OCHA Situation Report
Eritrea
Report for March 2005
22 April 2005


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

HIGHLIGHTS

Recurrent drought and lack of sufficient resources had stymied 
government efforts to provide drinking water for a larger number of 
people. Water availability is still reported as a serious problem for 
most of the country. The Azmera (short rains covering March-May) rains 
have begun to fall, but once again they are erratic, light and 
localized. Herders are migrating earlier and longer distances with their 
animals in search of grazing lands, and many people are observed queuing 
for hours at water points. Even in the areas around the capital, water 
shortages are acute, with deliveries taking place only once or twice a 
week.

Malnutrition rates continue to be high in many parts of Eritrea, with 10 
to 20 percent global acute malnutrition cases among infants in Gash 
Barka, Anseba and Northern and Southern Red Sea. According to data from 
the Ministry of Health, 50 percent of children under five and 42 percent 
of pregnant and nursing mothers are underweight.

In response to the polio outbreak in neighboring Sudan, UNICEF has 
supported Ministry of Health to conduct Polio Sub National Immunization 
campaign in the border areas. In March, a second round of immunization 
reached 50,000 children. UNICEF also supported advocacy workshop on 
micronutrient control. In total 370 administrators and community 
leaders, as well as technical personnel attended the workshop that 
addressed in particular iron deficiency anemia, iodine deficiency 
disorders and vitamin A deficiency.

The outbreak of meningitis reported in Debub zone that killed one child 
and infected 33 people was under control with the concerted effort of 
the Ministry of Health, WHO and other partners. The onset of the short 
rains has reduced the transmission of the diseases. UNICEF advisers from 
the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) visited Eritrea 
on 20-24 March to support the finalization of the Mid-Term Review of the 
Eritrean Government and UNICEF country programme 2002-2006. The 
delegation met with the Ministry of National Development and a number of 
key Ministries to discuss the common programme and indicators for 
children in Eritrea. The seasonal increase of malnutrition among 
children and the need to understand the underlying factors was of 
particular concern. Another major challenge is the growing disparity 
between male and female net school enrolment. The Ministry of National 
Development also expressed the need to include Water and Environmental 
Sanitation within the platform of national development priorities.

UNHCR AND FAO BEGIN NEW PARTNERSHIP

UNHCR and FAO have signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding to employ 
a National Agricultural Specialist to work with both agencies in the 
Gash Barka Zoba. The objective is to contribute to an integrated 
strategy for improving agricultural production and thus food security 
and livelihoods of Eritrean returnees from Sudan and their host 
communities.

As part of its capacity building strategy, UNHCR's comprehensive 
multi-sector inputs for 2005 will invest approximately USD 1.5 million 
into activities in the agriculture sector. The Specialist, supported by 
FAO and located in UNHCR's Tesseney Office, will target unmet needs and 
develop community-based, self-help initiatives in collaboration with 
local authorities, line ministries and relevant partners. The role will 
also involve technical assessments on the status and effectiveness of 
agricultural activities, including environmental management and 
conservation (soil and water) needs.

UNHCR Plans For 2006

As part of its 2006 Country Operations Plan, UNHCR held a two-day 
workshop in Barentu, involving Government and implementing partners, 
with the aim of jointly tailoring a programme to address outstanding 
returnees' needs.

UNHCR's principal goals for 2006 are to consolidate existing 
infrastructure works and significantly increase community-services, 
income generating and burden-relief activities to provide greater 
self-reliance skills and coping mechanisms for the sustainable 
reintegration of returnees. UNHCR will continue to seek opportunities 
for joint programming and capacity building activities to enable 
development actors build in longer-term transitional recovery needs for 
returnees in their programmes.

UNHCR will also be pursuing durable solutions for refugees and maintain 
an effective refugee management system to provide its mandated 
protection and care to camp-based refugees as well as urban asylum 
seekers and refugees.

UNICEF: Water and Environmental Sanitation

The Ministry of Land, Water and Environment/Water Resource Department 
(WRD), supported by UNICEF, hosted the Eritrean ceremonies for the 
celebration of the Word Water Day on 22 March. The day also marked the 
beginning of the "Water for Life" Decade, with the goal to meet the 
internationally agreed targets for water and sanitation by 2015, and to 
build the foundation for further progress in the years beyond. In 
Eritrea, the majority of the population experiences severe water supply 
shortages, as conditions of drought persist. Diarrhoea among children 
remains a prime cause of morbidity and mortality. Worldwide, it is 
estimated that a child dies every 15 seconds from preventable water 
borne diseases, and diarrhoea alone kills 2.1 million children every 
year. 80% of these deaths are among children under two years.

