Report No. 29 of 1997 Date: 18 July 1997This report includes: A) North Korea B) Sahel Region C) Great Lakes Region: Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda D) Central Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo E) Somalia
>From J.-M. Boucher, Chief, Programming Service. Available on the Internet at WFP Home Page http://www.wfp.org/ Contact point during July: Shortley@wfp.org For information regarding resources, donors are requested to contact Mr. F. Strippoli (Strippoli@wfp.org) or Ms. A. Blum (Blum@wfp.org), WFP Rome, telephone 39 6 5228 2504 or 5228 2004.
PART I - HIGHLIGHTS (Details below in Part II)
A. NORTH KOREA
1. Update a) Additional 130,000 metric tons of commodities (value $45.7 million) approved for children under six years. b) Donors respond positively to the new food appeal. c) Sufficient and timely commodity shipments essential to avoid premature harvesting.
B) Sahel Region
1. Update a) WFP Regional Office for the Sahel opens 1 July in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. b) Contingency Planning Workshop to be held in September. Preparatory missions currently being carried out in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Niger. c) WFP Regional Protracted Relief Operation commences on 1 July. d) Distributions begin in Chad and Mauritania. e) WFP increases assistance to development projects in drought-affected areas of Niger.
C. EAST AFRICA: TANZANIA, BURUNDI, RWANDA, UGANDA
1. Tanzania a) Government of Tanzania crop forecasts bleak; possible shortfall of 1 million metric tons. b) As at 13 July, total Tanzanian caseload exceeds 413,000.
2. Burundi a) 50,000 beneficiaries receive 10 to 30-day ad-hoc emergency relief rations.
3. Rwanda a) Between 7 and 14 July, WFP distributed 1,676 metric tons of various food commodities to 139,000 beneficiaries.
4. Uganda a) Remaining Sudanese refugees in Koboko camp are relocated to Rhino camp. b) Distribution commences for 40,000 internally displaced persons in the Bundibugyo district.
D. CENTRAL AFRICA: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, REPUBLIC OF CONGO
1. Democratic Republic of Congo a) WFP assists refugees from Congo-Brazzaville registered in Kinshasa. b) WFP caseload in Kisangani area exceeds 6,000 persons. c) Over 50,000 refugees have now been airlifted to Rwanda from Kisangani and Mbandaka. d) Joint WFP/GOC/UNHCR mission leaves for Beni to assess situation of Ugandan refugees in the Ruwenzori mountains e) Refugees have been identified in the Shabunda, Katchungu and Lulingu areas. WFP pre-positions food accordingly. f) WFP airlifts orphaned children from Kasese to Amisi for onward transport to Rwanda by UNHCR. g) Security situation in Uvira, Fizi and Baraka improves over past two weeks.
2. Republic of Congo a) Authorities request WFP for food assistance for 100,000 displaced persons in N?kayi, Dolisie and Pointe-Noire. WFP to determine needs and accessibility in the regions.
E. SOMALIA
1. Update a) WFP continues to assist 360,000 vulnerable people in southern Somalia. b) WFP distributes two-month food packages to last beneficiaries until end-July cereal harvest. c) All humanitarian assistance suspended in Bay region following murder of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) staff member on 20 June. d) Regular WFP operations in the north east continue. Assistance also provided to six projects in Mudug. e) WFP assesses the possibility of providing assistance north and south of Mogadishu.
PART II - DETAILS
A. NORTH KOREA
1. UPDATE
1.1 On 4 July, WFP approved an additional 130,000 metric tons of commodities (value US$ 45.7 million) for the feeding of children in nurseries and kindergartens. This brings the revised total for the operation to US$ 141.5 million.
1.2 Donor response to this new appeal has been extremely generous with $30.4 million (67 percent of commitment) pledged in the first few days. Donors include USA, the European Union, Ireland, Norway, OPEC, ADM (a US firm), Concern Worldwide (Irish NGO), and the Korean Resource Centre (Australian NGO).
1.3 Since in-country stocks are almost depleted, it is essential that food deliveries continue to arrive in a timely manner and particularly before the October harvest. Shortfalls in deliveries would result in the premature harvesting of green maize, as occurred in 1996.
B. SAHEL REGION
1. UPDATE
1.1 WFP?s Regional Office for the Sahel opened on 1 July in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to coordinate WFP development and relief activities throughout the Sahel region. WFP Country Directors in the region and Headquarters staff met from 7-9 July to outline a regional work plan for the period mid-1997 through end-1998.
1.2 The Regional Sahel office will host a Contingency Planning Workshop in September, in coordination with UNHCR, FAO, CILSS (Comite Permanent Inter-Etats de Lutte Contre la Secheresse dans le Sahel) and the Club du Sahel. Preparatory missions are currently under way in Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Niger, the countries selected for the preparation of contingency plans in the event of a sudden drought-related crisis.
1.3 WFP Regional Protracted Relief Operation 5804, assisting 112,500 Malian refugees and affected persons commenced on 1 July. The 18-month operation takes over from on-going WFP refugee operations in Burkina Faso and Mauritania, and assists those refugees repatriating from Niger. Most of the resources under the regional PRO will be used for resettlement and rehabilitation activities in Mali. Requirements for 1997, amounting to 9,723 metric tons of food assistance, have been met.
1.4 WFP emergency assistance to beneficiaries affected by drought in Chad and Mauritania has begun. The first distributions under WFP Emergency Operation in Chad began on 18 June in Kanem and on 25 June in Biltine. Food distributions follow the subsidised sale of 1,300 metric tons of cereals from Government Food Security Stocks. As of 15 July, a total of 3,330 metric tons of food had been distributed to 275,000 beneficiaries.
