This report includes: A) Burundi, Rwanda, Zaire and Tanzania B) Uganda C) Ethiopia D) Somalia E) Democratic People's Republic of Korea F) Albania
>From P. Ares, Chief, Programming Service. Available on the Internet at WFP Home Page http://www.wfp.org/ or by e-mail from HicksDeb@wfp.org (fax 39 6 5228 2837). For information regarding resources, donors are requested to contact Mr. F. Strippoli or Ms. A. Blum, WFP Rome (telephone 39 6 5228 2504 or 5228 2004).
PART I - HIGHLIGHTS (Details below in Part II)
A. EAST AFRICA: REGIONAL OPERATION FOR BURUNDI, RWANDA, ZAIRE AND TANZANIA
1. Eastern Zaire - most information as of 3 April a) Large numbers of exhausted refugees are dying on the road south of Kisangani, having been refused permission to stay in Lula, and forced to move back towards Ubundu. b) Train which left Kisangani on 27 March drops food along the railway line; two WFP truck convoys also deliver food. Local Red Cross counts 95,502 refugees at five sites along railway line during first distribution. c) WFP to cover logistical side under planned UNHCR repatriation operation; 20 UNHCR trucks are being flown from Mwanza to Kisangani on WFP plane. Some refugees to be flown to Rwanda while majority to go by truck to Bukavu, walking for some stretches of the road. d) Group of 15,000-20,000 refugees emerges from the forests west of Goma, and repatriation to Rwanda picks up momentum.
2. Rwanda a) Refugees returning to Rwanda via Gisenyi and Cyangugu are in poor shape; wet feeding programme for all returnees passing through Cyangugu is being considered.
3. Burundi a) Rapid Evaluation teams from WFP, FAO, UNICEF and DHA completes series of visits to 70 displaced person sites in nine provinces and give findings. b) Increasing number of beneficiaries in northern parts of country; deliveries face serious difficulties due to poor access, aggravated by the rainy season.
4. Tanzania a) Additional trucks obtained in continuing efforts to stockpile a sixty-day ration stock in camps in the Kigoma region.
B. UGANDA
1. Update a) Sudanese refugees continue returning to Sudan; movement back and forth between SPLA held areas in Sudan and settlements in Uganda make assessment of numbers of returnees difficult. b) Assistance to Sudanese refugees compounded by a break in the food pipeline. c) Sudanese Government warns relief agencies operating in rebel-held areas in southern Sudan that they may become the target of Government forces, accusing agencies entering the country from Uganda of having violated prior agreements.
C. ETHIOPIA
1. Update a) Inter-agency assessment teams have reported on needs in drought-affected areas in Somali, Borena, and Bale zones of Oromiya and South Omo zone of the Southern Region (SNNP). Pasturalists face difficulties in securing adequate water and pasture resources due to the partial failure of the short rains in October/November 1996 and currently high stocking rates of cattle on limited range lands. Three-month relief food intervention recommended for a targeted population of some 800,000 people.
D. SOMALIA
1. Update a) Rains reported in many areas of the country. Humanitarian response to targeted areas affected by drought in the south, north-west north-east and central regions continues. Activities in the north-west continue through UN/NGO and the Egal administration group.
E. DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
1. Update a) WFP emergency operation for DPR Korea (EMOP 5710.02) expanded in light of WFP Executive Director's visit to the country. Revised EMOP will provide assistance to 4,700,000 beneficiaries, and requires 203,626 metric tons of food. Overall WFP costs are USD 95.5 million. Supplementary rations to be provided to all children under the age of six through food distributions to nurseries and kindergartens. b) The Executive Director visits Tokyo and Seoul to encourage further multilateral and bilateral donor support to cover the urgent needs in DPR Korea.
F. ALBANIA
1. Update a) Emergency food assistance operations for Albania (EMOP 5829 and EMOP 5830) signed. Under this operation, WFP plans to assist 7,500 people in need residing in institutions as well as destitute people in currently secure rural areas. Further WFP food assistance is being considered pending the identification of reliable and secure distribution and monitoring mechanisms.
