Albania - DHA: 16-22.Aug.97
Albania - DHA: 16-22.Aug.97
DHAGVA 97/0330
Situation Report from the UN Resident Coordinator in ALBANIA
Period Covered: 16-22 August 1997
HIGHLIGHTS
- The general security situation is improving.
- Food aid has been delivered to approximately 30,150 families.
- AEDP has begun a community revitalization and school rehabilitation
project.
SECURITY AND POLITICAL
General
The general security situation is improving in most towns with more
police presence and activity. Special police units are making an impact
in towns such as Vlora, Tepelena, and Gjirokaster. However, security for
convoy movement in certain areas is still unstable with frequent highway
robberies and some towns such as Elbasan and Berat are very insecure.
The Government is calling for all weapons to be handed in by 20
September.
Central Region
Tirana
Very quiet with little to no gunfire at night, shops are open and there
are more people in the streets. It seems that the situation is returning
to normality.
The road between Rreshen and Kukes is still unsafe. However the
following towns are now -green go- areas not requiring police escorts:
Tirana, Durres, Lezha, Kavaja, Lushnja, and Fier.
Six members of a Tirana gang killed as they entered a village near
Kucova, 110 km south of Tirana. Gang warfare continues.
Elbasan
Five people were killed and 12 wounded in a crossfire amongst gangs on
the edge of the city. The city is not yet considered safe.
The Elbasan - Librazhd road is considered the most dangerous in Albania
according to the District Council Chairman.
Cerrik
Reported that 80 MTs of weapons and munitions have been voluntary handed
over to the security forces. The area of Cerrik was considered to be the
most militarized place in Albania.
Fier and Lushnje
Both these towns are now, according to police and military forces,
-green go- areas not requiring police escorts.
Berat
Is still out of control. Two bombs exploded during the last week.
Southern Region
The road between Tepelene and Gjirokaster is still unsafe. One ECMM
vehicle was chased and shot at. The attack was abandoned due to the
presence of a police roadblock.
Vlora
Special police are now in control of Vlora. However, they are still
searching for gang leader Zani. They have also disarmed one gang and
captured other weapons and extended their operation to Sevastar and
Llakatund. Two main gangs have been subdued and other criminals have
been arrested.
Korce
The town becoming quieter. Police have arrested a most wanted criminal
and have confiscated a large number of weapons and munitions.
Tepelene
Hopefully public order will be restored as special police presence has
dissolved the street gangs. Police roadblocks are making the roads
safer. Local police are reported to have the situation under control.
Gjirokaster
The local police forces are all mobilized with new elements integrated
into it. Special police deployed last Friday to support local police
units. There have been no incidents on the roads in the last few days
and the situation is moving toward normality. Special police objective
is to secure Kakavija border crossing.
HUMANITARIAN
Food Aid
During the week WFP delivered approximately 746.65 MTs of wheat flour to
30,153 families.
ICRC delivered 7950 family food parcels (fps) to:
Kukes 460 fps
Tirana 4600 fps
Peskopi 1850 fps
Fier-District 1600 fps
Burrel 170 fps
Ballsh 720 fps
Bulquise 820 fps
Inter-SOS has completed the first round distributions to 5000
beneficiary families in Lezha, Merdita and Southern Shkoder. Each family
package contains wheat flour, canned beef, rice, beans, sugar oil and
salt. The packages are for six weeks.
Health
WHO and UNICEF hosted a health coordination meeting on Friday 22 August.
During the meeting ECHO presented an overview of emergency health
funding to date and possible future fund recipients. The final
announcement for new ECHO funded health projects will be made next week.
DHA-UNICEF presented an overview of current and planned emergency health
programmes at the district level and drug distribution to hospitals
through the Ministry of Health. Emergency health programmes are in
progress or planned for 19 of the 36 districts. However, at least five
districts with no programmes planned are in the remote mountain areas
with difficult access to other district resources.
The UNICEF Emergency Medical Officer reviewed some results from the
rapid assessment questionnaire, which has been distributed to hospitals
and health centres throughout Albania. The results of the questionnaires
that have been returned are sometimes contradictory. Therefore it was
recommended that data should be interpreted carefully and used as an
initial guide to identifying where a more detailed intervention is
necessary.
Social Affairs-Education
UNICEF hosted a coordination meeting on Social Affairs. During the
meeting a brief presentation of a survey on childcare facilities in
Albania was given. The final results of the survey will be available
soon.
ICRC has delivered 55 MTs of food to 18 institutions for the elderly,
disabled, and hospitals in Tirana, Durres, Fier, Shkoder, Elbasan,
Kavja, and Puke.
AEDP (Albanian Education Development Project), with the Soros Foundation
has recently begun a community revitalization project which aims at
integrating a soft loan programme for small businesses and the
rehabilitation of schools in ten districts. Small business owners will
receive loans to start businesses. Rather than repay the loan in cash,
the business owners are asked to assist with necessary improvements in
schools. The project is in response to damages and losses suffered by as
many as 80 schools since March of this year.
UPCOMING COORDINATION MEETINGS
Security discussion: Monday 25 August at 1600 hrs and Friday 29 August
at 1000 hrs at the UNICEF office.
Food: Thursday 28 August at 10:30 at the UNICEF office.
Social Affairs: Thursday 4 September at 10:30 at the UNICEF office.
Health: Friday 5 September at 10:30 at UNICEF office.
This report is available on the internet through RELIEFWEB:
http://www.reliefweb.int
United Nations Office in Tirana, Albania
Dr. Gianfranco Rotigliano
UN Resident Coordinator a.i.,
Tel.: (0035542) 275 00 or 322 63 - Fax: (0035542) 300 28
E-Mail: Rotiglia@unicef.tirana.al
Inter-Agency Support Branch (IASB) - Geneva
Mr. David Bassiouni - Chief
Ms. Silvia Ferazzi
Tel.: (41 22) 788.1402 - Fax: (41 22) 788.6386
Registry E-Mail: Rosemary.Addo-Yirenkyi@dha.unicc.org
Complex Emergency Division (CED) - New York
Mr. Kazuhide Kuroda
Tel.: (1 212) 963.5713 -Fax: (1 212) 963.3630
E-Mail: kuroda@un.org
Press to contact (DHA-Geneva)
Ms. Madeleine Moulin-Acevedo
Tel.: (41 22) 917.2856 - Fax: (41 22) 917.0023
Telex: 414242 DHA CH - E-Mail: Moulin-Acevedo@dha.unicc.org
distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Volunteers in Technical Assistance
Disaster Information Center lists: listproc@vita.org
sitreps nat-dsr
appeal fireline
web: www.vita.org rwanda
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
comments/suggestions/requests to incident@vita.org