This report includes: A) East Africa 1: Regional Operations for Refugees/Internally Displaced Persons in Burundi, Rwanda, Zaire and Tanzania B) East Africa 2: Tanzania Locusts C) Former Yugoslavia D) CIS: Georgia and Tajikistan
From B. Szynalski, Director, Operational Policy and Support Division. For information regarding resources, donors are requested to contact Ms. B. Karlstrom Dorph, Director, Resources Division, WFP Rome (Ph. 39 6 5228 2500)
PART I - HIGHLIGHTS (Details below in Part II)
A. EAST AFRICA 1: REGIONAL OPERATIONS FOR REFUGEES/IDPs IN BURUNDI, RWANDA, ZAIRE AND TANZANIA
1. Burundi
a) WFP resumes daily operations in the north on 25 January.
b) Mugano camp closed as refugees seek asylum in Tanzania. Refugees move back towards Ntamba camp after failing to cross into Tanzania.
c) "Ville morte" ended 22 January in Bujumbura.
2. Rwanda
a) WFP currently provides food to 41% of the nutritional centres in the country.
3. Zaire - Goma
a) Refugees fall victim to land-mines and stray bullets.
b) GTZ has begun to provide firewood to the refugees.
c) In Mugunga, new distribution lists introduced, which reduced the number of beneficiaries by 11,000 to 155,000; distribution system changed.
4. Zaire - Bukavu
a) A delegation composed of the US State Department and USAID Nairobi visited Bukavu on 16 January to study contingency plans in the event of political problems in Burundi, and to conduct assessments of the escarpment road, the ports at Uvira, and Lake Kivu.
5. Zaire - Uvira
a) Refugees arriving at Uvira from Burundi at a rate of 200 - 300 persons per day, some suffering malnutrition; beneficiary caseload is 180,000.
6. Tanzania
a) In Karagwe, the UNHCR field officer taken at gun point and forced to surrender her vehicle and VHF handset radio.
B. EAST AFRICA 2: TANZANIA LOCUSTS
1. Update
a) Red locusts present the biggest threat to selected areas since 1944. If prompt action is not taken, food aid may be required in the affected areas during 1996/97.
C. FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
1. Bosnia-Herzegovina
a) Serious shortages of food aid in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are likely to occur as early as February, due to delayed arrival of shipments.
D. CIS
1. Georgia
a) The WFP Executive Director formally opens reconstructed Natanebi railway bridge.
2. Tajikistan
a) The current pipeline of relief food will not cover needs beyond March; urgent action needed.
PART II - COUNTRY AND REGIONAL OPERATIONS DETAILS
A. EAST AFRICA: REGIONAL OPERATIONS FOR REFUGEES/IDPs IN BURUNDI, RWANDA, ZAIRE AND TANZANIA
1. BURUNDI
1.1 Many activities in Bujumbura have resumed after the "ville morte" ended early this week. The military has been out in large force to assure normality since the "ville morte" decree was issued on 15 January.
1.2 US Ambassador to the United Nations, Madeleine Albright, visited last weekend on behalf of President Clinton to express US concern regarding the current situation in Burundi.
1.3 One month after the evacuation of WFP staff from Ngozi due to security incidents aimed at relief organizations, WFP has resumed activities in the north. This decision follows a meeting with the new Governor of Ngozi, who replaces the former Governor killed on 21 December. The Governor guaranteed full cooperation from his administration and the military in implementing security measures to protect WFP staff and property, investigating the issue of theft from the WFP warehouse, and implementing measures to prevent future theft. WFP will reinforce its own measures to control movement of staff and commodities.
1.4 Update on last week's population displacements from the Muyinga area due to fighting between rebels and the military:
a) The 15,000 Rwandan refugees who fled the Mugano camp in Burundi have obtained asylum in Tanzania some 4 km from the border at Kabanga, and Mugano camp is now closed. UNHCR assessment of the abandoned site indicates some theft of food and non-food items from stores. The Tanzanian authorities have stated that any future influx would not be allowed into Tanzania under any circumstances from either Rwanda or Burundi.
b) On 24 January, refugees in another of the Rwandan refugee camps in northern Burundi, Ntamba camp (population 17,000), sought to relocate to Tanzania upon hearing the Mugano refugees were permitted into Tanzania. Upon departure of the camp population, the Burundese military proceeded to burn camp structures, and the camp will possibly have to be closed. The Government of Tanzania refused entry of the Ntamba refugees, on the grounds that they had not been forced to leave due to security risks. Several thousand persons succeeded in crossing the border, and are being detained by Tanzanian authorities. Some 3,000 have returned to Burundi, and another 5,000 are making their way back to the camp area, but several thousand persons are still dispersed at the border along the river. Of this group, 140 voluntarily returned to Rwanda. According to the Government of Burundi, the refugees have forfeited their rights as refugees by moving 200 metres outside the camp, and must therefore be repatriated to their home country. Currently UNHCR, in collaboration with local and national authorities, is looking into the transfer of the Ntamba refugees to other existing sites.
c) An estimated 70 mt of food commodities were looted during these events.