PART II - DETAILS
A. EAST AFRICA: REGIONAL OPERATION FOR BURUNDI, RWANDA, ZAIRE, TANZANIA
1. EASTERN ZAIRE - information as of 3 April.
1.1 Lula, the site 7 km south of Kisangani where thousands of refugees had concentrated until 31 March, is empty. The refugees, driven by rebels authorities further south, back towards Ubundu, have reached the limit of their strength and, exhausted, malnourished and sick, are dying by the hundreds. A train loaded with WFP food left Kisangani on 27 March, dropping food at five different points along the line. Six metric tons of high-protein foods were delivered by truck. At the first distribution carried out on March 28, the local Red Cross counted 95,502 refugees at these points. Most of the refugees are at km 25 and km 40 but others, the weaker and the sicker ones, are further south, at km 52 and km 82, too weak to even react to the arrival of the food. Two other convoys were sent by WFP: one on 31 March with 110 metric tons of food and the other on 3 April with 120 metric tons of food. The latter will deliver food at km 25, km 40 and km 82.
1.2 Rebels authorities have not yet agreed to the use of Kisangani as a hub for the repatriation of the refugees. Under a repatriation plan prepared by UNHCR, WFP will be responsible for all logistics issues, and 20 UNHCR trucks are being flown from Mwanza to Kisangani with the WFP aircraft. Under the plan prepared, the most vulnerable refugees will be flown back to Rwanda but the majority will be transported by truck to Bukavu. Along some road stretches, the trucks will not be able to pass and the refugees will have to walk.
1.3 WFP continues airlifting food commodities to Kisangani, for distribution to the refugees scattered in Eastern Zaire. Since mid-February, when this air operation initiated, until the end of March, WFP has delivered 1,260 metric tons of food commodities. On 4 April, another air operation is due to start from Entebbe.
1.4 Amisi and Tingi Tingi camps are now empty and all surviving refugees were evacuated by air to Goma using WFP aircraft, and from there moved to Rwanda. Many of the refugees who were still in Tingi Tingi and Amisi died, and some others were so weak and sick that on arrival in Goma they had to be transported by ambulance from the airport to the local hospital.
1.5 A group of 15,000-20,000 refugees has emerged from the forests and is concentrating in Karuba, west of Goma. These refugees seem to be part of a larger group who left their camps in Goma in October and had been missing since then, hidden in the Masisi area. They are not in as appalling condition as those further west, although some require medical assistance. Repatriation to Rwanda has, once again, picked up momentum. In addition to the refugees repatriating from the Tingi Tingi and Amisi camps, others are returning through the northern axis: 1,877 repatriated on 1 April through Karuba and Tongo way stations. By 3 April, the total number repatriated during the previous two days was around 4,800, according to UNHCR.
1.6 WFP has re-opened its office in Uvira. This will facilitate the repatriation of Rwandan and Burundian refugees who fled to Kalemie, and the return of Zairean refugees who sought asylum in Kigoma in Tanzania. It is planned that the refugees will receive assistance in Uvira on their way back home. From 25 to 31 March, WFP distributed high-protein biscuits to returning refugees and released 37 metric tons of food commodities for sites hosting street children, handicapped, unaccompanied children and hospital patients in South Kivu.
2. RWANDA
2.1 Food requirements for the month of April to cover the needs of returnees and refugees total 12,629 metric tons of food, including 4,754 metric tons for food-for-work schemes involving 336,467 beneficiaries. Discussions are on-going in all sub-offices, related to the shift from large scale free food distribution, towards food-for-work activities. Food commodities, including high-protein biscuits have been pre-positioned at transit centres and entry points, in readiness for an influx of returnees. During March, WFP distributed 14,350 metric tons of food in Rwanda, just over 70% of the monthly requirements initially estimated.
2.2 From 24 to 30 March 4,099 refugees returned to Rwanda, mostly through Gisenyi and Cyangugu. The refugees arriving are in a very poor state and UNHCR is considering a wet feeding programme for all returnees passing through the transit centre in Cyangugu.
