Sierra Leone - OFDA-02: 13-Jul-98
Sierra Leone - OFDA-02: 13-Jul-98
U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID)
BUREAU FOR HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE (BHR)
OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (OFDA)
SIERRA LEONE Complex Emergency
Fiscal Year (FY) 1998 Situation Report #2 July 13, 1998
Note: The last situation report was dated January 28, 1998.
Background
After the leader of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Major
Johnny Koroma announced that he was reluctant to reinstate ousted
President Kabbah by the April 1998 transition date agreed to with the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), troops from the
ECOWAS' Military Observer Group (ECOMOG) launched an attack on the AFRC
junta forces in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, on February 5, 1998.
On February 18, ECOMOG forces gained control of Freetown, forcing
supporters of the AFRC to retreat north and east. On March 10,
President Kabbah returned to Freetown from Conakry, Guinea to reassume
power. After encountering further defeats in Bo and Kenema, retreating
junta supporters concentrated their military efforts around the
diamondrich Kono region in eastern Sierra Leone. Serious atrocities
(maiming, torture, and rape) carried out by AFRC supporters against
local residents in the Kailahun, Kono, and Kenema districts sparked a
new wave of refugees into Liberia and Guinea. More than 1,000
mutilation victims have been registered in hospitals since April.
Fighting continues between ECOMOG and the pockets of junta supporters
who are scattered throughout small towns and villages in the northern
and eastern portions of the country. The recently returned Kabbah
government continues to reestablish itself and to rely on outside
military support as it does not have an army nor an effective police
force. On June 1320, a joint U.S. Government (USG) and European Union
(EU) mission traveled to Sierra Leone and Guinea to call international
attention to the mounting humanitarian crisis in the region. The
mission also was seeking to identify a common humanitarian response
between the USG and EU and to assess current humanitarian needs.
Numbers Affected
More than 20,000 Sierra Leoneans have been killed since the conflict in
Sierra Leone started in 1991. From 1991 1997, intermittent fighting
internally displaced an estimated 1.2 million of Sierra Leone's prewar
population of nearly 4.5 million people. According to the United
Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA),
there are currently 50,000 registered internally displaced persons
(IDPs), and estimates of another 40,00050,000 IDPs created by the recent
AFRC campaign of violence, including tens of thousands hiding in
forested areas. In addition, according to the State Department's Office
of Population, Refugees, and Migration (State/PRM), 559,700 people have
fled the country as refugees since 1991: 374,000 to Guinea; 177,000 to
Liberia; 5,700 to Gambia; 2,000 to Cote d'Ivoire; and 1,000 elsewhere in
the region. Following the renewed fighting in February 1998,
approximately 55,000 Sierra Leoneans fled to Liberia and 182,000 to
Guinea. It is reported that refugees are arriving in bad physical shape
after spending weeks hiding in the bush before reaching Guinea. Dozens
have died of exposure, starvation, torture, and warrelated injury.
Current Situation
The security situation has deteriorated significantly in Sierra Leone
since February 1998, especially in rural areas which lie beyond ECOMOG's
immediate control. Junta forces have embarked on a campaign to
terrorize local populations and to destabilize the country through the
indiscriminate slaughter and mutilation of civilians. The country's
infrastructure, which was damaged by the AFRC during the junta period,
continues to be adversely impacted by rebels who deliberately destroy
public facilities and burn villages. Retreating junta forces have
spread their campaign of violence beyond the Kailahun area and are now
affecting about half of the country. The deliberate targeting of
infrastructure and property by the remaining junta forces has also
aggravated humanitarian conditions. Targets have included houses,
hospitals, health facilities, schools, and agricultural resources such
as seed banks, equipment, fertilizers, and rice mills. The destruction
of agricultural inputs has had a devastating effect in a country where
it is estimated that as many as 80% of the population are subsistence
farmers. A World Vision Relief and Development (WVRD) survey indicates
that a 26% global malnutrition rate already exists in the city of Koidu.
The security situation during the current planting season (MayJuly) is
expected to result in food shortages.
The ECOMOG military force in Sierra Leone controls the major cities and
towns but lacks the capacity to extend their reach throughout the
countryside or respond quickly to new threats. Security concerns have
limited overland access to interior locations thus forcing humanitarian
organizations to rely upon scarce and expensive air transportation.
USG Humanitarian Assistance (FY 1998)
Since the return of the Kabbah government in March 1998, USAID and the
State Department have been addressing humanitarian needs, alleviating
food insecurity, and providing rapid response and tangible results to
critical political transition issues. This USG assistance is expected
to save lives and to contribute to the maintenance of security, prevent
the recurrence of violence, and assist good governance. BHR/OFDA
continues to support its emergency humanitarian assistance programs
through implementing partners in Sierra Leone. Nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) continue to carry out relief activities effectively
through local and/or international staff, as security permits. A recent
BHR/OFDA grant with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
has been established to provide helicopter support for the evacuation of
victims of atrocities as new areas are secured by ECOMOG.
