This report includes: A) East Africa: Regional Operations for Refugees/Internally Displaced Persons in Rwanda, Zaire, Burundi and Tanzania B) West Africa: Liberia/Sierra Leone C) Former Yugoslavia
>From B. Szynalski, Director, Operational Policy and Support Division. For any information regarding resources donors are requested to contact Ms. B. Karlstrom Dorph, Director, Resources Division, WFP Rome (Ph. 39 6 5228 2500)
Note: Report will be transmitted on Mondays for the months of March and April 1996.
PART I - HIGHLIGHTS (Details below in part II)
A. EAST AFRICA: REGIONAL OPERATIONS FOR REFUGEES/IDPs IN RWANDA, ZAIRE, BURUNDI AND TANZANIA
1. Burundi a) Situation remains generally calm, but security in the northern provinces unstable. b) Repatriation from Rukuramigabo camp at 8,000 last week. c) Further funding sought for the WFP Twin Otter plane.
2. Rwanda a) MSF vehicle attacked while transporting three patients in Cyangugu prefecture. One person killed, three injured. b) Draft of Rwanda UN Contingency Plan for Repatriation of Refugees from Burundi, Tanzania and Zaire released.
3. Zaire - Goma a) Situation in the Masisi area worsens, with fighting spilling over into Sake, 29 km from Goma.
B. WEST AFRICA - Liberia/Sierra Leone Regional Operation
1. Liberia: Security situation in Monrovia and elsewhere in Liberia remains volatile with increased skirmishes among armed militia and incidents of harassment of relief personnel.
2. Sierra Leone: security situation tense during lead up and holding of the elections on 26 and 27 February. Violence and shooting in all major urban centres during the elections, but people turned out in massive numbers to vote.
C. FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
1. Bosnia-Herzegovina
a) In the revised Consolidated UN Inter-Agency Appeal for former Yugoslavia, due to be released 1 March 1996 in Geneva, New York and Sarajevo, WFP requests USD 207.5 million to cover shortfall of food and related costs through 1996. b) Food aid shortages continue to affect many people in communities throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina. c) Tens of thousands of ethnic Serbs continue to flee Sarajevo suburbs.
PART II - COUNTRY AND REGIONAL OPERATIONS DETAILS
A. EAST AFRICA: REGIONAL OPERATIONS FOR REFUGEES/IDPs IN RWANDA, ZAIRE, BURUNDI AND TANZANIA
1. REGIONAL
1.1 For more detailed information on relief operations in the region, see reports of the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network, at irin@dha.sasa.unon.org or fax no. 254-2-583043. Recent reports available include a Situation Report on Masisi, North Kivu, Zaire (26 February 1996) and Report of the Secretary- General on the Situation in Burundi (15 February 1996).
1.2 A WFP Logistics meeting, attended by representatives from all logistics departments in the region (Dar Es Salaam, Mombassa, Kigali, Kampala, Nairobi, Bujumbura, Isaka, Kigoma, Bukavu, Goma and elsewhere) as well as OTL (Operations Transport and Logistics, WFP Rome) is currently taking place in Kigoma, Tanzania. The meeting is part of the ALITE unit (Augmented Logistics Intervention Team for Emergencies), created last year by OTL, and will review contingency planning and logistics operations in the region. The last ALITE meeting took place in Kigali in December 1995.
2. BURUNDI
2.1 Although the general situation in the country remains relatively calm, security incidents still occurring in the provinces of Muramvya, Gitega, Kayanza, and Karuzi.
2.2 In northern Burundi, repatriation of refugees continues. Total caseload of Rwandan refugees in the four remaining camps in northern Burundi further reduced during the reporting week to 92,000. Repatriation last week from Rukuramigabo camp, surrounded by the military on 19 February, estimated at 8,000.
2.3 Security in the northern provinces reported as being unstable, with both tension in refugee camps in Kirundo, and insecurity along the Tanzanian border. WFP met with the Governor of Kirundo last week to redefine its assistance to IDPs in the province. While the last 45-day distribution was carried out some 7 weeks ago, it has now been decided jointly between the administration and WFP to discontinue free 45-day distributions to the entire displaced population, totalling some 24,000 persons, in favour of more targeted rehabilitation projects such as food-for-work schemes and resettlement packages. Most of the displaced have access to land and are not fully dependent on free food aid.
