OCHA Situation Report
Guinea
20 February 2007


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Highlights

- Guinea continues to be under a state of siege declared from 12 to 23
February

- The security situation continues to render humanitarian operations in
Guinea difficult and access is limited, both in Conakry and the rest of
the country.

- While assistance continues to be provided to victims of violence,
humanitarian partners are increasingly raising concern over the plight
of the general Guinean population.

- WFP Humanitarian Air Service is again serving Conakry and is for the
moment also flying humanitarian staff and equipment between Dakar and
Conakry

- An inter-agency team of UN emergency officers arrived in Conakry on 20
February

- CERF funding of USD 2,346,305 have so far been made available from the
CERF for priority emergency needs. Additional funding needs are being
identified and needs assessments are becoming a priority.

1- SOCIO-POLITICAL AND SECURITY SITUATION

State of Siege

The State of Siege declared by the President of Guinea, General Lansana
Conte, on 12 February continues. On 18 February, the curfew was reduced
and is currently in effect from 18:00 to 06:00 for the entire
population. The general strike called for by Unions as of 12 February
also continues to be observed.

Security

The security situation continues to be difficult even though less and
less sporadic shooting is heard throughout Conakry. Reports of stray
bullets causing casualties in private homes are of great concern. UN
Security Phase III remains in effect in Conakry and in the provinces of
Kankan, Labe, Beyla, Gueckedou, Macenta, Kissidougou, Lola, Yomou and
N'Zerekore. Security Phase I remains in effect for Forecaria and the
rest of the country, except for the regions mentioned above under Phase
Three. All missions to the Republic of Guinea including return of Guinea
based personnel are suspended until further notice.

Flights

International commercial flights to and from Guinea continue to been
suspended. WFP has set up the Humanitarian Air Service between Conakry,
Dakar and Monrovia to facilitate transport of relief personnel and
equipment.

Fuel

Only few gas stations are currently open in Conakry and long queues are
formed outside. This is causing concern for transportation of
humanitarian staff and material.

2 HUMANITARIAN SITUATION

2.1 Humanitarian consequences

Affected populations

As of 13 February at least 110 persons had died as victims of violent
confrontations between demonstrators and security forces since the first
strike broke out on 10 January and 571 wounded were being treated in
hospitals. Demonstrations have been limited since the imposition of the
curfew, but hospitals continue to be in urgent need of medical supplies
to treat wounded. Reports of difficult identification of dead in
over-filled morgues are also of concern.

Humanitarian partners are increasingly raising concern over the plight
of the general population, in particular in terms of access to food,
health facilities and medicine as well as water. Whereas some during the
first strike from 10 to 27 January managed to stock up in advance, many
were taken by surprise with the breakout of violence on Saturday 10
February, and with the curfew, circulation has been limited and markets
been closed. Increase in prices over the past few weeks also has an
impact on access to basic commodities, including food and communication.

Access

The security situation continues to render humanitarian operations in
Guinea difficult and access continues to be limited, both in Conakry and
the rest of the country. This impacts the capacities of humanitarian
partners to carry out assessments and obtain an overview of needs and
gaps.

Impact on on-going programmes

Assistance to over 31,000 refugees in Guinea, including 22,000 from
Liberia, is affected by the current situation. UNHCR and its partners in
Guinea have been able to maintain activities in the refugee camps ?
though at a considerably reduced level due to prevailing security
conditions. UNHCR field teams from N'zerekore in eastern Guinea visited
refugee camps at Laine and Kouankan. According to their reports, the
situation in the camps remains orderly and calm. Despite growing
difficulties for the general population to obtain basic necessities, no
tensions were reported between the refugees and local Guineans in
communities surrounding the camps.

The site at Laine is currently hosting some 11,000 Liberian refugees.
Distribution of WFP food in Laine was completed this weekend without
incident. The same exercises in the Kouankan 1 camp, hosting some 7,000
Liberians, and Kouankan 2, hosting some 3,000 refugees from Cote
d'Ivoire, are scheduled to take place this week.

On 15 February the ICRC furthermore reported that the present situation
is preventing the organisation from carrying out its main activities, in
particular the emergency food programme for the Maison Centrale prison
in Conakry.

2.2 Human Rights

Human Rights Watch statement on the situation in Guinea

According to a statement from the international NGO Human Rights Watch,
the Guinean government has failed to control security forces responsible
for rapes, robberies and more than 110 killings since mid-January. Human
Rights Watch reports that since the imposition of martial law on
February 12, security forces have committed numerous abuses during
house-to-house searches for weapons earlier seized by a small group of
violent protesters from police stations and other government
installations.