1.5 Bujumbura Ville/Rural: WFP and partner MSF-Belgium commenced distributions this week to beneficiaries at the Johnson Psychiatric Centre/hospital and IDPs (5,160 beneficiaries), and in Gaseny, Gishingano and Nyamabuye (1,000 beneficiaries). A 20 day ration is to be distributed.
1.6 Electricity supply in Bujumbura is back to almost normal capacity following three months of near total failure.
1.7 Logistics operations in Bujumbura and Uvira were maintained despite the ville morte, although activities were much slower due to the absence of local staff.
1.8 WFP dedicated trucks commenced regular rotations to Uvira and Ngozi.
1.9 WFP Ngozi depot re-opened on 25 January. 16 Tetrasco (WFP contracted) trucks loaded for Ngozi from Bujumbura to resume food deliveries to the camps.
1.10 WFP/FAO Crop and Food Assessment Mission commenced this week in Burundi. The mission will be completed on 3 February following a debriefing with the Minister of Agriculture scheduled for 2 February.
2. RWANDA
2.1 Security situation remains calm, with only a few isolated security incidents in the western part of the country.
2.2 During the reporting period, transit centres in Rwanda received a total of 4,127 returnees from neighbouring countries. 2,511 returnees arrived from Zaire (1,508 organised by UNHCR), 1,563 from Burundi, 30 from Tanzania and 23 from Uganda.
2.3 1508 (old caseload) and 786 (new caseload) returned from the Masisi area of Zaire, representing 36% of the total number of arrivals during the reporting period.
2.4 Of the 1,100 returnees who refused to move from Gisenyi to Kibungo because they wanted to settle in Gisenyi, government authorities succeeded in convincing 800 to return to Kibungo. All of these returnees had been receiving WFP food aid while they were in Gisenyi.
2.5 WFP is currently providing food to 41% of the 263 nutritional centres in the country. During the fourth quarter of 1995, WFP provided food assistance to 20,500 infants.
2.6 During the past week, WFP Rwanda assisted 86,372 beneficiaries through the distribution of 1,063 mt of relief food.
3. ZAIRE - GOMA
3.1 Two refugees have fallen victim to mines placed along the Zairian side of the border with Rwanda. It has been impossible to conduct an investigation into the incident, due to the presence of additional mines. In Kahindo camp, two children were killed by stray bullets, reportedly fired by a soldier of the Zairian Army Contingent for Camp Security.
3.2 In response to increasingly drastic measures pursued by the refugees to scavenge needed fuel for cooking, GTZ has begun to provide firewood to the refugees. It is hoped that this will reduce the incidence of refugees collecting wood in forbidden areas, which has exposed them to violence and harassment.
3.3 In certain sections of Goma, nightly civilian patrols have been organised by the Zairian population.
3.4 89 trucks arrived in Goma during the reporting period, delivering a total of 2,540 mt of food commodities. During the same period, 585 mt were despatched by barge via Lake Kivu to Bukavu.
3.5 In Mugunga, new distribution lists were introduced based on information gathered by community health workers, which reduced the number of beneficiaries by 11,000 to 155,000. Also, the distribution system was changed to direct distribution to beneficiaries by camp sector rather than by Prefecture. For the most part, refugees are happy with these changes.
4. ZAIRE - BUKAVU
4.1 A delegation composed of the US State Department and USAID Nairobi visited Bukavu on 16 January to study contingency plans in the event of political problems in Burundi, and to conduct assessments of the escarpment road, the ports at Uvira, and Lake Kivu.
5. ZAIRE - UVIRA
5.1 Refugees continue to arrive at Uvira from Burundi at a rate of 200 - 300 persons per day; beneficiary caseload is estimated at 180,000. NGOs report that some new arrivals suffer from malnutrition.
6. TANZANIA
6.1 For update on population displacements occurring the week of 15 - 21 January due to fighting between the Hutu militia and the Burundi army, see section on Burundi.
