farmers will have seeds for the
next planting season. USAID/OFDA is supporting Africare to promote
self-reliance in food production among 22,000 farmers and their families
(an estimated 176,000 direct beneficiaries) in Bo and Kenema, so that
18,675 acres of food crops are cultivated with an expanded yield. CRS's
USAID/OFDA-supported Agriculture Recovery Project is designed to help
resettling farm families to re-cultivate their fields and rehabilitate
their livelihoods. In FY 2000, CRS is distributing rice seed and tools to
19,000 families. USAID/OFDA supports World Vision to provide seeds and
tools to 42,396 vulnerable farm families in the Kono and Kailahun
districts and to strengthen agriculture extension services. These regions
have been largely inaccessible to humanitarian assistance from February
1998 until recent months.


NUTRITION

The lack of food security in Sierra Leone has led to widespread
malnutrition. Nutritional surveys undertaken by humanitarian agencies in
various parts of the country reveal rates of severe malnutrition among
women and children screened at feeding centers, ranging from approximately
7 - 27%. In Freetown, the nutritional situation is relatively stable, with
the total number of new admission rates gradually decreasing in
Supplementary Feeding Centers (SFCs) and Therapeutic Feeding Centers
(TFCs). As children are cured, feeding centers may gradually be closed.
USAID/OFDA supports two NGOs working directly in the nutrition sector: ACF
and Merlin. ACF operates therapeutic and supplementary feeding programs in
Freetown and has resumed feeding programs in some rural areas of the
Northern and Eastern Provinces such as Makeni, Magburaka, and Massingbi,
where operations had to be suspended in January 1999. ACF is feeding 8,460
moderately malnourished children under five and 750 severely malnourished
children. USAID/OFDA supports Merlin to implement emergency nutritional
feeding among children under five in Kenema and Freetown and nutritional
surveillance of the same population.


HEALTH

Poor health has long beset Sierra Leone's population. The country has some
of the highest infant mortality (146 per 1,000), under-five mortality (260
per 1,000), and maternal mortality (7 per 1,000) rates and the lowest life
expectancy rate (45 years) in sub-Saharan Africa. During the war, much of
the national health care system broke down because of widespread rebel
destruction and looting of health institutions. It is estimated that
between 10 and 20 percent of the population has access to adequate health
care services. The country is also subject to recurrent outbreaks of
measles and diarrheal diseases, as well as suffering from endemic cholera
and malaria. USAID/OFDA supports four agencies in the health sector: the
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), Africare, CRS, and Merlin. USAID/OFDA
contributed to UNICEF's 2000 Humanitarian Appeal for Women and Children
for primary health care, emergency nutrition, immunizations, maternal
children health, providing basic medicines and equipment to health
clinics, and building the capacity of health staff at the district and
national levels. A particular focus of UNICEF's work is combating
diarrheal and vaccine-preventable diseases. Two rounds of the 2000
National Immunization Days, during which UNICEF distributed oral polio
vaccines, took place in all 13 districts in March and April and reached
100% of targeted beneficiaries. If insecurity curtails or forces the
cancellation of the third round planned for June, Sierra Leone could
become the last country in the world in which polio has not been
eradicated.

USAID/OFDA supports Africare to provide outpatient curative, preventive
and referral services to children under-five, pregnant and lactating women
and other war-affect populations in Bo and Kenema. This program benefits
approximately 36,000 individuals. USAID/OFDA funds CRS to improve the
health status and access to health care of 35,000 IDPs and returnees
through rehabilitating two primary health care clinics in Kenema,
operating two mobile medical teams in four vulnerable chiefdoms in the
Eastern and Northern Provinces (with an average monthly caseload of
6,000), and promoting improved hygiene practices among at risk youth in
all targeted communities. USAID/OFDA supports Merlin for emergency cholera
unit, rehabilitating primary health care facilities in Kenema and Bo
Districts, and overseeing an emergency malaria control program in Kenema.


WATER AND SANITATION

Civil conflict severely affected the provision of adequate potable water
supplies. Treated water supply has not functioned in most of the country
for several years. Domestic water collection is mainly from rivers and
streams, many of which are polluted. Water and sanitation agencies are now
largely meeting the water and sanitation needs of IDPs in the accessible
areas, mainly in the Southern Province. However, continued poor sanitation
led to a serious outbreak of shigella (bloody diarrhea) starting in
December 1999. By the end of March 1999, 4,099 cases were reported, 1,000
patients treated and 131 deaths reported. In February 2000, UNICEF and
several NGOs launched an aggressive program to combat the disease, through
the establishment of static and mobile clinics where patients are treated,
significantly reduced toe mortality rate.