BHR/OFDA is also providing seeds and tools in conjunction with BHR's
Office of Food for Peace (BHR/FFP) food aid assistance as seed
protection for restarting agriculture efforts. Four NGO partners have
been awarded grants and are currently delivering agricultural assistance
although constrained by insecurity and severe logistical problems due to
the looting of vehicles and the destruction of basic infrastructure,
which began with the AFRC coup in May 1997. The seeds and tools
programs are presently benefitting approximately 75,000 farm families in
southern Sierra Leone, however, the more productive northern and eastern
portions of the country are too insecure. BHR/OFDA is also funding six
healthrelated grants for water/sanitation and primary health care
benefitting more than 1.5 million people who are displaced, war
affected, or recently resettled. UNICEF and the United Nations' Office
of the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) are receiving
BHR/OFDA funding for primary health, water/sanitation, and humanitarian
assistance coordination. Plastic sheeting has also been made available
in Sierra Leone to provide emergency shelter.
BHR/FFP is providing 49,870 metric tons of food assistance through
Catholic Relief Services, CARE, WVRD, and the U.N.'s World Food Program
(WFP) for refugees, IDPs, urban youth, vulnerable groups, therapeutic
and supplementary feeding, emergency school feeding, foodforwork,
foodfor training, and foodforagriculture (seed protection) activities,
targeting some 623,000 persons. The Department of Defense's Defense
Security Assistance Agency (DOD/DSAA) is assisting the WFP program in
Sierra Leone by providing 22 excess property trucks to increase the
local transport capacity for emergency food distributions in Liberia,
Sierra Leone, and Guinea for mostly Sierra Leonean refugees in response
to a special appeal by WFP. DOD/DSAA is also providing medical supplies
and transport to the ICRC to be distributed to NGOs, hospitals, and
medical facilities throughout Sierra Leone. The State Department's
Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration (State/PRM) is funding
the transport of !999the 22 trucks to Sierra Leone and is supporting
Sierra Leonean refugees through UNHCR and ICRC. The State Department's
Bureau of African Affairs is providing logistical and technical support
to ECOMOG in response to various United Nations Security Council
requests.
BHR's Office of Transition Initiatives (BHR/OTI) is launching a
nonformal education campaign targeted at disenfranchised, waraffected
children and youth; providing technical assistance for developing
postconflict security systems; supporting the reintegration of former
combatants; and promoting reconciliation through workshops, public
events, and study groups on key postconflict issues. Other BHR/OTI
assistance to Sierra Leone will be provided to assist in leadership,
dialogue, communications, technical assistance, and training in
management and governance for key ministries in the Kabbah government.
USG Humanitarian Assistance in FY 1998
BHR/OFDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,341,360
BHR/FFP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $33,016,400
BHR/OTI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 900,000
USAID/West African Affairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,260,000
State Department/PRM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $6,840,000
State Department/Political MilitaryAffairs/Voluntary
Peacekeeping Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,900,000
DOD/DSAA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 626,355
TOTAL U.S. GOVERNMENT (USG) HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
FY 1998. . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $52,884,115
BHR/OFDA Grants
Grant to Africare to provide outpatient
curative, preventative and referral services
to children under 5, pregnant and lactating
women and others affected by war; promote
self-reliance in food production through
supplying agricultural inputs and extension
assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,015,207
Grant to CRS for health in Bo, Kenema, and
areas of resettlement; seeds and tools; and
food distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,625,706
Grant to CARE for an emergency seeds and
tools project to reestablish food production
in Moyamba, Tonkobili, and Bonthe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $594,380
Grant to MSF/H for emergency healthcare in
Freetown; cholera prevention in Freetown and
Kambia; and assess the health situation in Port
Loko, Bombalhi, and Tonkobili areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . $150,000
Grant to UNOCHA for the coordination of
humanitarian assistance programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $100,000
Grant to WVRD to increase agricultural production
and strengthen extension services in southern and
eastern Sierra Leone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $989,568
Grant to ICRC for helicopter support for the
evacuation of victims of atrocities . . . . . . . . . . . . $282,000
Grant to UNICEF for water/sanitation, health
programs, and to purchase chlorine . . . . . . . . . . . . $503,570
Plastic sheeting from a BHR/OFDA stockpile . . . . .. . . . . $80,929
Total BHR/OFDA FY 1998 (to date) . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,341,360
USG Assistance to Sierra Leone (FY 19931998)
FY 1998 [to date]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $52,884,115
FY 1997. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $26,297,393
FY 1996. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30,648,101
FY 1995. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $13,104,127
FY 1994. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11,247,605
FY 1993. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,572,082
Total USG Assistance to Sierra Leone
(FY 19931998 [to date]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $118,085,769
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