3. BURUNDI
3.1 Four Rapid Evaluation teams from WFP, FAO, UNICEF and DHA visited 70 sites housing over 300,000 displaced persons in nine provinces. Findings on food resources and agricultural production are as follows:
a) 45% of the sites have a high relative vulnerability level (RVL), with populations having one meal a day, living mostly on roots, with poor access to land, seeds and tools, with insecurity and distance from their plots reducing the time spend working the land, and the next harvest expected to be much smaller than normal b) 37% of the evaluated population have a medium RVL, living on the food left from last year's poor harvest, with access to land and possessing some seeds, but affected by insecurity and distance from their land c) 18% of the population evaluated have a low RVL, possessing a higher than average level of food and food resources, with a good capacity for revenue generation.
3.2 The recommendations from the Rapid Evaluation exercise include regular monitoring, relief food distribution for some high RVL areas, punctual emergency food distribution for medium RVL groups, distribution of seeds and tools to high and medium RVL groups, reduction in camp sizes and establishment of sites near residents land, assistance to resettlement in home areas and food-for-work projects for displaced groups dependent on non-agricultural activities.
3.3 WFP has been designated as the lead agency, in coordination with DHA, to respond to the grave situation in camps for displaced and re-grouped persons in Karuzi province. Other agencies have been urged to provide urgent assistance for these camps, to prevent the situation from deteriorating even further.
3.4 A joint WFP, FAO, DHA team visited the Ruhinga regroupement camp in Kayanza province, where a WFP team was distributing a combined food and seeds package. This camp, established during January 1997 is the largest regroupement site in the province, hosting some 20,000 people. Although the situation in the camp appears better than in Karuzi, there are concerns related to the size of the camp and to how conditions will develop if the camps remain as such for long periods of time.
3.5 The beneficiary caseload in Burundi for the period 24 to 29 March totalled 196,329 persons. Deliveries to the increasing number of beneficiaries in northern parts of country face serious difficulties due to poor access to the sites, which is aggravated during the rainy season. Large capacity trucks are not practical for such poor roads and private truckers do not find it cost effective to use small tonnage vehicles.
4. TANZANIA
4.1 Small numbers of Burundian refugees continue to leave their camps in Ngara. This unassisted repatriation is attributed to the security situation in the camps, due to conflicts between different factions. From 24 to 30 March a total 538 Burundians crossed the Kabanga border back to Burundi.
4.2 While some refugees are voluntarily repatriating, others continue to arrive. During the last week of March, 372 refugees entered Kibondo district, 1,552 arrived in Kigoma town and another 24 refugees arrived directly at camps in Kasulu. As of mid-March, Tanzania hosted 372,289 refugees in the Kagera and Kigoma regions.
4.3 Efforts to stockpile a sixty-day ration stock in camps in the Kigoma region continue. WFP has mobilised additional leased trucks and has pooled trucking resources with UNHCR, having already succeeded in pre-positioning a two-week stock.
B. UGANDA
1. UPDATE
1.1 Sudanese refugees continue returning to Sudan but some seem to be shuttling between SPLA-held areas in Sudan and settlements in Uganda. This makes it difficult to assess how many refugees have returned and to plan an adequate response. Assistance to Sudanese refugees is also compounded by a break in the food pipeline due to resourcing shortfalls. Additional donor pledges are urgently required for WFP's emergency operation in Uganda. The Sudanese Government has warned relief agencies operating in rebel-held areas in southern Sudan that they may become the target of Government forces, and accused agencies entering the country from Uganda of having violated prior agreements.
1.2 The refugee caseload in camps in south-western Uganda totals 37,912 persons: 17,178 Rwandans and 20,734 Zaireans. The Government of Uganda maintains that the Rwandan refugees who came from camps in Tanzania must either go home or return to Tanzania. In Uganda, there are now 7,500 Rwandan refugees who were previously in Tanzania, with arrivals during March totalling 995 persons.
C. ETHIOPIA
1. UPDATE
1.1 Inter-agency assessment teams were dispatched to reported drought-affected areas in Somali, Borena, and Bale zones of Oromiya and South Omo zone of the Southern Region (SNNP) over the period 10-17 March 1997.