2.4 Donors are requested to provide funding to keep the WFP Twin Otter flying in Burundi (the cost to keep the aircraft flying per month is USD 45,000). Current funding sufficient for the next 15 days. With the on-going insecurity throughout the country, the aircraft is a vital mode of transport for UN and NGO personnel, for on site assessments and monitoring.
2.5 Total distribution during the past week: 1,176 mt (59 mt Bujumbura, 654 mt Ngozi and 463 mt for Uvira in Zaire).
3. RWANDA
3.1 On February 26 a clearly marked vehicle of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) came under attack while transporting three patients from the Bweyeye health centre to Gihundwe Hospital in Cyangugu prefecture. One person in the vehicle was killed, and three others injured. The incident took place in Nyungwe Forest, ten kilometres north of Bweyeye.
3.2 Earlier this week, an International Rescue Committee (IRC) vehicle hit an anti-tank mine in Kamembe commune (Cyangugu). Vehicle destroyed; driver slightly injured.
3.3 The security situation in the Gisenyi area is improving, in part due to closer collaboration between the Rwandan Patriotic Army and local authorities and the establishment of night patrols consisting of local population. Incursion related security incidents still occur in some areas.
3.4 The latest draft of the Rwanda UN Contingency Plan for Repatriation of Refugees from Burundi, Tanzania and Zaire, has been released. The Contingency Plan outlines activities to be undertaken by UNHCR with the assistance of UN agencies, other international organizations, and NGOs, in support of the government of Rwanda's efforts to repatriate returnees up to their communes of origin in Rwanda.
3.5 During the past week, transit centres in Rwanda received a total of 7,752 returnees from the neighbouring countries: 1,885 returnees from Zaire, 5,797 from Burundi and 70 from Tanzania. (Figures do not yet include all of the returnees from Rukuramigabo camp in Burundi.)
3.6 An increase in returnees from Kibumba camp in Zaire was recorded last week, the first noticeable increase since the surrounding of the camp by Zairian troops on 13 February. During the week, 418 people from Kibumba returned to Rwanda (around 85% were minors and elderly).
3.7 During the past two weeks, the country office received 674 mt of food and distributed 683 mt, assisting 45,300 beneficiaries. Food stocks stand at 7,400 mt.
4. ZAIRE - GOMA
4.1 A meeting was held between the government and the heads of all NGOs and UN agencies on 26 February. The government reaffirmed its position that it would continue to limit and restrict the economic activities of the refugees and that all NGOs were to begin phasing down their programmes and present a phase down plan to the government. All micro activities and non-essential services were to cease immediately. The distribution of food aid was not discussed.
4.2 Daytime traffic in and out of Kibumba camp has been cut off for the refugees. However, despite the military presence around the camp, limited commercial activities continue unhindered throughout the day. The soldiers return to Goma at the end of the day at which point the refugees head to the forests to collect firewood before nightfall (GTZ/UNHCR was only able to provide about 60% of firewood needs last week). Two deaths while collecting wood were reported. Previously the refugees had relied heavily on the sale of firewood or its exchange for food to supplement their rations. The fields around Kibumba camp, worked by refugee labourers last year, show no sign of planting activity.
4.3 Security - conflict in Masisi area of North Kivu:
a) The situation in the Masisi area continues to worsen. Fighting has now spilled over into Sake, a village some 29 km from Goma. Ethnic related killings are becoming more common and groups of displaced villagers continue to arrive in Sake. Still no sign of the 800 troops which the Kinshasa government had announced would be deployed to enforce disarmament.
b) Rwandan refugees in the axis west camps have been advised to avoid Sake, which is 20 km from Mugunga camp, due to the fighting. Sake has been, until now, the main region for agricultural employment for the axis west refugees.
c) Background to the fighting is described in DHA's Integrated Regional Information Network situation report on Masisi of 26 February 1996: In brief, since November 1995 the conflict in Masisi between people of Rwandan origin (450,000, the vast majority of whom are Hutu, with a small remaining number of Tutsi) and people of Zairean origin (150,000, most of whom are Hunde) has undergone a dramatic escalation. The fighting is between Hutu and Hunde militia mounting attacks on villages where the other ethnic group is in a majority. The attacks are accompanied by pillaging and looting, particularly of cattle. The conflict is complicated by the active involvement of soldiers from certain sections of the Zairean Army (in broad terms allied with the Hutu). Tutsi are among the most vulnerable people in Masisi, as they are in danger from both sides in the conflict. Most of the wealthy Tutsi left Masisi in late 1994 or 1995, thus those remaining are among the poorest and least able to fend for themselves. Many Tutsi want to return to Rwanda, but the cost of return is high, and dangerous, as trucks to Rwanda must make their way past Mugunga refugee camp.
d) On 23 February, expatriate staff were confined to their locality as troops were returning from Masisi to Kinshasa. No incidents were reported. On the same day, two children were killed by a soldier in what the military is describing as an accident. Otherwise, Goma relatively calm during the week.