2.3 Humanitarian Response

Current response

WHO and health partners continue to provide support to hospitals in
Guinea and have delivered three trauma kits to hospitals in Conakry.
ICRC reports that the Red Cross Society of Guinea, with the support of
the ICRC and the International Federation, also continues its efforts to
rescue the wounded and assist hospitals. So far, several hundred people
throughout the country have received help. To relieve the strain on
health services, the ICRC has distributed medicine and surgical supplies
to the main hospitals, including Donka hospital in Conakry, which has
received the largest number of wounded.

UNICEF has so far dispatched three hospital kits to Labe, Mamou and
Kankan and is providing psychosocial support to children in Conakry in
collaboration with partners. On 14 February, CERF applications were
approved which should allow for UNICEF to further support public health
structures of Conakry, Hospitals of Kankan, N'Zerekore, Labe,
Kissidougou, Siguiri, Mamou and Pita.

Sub-regional monitoring

Humanitarian partners in neighboring countries are closely monitoring
the situation in Guinea and contingency plans of both UN and national
red cross societies are being updated in collaboration with partners.
Joint inter-agency missions to border areas are being undertaken in Cote
d'Ivoire (23-24 February), Senegal (18-23 February), Mali (24-28
February) and Guinea Bissau (planned).

2.4 Coordination

Health Cluster Meeting in Conakry

On 19 February a Health Cluster meeting was held at WHO offices in
Conakry. The meeting served for humanitarian partners to exchange on
activities undertaken, resource mobilization and next steps. It was
agreed that at an inter-agency level, WHO will coordinate the Health
cluster, including STD/HIV and reproductive health and ensure that the
inter-agency forum links up with the National Crisis Committee chaired
by the MoH.

Water, Hygiene and Sanitation Cluster

In view of strengthening coordination in the area of water and
sanitation, including risks related to cholera, UNICEF has agreed to
take the lead on an inter-agency forum for coordination of Water and
Sanitation.

Sub-regional coordination

At a sub-regional level, UNICEF has agreed to chair a response and
preparedness process related to Guinea+6 with secretariat and technical
support from OCHA Regional Office and participation of UN, NGO and Red
Cross/Red Crescent Movement.

Information Management

Humanitarian contact lists, a map of Who-is-Where and GIS data are being
shared by the OCHA Regional Office in Dakar. The Information Management
Unit of the OCHA Regional Office is furthermore providing suport to the
office in Guinea on information sharing and reporting.

2.5 Current response capacities

In-country

While overall access to basic social services, including health
facilities, water and food have become increasingly difficult in Guinea
over the past years, the Government, the UN Country Team, NGO and Red
Cross/Red Crescent partners have been in a humanitarian mode for long
and assisted refugees from both Sierra Leone and Liberia. With the
gradual return of refugees many humanitarian partners were until
recently in the process of phasing out, but there is general awareness
of humanitarian response and related coordination tools such as
contingency plans, CAP, Flash Appeals, etc.

While most non-essential staff of UN and international NGOs have been
evacuated, an inter-agency team of emergency officers from UNICEF, WFP
and OCHA were deployed to Conakry on 20 February. A WHO emergency
officer is also expected to join the team shortly and FAO has recruited
an emergency officer in Conakry.

The ICRC currently has more than 100 staff members in Guinea, including
15 expatriates. It intends to strengthen its capacities so that it can
better respond to the humanitarian needs arising from the crisis.

A wide range of international NGOs have over the years gained
comprehensive knowledge and experience of the country and developed
strong relationships at local levels.

Sub-regional response capacities

Regional offices of UN Agencies, NGOs and Red Cross/Red Crescent
movement are supporting activities carried out in Guinea. Working with
country teams in Guinea+6, steps are underway at a sub-regional level to
establish an up-to-date overview of current response capacities and
potential gaps. UN Agencies and IFRC are working with country offices
and national Red Cross Societies to update contingency plans.

3 RESSOURCE MOBILISATION

CERF

On 15 February USD 2,346,305 have so far been made available from the
CERF for priority emergency needs in Guinea. The CERF funds are to be
used for the purchase of medicines and other medical supplies for the
injured, as well as to support essential telecommunications and a common
humanitarian air service. These emergency projects will be carried out
by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF), in collaboration with their non-governmental partners.  A WHO
project is also being processed and additional funding is still
required.

Donor briefing

A briefing of regional donors is being planned in Dakar for Friday 23
February at OCHA.

For further information on the humanitarian situation in West Africa,
including other situation reports from the region:
http://ochaonline.un.org/westafrica

To be included on or taken off the distribution list for Situation
Reports for Guinea, or to contribute to the next report, kindly send an
email to thomles@un.org

Disclaimer: UN OCHA does not necessarily share the opinions expressed in
this document. OCHA can not vouch for the accuracy of received reports.

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