Despite the current crisis, UNICEF reports that operations are continuing
normally in Freetown and the Southern and lower Eastern Provinces, despite
the recent crisis. As part of USAID/OFDA's support to UNICEF's appeal,
USAID/OFDA funds UNICEF to work to increase access to safe drinking water.
UNICEF activities include construction of hand-dug wells, rehabilitation
of existing wells, training of hand-pump caretakers, water trucking to IDP
camps, pre-positioning water containers and chlorine, and providing
support for the construction of low-cost latrines. UNICEF is expanding its
emergency water and sanitation activities to newly accessible areas in the
Northern and Eastern Provinces, such as Tonkolili, Kono, Bombali,
Koinadugu, Kailahun, and Port Loko. The USAID/OFDA-supported CRS health
program also includes a water and sanitation component, consisting of the
construction or rehabilitation of 60 water wells and 60 latrines connected
to educational institutions in the Northern Province. USAID/OFDA supports
ACF to construct latrines and provide potable water to IDPs in Freetown
and newly accessible areas in the north, such as Masiaka, Makeni,
Masingbi, and Magburaka. ACF activities include well rehabilitation and
construction, latrine construction, water chlorination, and hygiene
education.


SHELTER

During the heavy fighting from mid-1998 to mid-1999, entire towns were
burned to the ground, particularly in many parts of the Northern Province
and the Western Area. The extent of the destruction was massive and
widespread. The GOSL is currently planning for the facilitated
resettlement of displaced persons back into their communities. With
USAID/OFDA and USAID/FFP support, CRS and Caritas Sierra Leone were
replicating their successful USAID-funded 1999 Emergency Housing
Reconstruction project in Calaba Town, Freetown in Lunsar and Kambia (the
program was suspended due to the current unrest). With materials funded by
USAID/OFDA and a food-for-work program supported by USAID/FFP, CRS and
Caritas are assisting 600 homeowners to reconstruct their homes and
community structures. USAID/OFDA also supports CARE to implement a Pilot
Resettlement Program in Tonkolili and Moyamba (currently suspended), which
entails providing packages of basic shelter materials and critical
household needs to assist in the resettlement of 5,000 war-affected
families. USAID/FFP is also supporting World Vision for a food-for-work
program in Wellington (just outside of Freetown) to aid in the
rehabilitation of homes for 3,645 households.


TRANSPORTATION

In FY 2000, USAID/OFDA continues to support the WFP humanitarian
helicopter. The humanitarian helicopter was initiated in early 1999
following the evacuation of expatriate staff of humanitarian agencies from
Sierra Leone due to the rebel invasion of Freetown in January 1999. The
purpose of the helicopter is to provide humanitarian organizations with
safe access to war-affected areas of the country as well as a means of
evacuation. The helicopter transports both humanitarian personnel and
small cargoes of emergency supplies. During the recent crisis, the
24-person capacity of the WFP helicopter, which is available for emergency
evacuation, has been a critical factor in allowing a core of UN staff to
remain in Freetown. In addition, the WFP helicopter has been moving high
value medicine and vaccines during the current emergency.


CHILD WELFARE

Many combatants are child-soldiers who were often captured and forced to
fight and commit atrocities. During the January 1999 rebel attack on
Freetown, an estimated 4,000 children were separated from their families,
most presumably abducted. Many of the abducted children are now drug
addicts and/or infected with HIV/AIDS. The disarming, treatment and
rehabilitation of these children poses a huge challenge. The release of
abducted children, as called for in the Lome Peace Accord, has been slow
in coming, and the plight of such children remains a grave humanitarian
concern. Although much progress has been made in child tracing and family
reunification, UNICEF and other agencies estimated at the end of March
2000 that 2,3000 children remained in captivity. The most vulnerable
population in Sierra Leone in the wake of the crisis is the 900 recently
disarmed and demobilized child soldiers who have been cared for by relief
agencies. Many of them were former rebels, and they are vulnerable to
attack and forcible remobilization by the RUF.

USAID's Africa Bureau (USAID/AFR) is currently providing assistance for a
child protection network through a grant to UNICEF, funded under and
managed by USAID's "Displaced Children and Orphans Fund" (DCOF). With
funding primarily from USAID, UNICEF is the lead agency in supporting the
"Child Protection Network". The network, which consists of representatives
of the GOSL and local and international NGOs, provides child tracing,
family reunification, and trauma counseling for its targeted population of
children, including some 5,000 child soldiers and 10,000 unaccompanied
minors. As of the end of March 2000, UNICEF and NGOs were supporting 703
children in interim care centers, about 80 percent of whom were
demobilized child combatants (219 in the Western Area, 473 in the Northern
Province, and 43 in the Eastern Province). In addition, special technical
and material assistance has been provided through a grant to Vietnam
Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) for assistance to victims of
mutilation who are served by a prosthetics and orthotics workshop that is
managed by the French NGO, Handicap International (HI). This grant is
funded under the agency's "Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund" (LWVF).