4.4 WFP market survey indicated overall increase in commodity prices for all camps, related to the restriction of movements in and out of the camps as well as the increase in armed conflicts in Masisi, the most productive region in North Kivu.
4.5 From 19-25 February WFP Goma received a total of 1,686 mt of food; 716 mt were despatched to Bukavu. Goma stocks of cereals are currently sufficient for 14 days. Low vegetable oil stocks are being replenished. CSB sufficient for 45 days.
4.6 Women's programmes: all plans, including WFP seminars, for the March 8 International Women's Day ceremonies have been put on hold or scaled down. It is felt that planned activities could be misconstrued as encouraging refugees to stay in Goma. All WFP micro projects aimed at women and refugees in general have also been suspended.
5. ZAIRE - BUKAVU
5.1 Since the administrative closure of Nyangezi Mulwa on 16 February, the refugees have continued to display the wait and see attitude which has prevailed throughout the repatriation operations since September 1995. About 250 individuals from this camp have returned to Rwanda since the camp was surrounded by the military.
5.2 Vegetable oil stocks for Bukavu, as in Goma, are very low. This week Bukavu was unable to keep the ration level at 1700 Kcal. WFP is responding to the needs by dispatching oil through both the northern and southern corridors and borrowing from other operations in the region.
5.3 During this week a total of 464 refugees from all the Bukavu camps returned to Rwanda.
6. TANZANIA
6.1 In the course of a visit to the camps in the Karagwe region on 25 February, the Minister of State responsible for regional administration expressed the Government of Tanzania's gratitude to the NGOs for their services and support to the refugees but reconfirmed the Government's stand on a speedy return of the refugees to their countries of origin. Only 84 persons repatriated to Rwanda from the Ngara camps during the week, compared to 472 the previous week.
6.2 During the week ending 25 February, WFP distributed a full ration of all commodities in Ngara and two week ration of all commodities in the Karagwe camps, following a brief period of reduced rations.
B. WEST AFRICA: LIBERIA/SIERRA LEONE REGIONAL OPERATION (LIBERIA, SIERRA LEONE, COTE D'IVOIRE AND GUINEA)
1. LIBERIA
1.1 Newspapers report that a member of the Council of State has acknowledged that Monrovia is infested with guns. Security situation in Monrovia and elsewhere in the country remains volatile with an increasing incidence of harassment, detention and looting of relief personnel by armed fighters. A World Vision International (WVI) convoy reported harassment by NPFL fighters in the buffer zone between NPFL and LPC at Bolodiala, Nimba county. 1.2 An assessment mission to Grand Cape Mount county on 22 February reported over-crowding at the displaced shelters along the highway in Sinje, Tienti and Bo-Waterside as a result of the insecurity of villages far from the main road.
1.3 ECOWAS Committee of nine is scheduled to meet in Accra, Ghana, in early March amidst growing concern about the slow pace of the peace process since the installation of the Council of State on 1 September 1995.
1.4 WFP in collaboration with LWF/WS, UNOPS and USAID have finalized plans for reintegration assistance under the area reintegration and development centre scheme. With a caseload of 1.4 million for repatriation, resettlement, and reintegration and given the current resource limitations, a non-targeted community based approach will be the hallmark of the reintegration phase. Food-for-work related micro projects involving agricultural production, and school and vulnerable group feeding will be directed to resettlement areas to stimulate and support spontaneous rapid resettlement.
2. SIERRA LEONE
2.1 On the 26 and 27 February people in many parts of Sierra Leone went to the polls for Presidential and Parliamentary elections. Generally the exercise at the numerous polling stations was free from violence and disputes, with several serious exceptions, as described below.
2.2 In the early evening of 26 February, forty men attacked the house of President Bio in the west end of Freetown, with mortar bombs and gunfire. Fighting between loyal troops and the attackers lasted for almost forty minutes before the soldier rebels retreated into the heavily forested peninsular hills. A curfew was imposed between 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. in Freetown and voting was allowed to continue on 27 February. Voting went smoothly on the second day.