1.2 Populations in the areas visited generally appear to be facing particular difficulties in securing adequate water and pasture resources due to the partial failure of the short rains in October/November 1996 and currently high stocking rates of cattle on limited range lands. Implications for food security are negative since milk cows in these areas generally stopped producing milk 3-4 months ago (milk being the staple of pastoralists' diet). Lactating mothers and young children are most vulnerable to the general lack of protein in the diet.
1.3 A vulnerable population of some 800,000 people has been identified and short-term targeted food assistance recommended for a three-month period. It is anticipated that assistance in the water, livestock, food and health sectors will be provided through a cross-mandate approach by the various UN agencies.
D. SOMALIA
1. UPDATE
1.1 Rains have been reported in many areas of the country. Humanitarian response to targeted areas affected by drought in the south, north-west north-east and central regions continues.
1.2 WFP Rehabilitation and Reconstruction operation (EMOP 5036.04), providing emergency assistance to 150,000 people, is almost fully resourced for 1997.
1.3 The Drought Inter-Agency Assessment Mission for the north-east has finalised its assessment and identified 40-60 villages covering 4,000 households in drought-affected areas. WFP will distribute 212 metric tons of food commodities in these areas immediately.
1.4 WFP is also providing assistance to internally displaced persons in Buale, who have recently left drought-affected villages in Bay and Gedo. Some 1,500 metric tons of food commodities are expected to be distributed through food-for-work/emergency recovery schemes.
1.5 In southern and central Somalia, action is under way to pre-position 4,790 metric tons of food commodities, which will be distributed through local NGOs.
1.6 WFP and the Food Security Assessment Unit (FSAU) will establish an Alert Site Nutrition Surveillance System (ASNSS), which will work with NGOs to provide an early warning system in vulnerable areas for any significant deterioration in the nutritional status among vulnerable groups, and to obtain information on the reasons for change in nutritional status.
1.7 Humanitarian activities in the north-west continue through UN/NGO and the Egal administration group, to assist drought-affected areas in Sool, Sannag, Togdher, Woqooyi Galbed and Awdal regions.
E. DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
1. UPDATE
1.1 Under the recent WFP Emergency Operation for DPR Korea (EMOP 5710.02), food assistance of 100,000 metric tons at a total WFP cost of USD 41.6 million was foreseen. This has been revised in light of the WFP Executive Director's visit to DPRK from 15 to 18 March, when she had the opportunity to discuss the situation with Government officials and UN colleagues, and to assess the needs in the flood-affected areas. A revised and enlarged EMOP 5710.02, approved jointly by the Executive Director and the Director-General of FAO on 3 and 2 April respectively, will provide assistance to 4,700,000 beneficiaries with a total of 203,626 metric tons of food, at an overall WFP cost of USD 95.5 million. The food cost is USD 71.5 million. The increase mostly concerns support to children, and the operation will provide supplementary rations consisting of cereals, pulses and vegetable oil to all children under the age of six through food distributions to nurseries and kindergartens.
1.2 The staffing structure of the Country Office will be strengthened so as to ensure that the enlarged operation is properly monitored.
1.3 The Executive Director this week has been visiting Tokyo and Seoul to encourage further multilateral and bilateral donor support to cover the urgent needs in DPR Korea.
F. ALBANIA
1. UPDATE
1.1 WFP has responded to the deteriorating food security situation in Albania with the approval of an emergency food assistance operation on 2 April. Under this two-part operation (EMOP 5829 and EMOP 5830), WFP plans to assist 7,500 people in need residing in institutions as well as destitute people in currently secure rural areas.
1.2 The operation is fully resourced from a generous Italian contribution. The commodity basket consists of wheat flour, beans and vegetable oil.
1.3 Arrangements are being made for the shipping, reception, safe storage and prompt distribution of the commodities. This first UN-WFP consignment is expected to arrive at the Albanian port of Durres in the middle of next week.
1.4 Further and larger-scale WFP food assistance is being considered pending the identification of reliable and secure distribution and monitoring mechanisms.
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 14 of 1997 - April 4, 1997)
distributed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Volunteers in Technical Assistance Disaster Information Center lists: listproc@vita.org sitreps nat-dsr appeal fireline web: www.vita.org rwanda - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - World Food Program Reports: http://www.vita.org/disaster/wfp