1.5 Meanwhile, WFP has completed the first tranche of local purchases (2,000 mt), to enable emergency distributions in Mauritania in July and August. A total of 200,000 beneficiaries will be covered under this operation.
1.6 In Niger, WFP continues to provide increased assistance of more than 1,000 metric tons of cereals to existing development projects in areas affected by drought. Increased deliveries are concentrated in Tanout, where 2,000 school children and 1,900 mothers and children in health centers are receiving assistance.
C. EAST AFRICA: TANZANIA, BURUNDI, RWANDA, UGANDA
1. TANZANIA
1.1 The crop forecasts being released for Tanzania by the Ministry of Agriculture?s Food Security Department continue to be bleak, with a possible cereal shortfall of 1 million metric tons. Alternative foods such as cassava and bananas may meet only half of the estimated shortfall.
1.2 The total caseload of refugees in Tanzania as at 13 July was 413,352 of which 94,855 are Congolese refugees, 1,347 are Rwandans and 317,152 are Burundian refugees.
2. BURUNDI
2.1 During the second week of July, the Burundi caseload totalled 102,835, of which 50,887 were beneficiaries of ad-hoc emergency relief distributions of 10 to 30-day rations. A total of 721 metric tons of various food commodities were delivered.
3. RWANDA
3.1 Between 7 and 14 July, WFP distributed 1,676 metric tons of various food commodities to 139,000 beneficiaries.
4. UGANDA
4.1 All remaining Sudanese refugees in Koboko refugee camp in north-west Uganda were relocated to Rhino camp between 7 and 14 July. Koboko camp would receive no further assistance from either WFP or UNHCR.
4.2 On 11 July, WFP began distributing 106 metric tons of various food commodities to 40,000 internally displaced persons in the Bundibugyo district.
4.3 The total tonnage of food commodities distributed by WFP in Uganda between 7 and 14 July was 1,281 metric tons.
D. CENTRAL AFRICA: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, REPUBLIC OF CONGO
1. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
1.1 7,000 refugees from Congo-Brazzaville have been registered in Kinshasa and provided food assistance by WFP.
1.2 Caseload of refugees, internally displaced persons and beneficiaries of rehabilitation projects in the Kisangani area total 6,194, of which 2,385 are refugees and 452 internally displaced persons. Between 7 and 13 July, 676 refugees were airlifted to Rwanda out of Kisangani and Mbandaka, bringing the total of refugees flown to Rwanda out of Kisangani and Mbandaka to 50,136 people.
1.3 Between 7 and 14 July, WFP Goma distributed 10.4 metric tons to 3,670 beneficiaries of nutritional centres and special feeding programmes. Food-for-work rations were distributed to 1,126 beneficiaries of 7 rehabilitation projects, including hospital rehabilitation and park protection. World Vision, an implementing partner of WFP, has started to update the list of internally internally displaced persons in the Jomba and Rutshuru area. So far, 7,507 displaced persons have been identified. During the same period, 329 refugees were repatriated from Goma to Rwanda.
1.4 A joint WFP/GOC/UNHCR mission to Beni in late June confirmed the arrival of at least 10,000 refugees from Uganda. A further mission, which left for Beni on 13 July, will further assess the situation of the refugees in the Ruwenzori mountains. Reports now indicate around 20,000 refugees in the border area with Uganda. Since the area is not accessible by car, efforts are underway to investigate the possibility of landing at an airstrip in the area.
1.5 During the first two weeks of July, WFP prepositioned a total of 7,266 metric tons in Shabunda, Katchungu and Lulingu. 1,900 refugees have now been identified in these areas. The arrival of a 300 men-strong military contingent in Shabunda had adverse effects on arrivals of refugees out of the forests into WFP/NGO wet-feeding centres. Between 6 and 14 July, UNHCR repatriated 185 refugees from Shabunda to Rwanda. The WFP Caravan that airlifted the food commodities to the Shabunda area transported 193 refugees, most of them orphans that had been accommodated by Congolese families, from Kasese airstrip to Amisi where onward transport to Rwanda was arranged by UNHCR.
1.6 By 12 July, 128 metric tons of food commodities had been distributed to the 2,513 beneficiaries egistered in Uvira; 711 of those were internally displaced persons. The security situation in Uvira, Fizi and Baraka has improved over the past two weeks and residents favour a return of Congolese refugees from Kigoma.
2. REPUBLIC OF CONGO
2.1 Authorities of the Republic of Congo requested WFP for food assistance for 100,000 displaced in the areas of N?kayi, Dolisie and Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo. International agencies had already reported on the same number of displaced persons in northern Congo and near Pointe-Noire. WFP will follow up with a mission in the coming weeks to determine needs for assistance and accessibility in the regions. In case of immediate need, 1,800 metric tons of WFP maize are available in Pointe-Noire.
E. SOMALIA
1. UPDATE
1.1 WFP increases assistance to 360,000 vulnerable people in southern Somalia with additional overland and sea deliveries from Mombassa. WFP delivered 375 metric tons of cereals to cover food needs of some 25,000 vulnerable persons in Bakool.
1.2 WFP Food Monitors are supervising delivery and distribution of two-month food packages which will last beneficiaries through to the arrival of the main cereal harvest, which normally arrives at the end of July and is expected to be favourable.
1.3 Following the murder of an international staff member of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) on 20 June, all humanitarian assistance continues to be suspended in the Bay region of southern Somalia.
1.4 Regular WFP operations in the north-east continue on a limited basis; in June, WFP provided food to vulnerable groups in Bari, Mudug, Nugal and Sool. Food-for-work assistance is also being provided in Mudug, where WFP is supporting six projects.
1.5 WFP teams are currently assessing the possibility of providing assistance to displaced persons and vulnerable groups in areas located north and south of Mogadishu.
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 29 of 1997 - 18 July, 1997)
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