2.3 Attacks and shooting took place in Bo on 25-27 February, including a serious attack on the afternoon of 26 February while people were voting. By 28 February the situation was reported to be calm. An early morning burst of heavy shelling and automatic gun fire almost prevented the polling on 26 February in Kenema. Voting started six hours late.
2.4 Prior to the elections, hostilities were reported in Kambia and parts of Bombali in the northern province. Kambia was deserted as residents crossed into Guinea. In all these areas, there was no voting. The rest of Northern region was relatively calm and elections went smoothly.
2.5 Institutional and targeted vulnerable group feeding in camps in Freetown is in progress. During February, food supplies were airlifted and transported by road to Bo, Kenema and Makeni. Food supply to Segbwema is still at a standstill due to on-going negotiations for an implementing partner now that the Sierra Leone Red Cross has pulled out of the area.
2.6 General food distribution for Bo for the month of February 1996 started on 17 February for the town caseload of 145,000 with full ration of cornmeal and oil.
C. FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
1. Overview
1.1 The United Nations revised consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Slovenia, was due to be released 1 March 1996 simultaneously in Geneva, New York and Sarajevo. A total of USD 207.5 million is requested by WFP to cover the shortfall of food and related costs through 1996.
2. Bosnia-Herzegovina
2.1 Out of the total amount for food detailed in the Appeal, the amount requested by WFP for Bosnia-Herzegovina is USD 116.4 million, to cover the outstanding requirements of 153,000 mt of food aid until the end of 1996. The Appeal includes a high level of resources for food aid logistics and national capacity building, as WFP assumes more responsibility for in-country delivery and management of food aid, formerly carried out by UNHCR. WFP is also appealing for some USD 2 million to establish the Bosnia Logistics Unit (BLU). Given the present limited capacity of the Bosnian Government to organise relief logistics, WFP's logistics strategy will combine an expansion of its current logistics presence with a capacity building component. The BLU will also manage a portfolio of rehabilitation features that will contribute to the economic revitalisation of the country.
2.2 Reflecting improved freedom of movement, this week WFP used for the first time local commercial trucks from Serbia to deliver food aid to communities in Republika Srpska. A trial shipment of 96 mt of wheat flour was delivered to Bljeljina and Banja Luka on 28-29 February. WFP hopes to expand the use of commercial convoys wherever possible.
2.3 To cope with current food aid shortages, WFP has made an emergency purchase of 2,000 mt of wheat flour in Croatia for immediate distribution in Bosnia-Herzegovina. A group of approximately 400 women beneficiaries in the central Bosnian town of Srebrenik protested the diminished food aid rations they received, temporarily blocking an important convoy route.
2.4 In a meeting with the Bosnian Ambassador in Rome, WFP's Executive Director stressed, inter alia, the importance of accountability in the use of food aid donations through WFP, which are intended for the exclusive use of well-defined beneficiary groups. The Executive Director made it clear that WFP expects reimbursement of the 2,000 mt which were diverted for uses other than the intended purposes.
2.5 Following up on a Dutch-funded WFP milling survey, and in anticipation of a large shipment of wheat grain arriving later this month, WFP is negotiating new standard agreements with regional wheat mills in Sarajevo, Bugojno, Tuzla, Mostar and Bihac. The survey report, which includes an assessment of rehabilitation needs of war-damaged mills, available shortly.
2.6 Security conditions remain largely unchanged from last week. Freedom of movement is good, and implementation of the peace agreement continues according to plan.
2.7 Sarajevo: Bosnian Serbs continue to leave Sarajevo suburbs as the entire city gradually comes under Federation control. Over the past two months, an estimated 30,000 ethnic Serbs have fled the city for eastern Bosnia, and the exodus appears to be gaining momentum. Local Serb leaders were apparently among the first to depart, leaving many essential services unattended before the take-over by Federation authorities. Most of those fleeing have settled temporarily in Visegrad, Bratunac, Srebrenica, Zvornik and Rogatica. The Sarajevo suburb of Vogosca is practically abandoned, with only small numbers of elderly and sick staying behind. In the Serb neighbourhoods, normal UN food distribution has been disrupted, and NGOs (such as CARE Canada) have set up ad hoc distribution systems. WFP is prioritising available food aid stocks to respond to this population movement.
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 09 of 1996 - March 1, 1996)