A number of delegations visited water projects during the month. Swedish 
International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) visited the UNICEF 
supported water supply system in Adi Chomai on 3 March. Water supply 
systems have been constructed to cover Adi- Chomai and Adikonsi 
targeting 7,500 people previously without safe and adequate water within 
permissible distance. Another major water project, in the area of 
Sheetel within Hagaz sub-Zoba of Anseba Region, was fully completed. The 
project, supported by UNICEF, serves nine cluster villages with a 
resident population of more than 16,000 people. The total project cost 
was USD 530,000 and was supported primarily by USAID/OFDA. Recently, a 
team visited the site from the regional donor office, and stated they 
were impressed with execution of the UNICEF supported Water Resources 
Department (WRD) project implemented by ECDF (Eritrean Community 
Development Fund) and recognized the immediate health and social 
benefits - such as time saved to collect water by communities and the 
increase in school attendance by children particularly girls.

HIV/AIDS

The Ministry of Health, with support from UNICEF has initiated a 
concerted effort in training health care workers in all Antenatal Clinic 
(ANC) in the country on ' prevention of mother to child transmission' 
(PMTCT). The training stems from development of policy and guidelines in 
this area within the last year. All health workers in ANC's will be 
reached in 2005. The training is within a framework of partner work that 
also involves a UN Joint Programme with UNFPA and UNICEF - with 
technical support from Family Health International.

WFP FACES FOOD AID PIPELINE PROBLEMS

WFP reports that water supply is deteriorating for both human and animal 
consumption due to persistent drought conditions. Pastoralists have 
migrated with their herds to Northern and Southern Red Sea regions in 
search of pasture, and agriculturalists mainly depend on food aid for 
their survival. WFP has been facing pipeline problems forcing the 
programme to reduce ration sizes in most cases to 60% except in the IDP 
camps. Post distribution monitoring in Debub region indicated that 
beneficiaries are now facing food shortages due to the reduction of 
rations. The problem of reduced rations is compounded by post 
distribution sharing of food rations. Commitments to EMOP 10261.1 stand 
at US$ 31.7 million or approximately 91,830MT of food commodities, which 
covers 84% of the operations, total requirement. Commitments to the 
Protracted Relief Recovery Operations (PRRO) 10192 stand at US$ 42.1 
million, representing 83% of operation requirement.

UNMEE MACC/FMAC HIGHLIGHTS

The UNMEE Mine Action Coordination Center (MACC) coordinated, tasked and 
monitored the Peace Keeping Force (PKF) demining assets to protect and 
ensure the mobility of the Peace Keeping Force elements and to support 
the overall objectives of the Mission. The focus of demining operations 
continued to be on mine-affected areas in the Shilalo region of Sector 
West of the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ). The Kenyan deminers continued 
manual clearance operations in the Sheshebit minefield. The deminers of 
the Bangladeshi demining contingent were rotated. The new arrivals were 
inducted and will commence operations in April 2005. In total, the PKF 
demining assets cleared an area of 88,726 square meters and 3 km of 
roads. They also destroyed one mine.

The commercial road clearance contractor of the MACC, MECHEM, verified, 
cleared and tracked roads that had not been assessed in the Shilalo area 
of Sector West. In total, the Team verified 170 km of roads . During its 
operations, the Team also disposed of 7 UXOs (unexploded ordnances). 
MECHEM's Integrated Demining Team carried out integrated clearance 
operations in the Sheshebit minefield in Shilalo. In total, the Team 
cleared an area of 130,629 square meters.

The MACC Mine Risk Education (MRE) Field Teams deployed to the Laelay 
Gash sub zoba of the Gash Barka zoba in Sector West. They visited 
several communities and provided MRE to 2257 people. The Teams supported 
their community-based MRE outreach with the distribution of several MRE 
posters and games.

The MACC Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Field Team deployed to Sector 
Center and Sector West, where the discoveries of a number of unexploded 
ordnance items had been reported. In total, the Team destroyed 48 items.

UXO/Mine Accidents

Two UXOs and two mine accidents were reported. The first UXO accident 
occurred on 9 March 2005 in the Tsorena region in Sector Center, killing 
one man. The second UXO accident occurred on 15 March 2005 near the 
village of Adi Hakin in Sector West, injuring one boy. The first mine 
accident was reported on 19 March 2005 near Mai Kokah in Sector West. 
There were no casualties. A vehicle was damaged. The second mine 
accident occurred on 26 March 2005, 20 km southeast of the Humera Bridge 
within the adjacent areas of the TSZ. Two people were injured. The MACC 
has produced Preliminary Investigation Reports for all accidents. These 
are available upon request.

For Further Information Related to the Humanitarian Update, Please 
contact: OCHA - Eritrea Public Information Section at 
291-1-151666/151888, Fax- 291-1-151999, e-mail: gebrehiwots@un.org

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