SUPPORT TO THE LOME PEACE ACCORD

USAID/OTI assisted the peace process in FY 1999 with 232 small grants to
civil society groups and by fielding a technical team and three civil
society observers to the Lome Peace talks. Assistance for implementation
of the Lome Peace Agreement was obligated in FY 1999, and elections
funding has been pledged but not yet obligated. In FY2000, USAID/OTI has
obligated $2,806,334 to date for the activities listed as follows: 1)
assistance for the implementation of the Lome Peace Accord, including
Article VII on the Commission for the Management of Strategic Resources,
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission for the
Consolidation of Peace; 2) continuation of the small grants program for
civil society's peace-building initiatives, especially related to
responding to setbacks in the peace process in May 2000, reconciliation,
development of leadership, and civic education in preparation for upcoming
elections in 2001; 3) The Reintegration Training and Education for Peace
Program, a two-year, nation-wide, non-formal education initiative for
60,000 ex-combatant and non-combatant young adults (many of whom were
unable to attend school for nearly ten years due to the conflict),
combining reintegration orientation and counseling, life-skills training,
vocational training, civic education, and functional literacy training; 4)
support to a multi-donor media and communications program of Common Ground
Productions, with USAID/OTI's portion focusing on communications support
for demobilization, reconciliation, and reintegration, and media and
distance learning support for USAID/OTI's non-formal education program; 5)
in coordination with other donors and other USAID offices, providing (or
planning to provide) elections assistance for national, parliamentary,
local, and paramount chief elections scheduled to be held in 2001.
USAID/OTI's implementing partners on the Education for Peace Program,
support to civil society, and assistance to the GOSL for implementation of
the Lome Accord are World Vision and Management Systems International.


USG ASSISTANCE TO SIERRA LEONE

USG humanitarian assistance continues to support emergency needs resulting
from the civil crisis, including supporting programs in geographic areas
which were inaccessible to relief organizations prior to the July 1999
Peace Accord. To date in FY 2000, USG humanitarian assistance to Sierra
Leone totals $46.15 million. Of the total, USAID/FFP provided $24.44
million for food aid in Sierra Leone as well as additional food resources
to WFP for Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea and Liberia. USAID/OFDA
provided $9.11 million in emergency humanitarian assistance, USAID/OTI
programmed $2.8 million for civil society and support of the Lome peace
accord, and USAID/AFR provided $1.017 million to aid war wounded and
war-affected children. State/PRM provided $8.78 million for assistance to
Sierra Leonean refugees and IDPs.

USG Humanitarian Assistance in FY 2000 (to date) $46,146,973
USAID/OFDA

- Grant to World Vision for agriculture rehabilitation in Kono and
Kailahun $1,649,946

- Grant to Africare for emergency health and agriculture in Bo and Kenema
$485,000

- Grant to ACF for nutritional feeding and water and sanitation $1,812,148

- Grant to CARE for agricultural rehabilitation in the Southern and
Northern Provinces $882,584

- Grant to CRS agricultural rehabilitation, shelter and health care
$1,842,463

- Grant to Merlin for health, water and sanitation in Freetown, Kenema and
Makeni $536,141

- Grant to FAO for agricultural coordination $200,000

- Grant to UNOCHA/HACU for humanitarian information and coordination
$450,000

- Contribution to UNICEF's 2000 Humanitarian Appeal for Women and Children
$500,000

- Contribution to WFP to support a humanitarian helicopter $750,000


USAID/OFDA FY 2000 Assistance (to date) $9,108,202
BHR/FFP

- Grant to WFP $8,400,000
- Grant to CRS $5,128,000
- Grant to World Vision $6,351,000
- Grant to CARE $4,560,000

USAID/FFP FY 2000 Assistance (to date) $24,439,000


USAID/OTI

- Grant to world Vision for peace building and Education for Peace Network
$967,126

- Grant to Management Services International (MSI) for Education for Peace
Program $1,589,208

- Grant to Search for Common Ground Productions for communications and
media peace-building $250,000

USAID/OTI FY 2000 Assistance (to date) $2,806,664


USAID/AFR

- Support to the Leahy War Victims Fund $517,000
- Support to the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund $500,000

USAID/AFR FY 2000 Assistance (to date) $1,017,000


State/PRM

- Support to UNHCR for Sierra Leonean refugee repatriation and
reintegration $2,000,000

- Support to ICRC for war victims, particularly amputees $1,000,000

- Support to the Sierra Leonean Red Cross Society, through IFRC, for
returning refugees and IDPs $350,000

- Support to UNHCR/Guinea for refugees $3,700,000

- Support to IFRC/Guinea Red Cross $370,000

- Grant to American Refugee Committee for Primary Health Care for Sierra
Leonean refugees in Guinea $417,435

- Grant to the Center for Victims of Torture for psycho-social assistance
to traumatized Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea $765,672

- Grant to ACF for nutritional feeding for malnourished Sierra Leonean
refugee children in Liberia $173,000

State/PRM FY 2000 Assistance (to date) $8,776,107


USG FY 2000 (TO DATE) Humanitarian  Assistance $46,146,973
USG Humanitarian Assistance in FY 1999

USAID/OFDA     $13,892,454
BHR/FFP        $15,356,591
State/PRM      $ 4,414,920
AFR/WA         $ 1,500,000
BHR/OTI        $ 1,031,811
TOTAL FY 1999  $36,504,308   


Historical Summary of USG Humanitarian Assistance

FY 1991   $   597,824   
FY 1992   $23,711,719   
FY 1993   $22,176,613   
FY 1994   $30,534,678   
FY 1995   $25,651,867   
FY 1996   $30,648,001   
FY 1997   $26,784,019   
FY 1998   $51,125,770   


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