6.2 In Karagwe, the UNHCR field officer was taken at gun point and forced to surrender her vehicle and VHF handset radio. The vehicle was found abandoned close to the Tanzanian/Uganda border.
B. EAST AFRICA 2: TANZANIA LOCUSTS
1. Update
1.1 Red locusts are presently in Dodoma, Tabora, Malagrassi and Kigoma in swarms of 50 sq metres; they were first sighted in Tabora in 1994. Officials of the Ministry of Agriculture reported that this was the biggest threat since 1944 when red locusts devastated crops in Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. Control measures were adopted, but halted in May 1995 due to the lack of resources. Officials warned that if prompt action is not taken, food aid may be required in the region during 1996/97.
C. FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
1. Bosnia-Herzegovina
1.1 Major shortages of several food aid items are expected within weeks due to delayed arrival of shipments, unless deliveries are expedited and/or new donor pledges are confirmed for cash for immediate purchase to cover the gap: wheat/wheat flour, the main component of the UN's food aid relief programme, will run short in February and March; milk powder - an important component of the UN's supplementary feeding programme targeted to vulnerable groups, by February; and pulses, canned protein foods and high protein biscuits by March. To help alleviate the wheat shortage, WFP will borrow 2,000 mt of wheat flour already in storage in the region from CRS for general distribution. WFP is also requesting donors to amend already confirmed pledges to allow purchase and shipment of wheat flour in lieu of other commodities.
1.2 Freedom of movement continues to improve, and food aid deliveries have proceeded as planned to most critical areas in Bosnia-Herzegovina, including Sarajevo, Gorazde, and Banja Luka. A UN relief convoy successfully crossed an IFOR- constructed pontoon bridge relinking Croatia to northern Bosnia across the Sava River. But in a worrying development, on 25 January Bosnian Government border authorities demanded that a UNHCR convoy of WFP food aid to Bihac pay 50 DM per truck as toll for entry into the canton. Following UNHCR and WFP policy, the convoy drivers refused to pay the toll, and clearance to proceed had not yet been granted by the end of the reporting period.
1.3 During the reporting period, a WFP-commissioned survey of vulnerable groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina began, conducted by the NGO CIET International, with support from WFP and UNHCR. Results from this survey will enable WFP to better target food aid as the repatriation and resettlement process begins.
1.4 Food security within Sarajevo continued to improve. Three convoys of WFP food aid delivered 212 mt to the city during the reporting week. A WFP mission is currently identifying facilities in order to relocate WFP central operations for former Yugoslavia from Zagreb.
1.5 Serbia and Montenegro: Shortages of wheat flour, the staple food aid commodity, are expected within two or three weeks in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, where some 310,000 refugees continue to rely on WFP food aid. WFP urges donors to quickly confirm new pledges and deliveries to avoid a widespread shortage of food aid. In a move that will temporarily alleviate expected shortages of high value items, ECHO has announced that it will distribute family food parcels on a one-time basis to up to 200,000 refugee families.
D. CIS
1. Georgia
1.1 The WFP Executive Director travelled to Georgia, and formally opened the reconstructed Natanebi railway bridge on January 25. The Natanebi bridge is used to carry food and fuel relief from the port at Batumi to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia; the two Georgian ports on the Black Sea - Batumi and Poti - are the only means of shipping food supplies to these three countries since fighting in Abkhazia and Chechnya cut off rail and sea shipments from other parts of the former Soviet Union, and Turkey sealed its border with Armenia. This project is part of a wider WFP effort which has mobilized USD 15.2 million for emergency rehabilitation of the region's railways, ports and communications networks.
2. Tajikistan
2.1 In Tajikistan, the economy continues to deteriorate and open hostilities between government and opposition forces erupt frequently. Food security is deteriorating and WFP and NGOs involved in relief food distribution believe the food emergency is far from over.
2.2 The current pipeline of relief food will not cover needs beyond March, and donors are urged to make further contributions to ensure that relief distributions to vulnerable groups can continue.
2.3 Total relief food needs for 1996, including NGOs, remain similar to 1995 levels. Requirements for vulnerable group feeding are estimated at around 50,000 mt. Taking into account current relief food contributions to NGO operations, WFP target groups comprise some 400,000 most needy people. With WFP carryover stocks and pledges for 1996 of 8,200 mt, the shortfall of 25,000 tons is estimated to cost around USD13.8 million.
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 04 - January 26, 1996)