Report No. 30 of 1997 Date: 25 July 1997This report includes: A) West Africa: Liberia, Sierra Leone B) East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda C) Central Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) D) Angola E) Sudan
>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. WEST AFRICA: LIBERIA, SIERRA LEONE
1. Liberia a) Charles Taylor wins presidential elections of 19 July. b) WFP completes July food distributions to refugees and food-for-work/school feeding projects. c) 3,500 Sierra Leonean refugees, having fled clashes in Zimmi area, are now registered in Bo Waterside area.
2. Sierra Leone a) WFP continues limited food distributions in Freetown, Bo, Kambia, Makeni and Kenema. b) Situation in Kenema is tense and food supplies extremely low. 25,000 displaced persons have arrived since the coup. c) WFP transfers food from Freetown to more secure up-country locations. d) Although Guinean border officially closed, Sierra Leonian refugee movement continues.
B. EAST AFRICA: KENYA, TANZANIA, BURUNDI, UGANDA
1. Kenya a) WFP emergency food assistance continues in drought-affected areas in the eastern and north-eastern provinces. b) Dry weather hits Rift Valley and eastern provinces, while conditions in previously drought hit areas of northern and eastern regions have improved. c) Government of Kenya extends the zero import duty on maize until the end of August.
2. Tanzania a) Influx of Burundian refugees into Kigoma area continues to decrease; caseload now over 414,000. b) Registration exercises are underway in all camps in Kasulu, Kibondo and Kigoma areas.
3. Burundi a) WFP Burundi caseload totals over 126,000 people. b) Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo officially reopen common borders. c) Import embargo from Burundi still in place (especially Tanzania). d) Kenya resumes commercial flights between Nairobi and Bujumbura. Week to week clearance required for WFP?s passenger and twin-otter flights. e) Insecurity remains a major concern, with over 60 recent deaths caused by rebel/bandit attacks and anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.
4. Uganda a) Security in West Nile region improves. Number of Sudanese refugees in this area now stand at 45,475, out of a total of 170,000 in Uganda. b) Recent fighting between ADF rebels and Ugandan army displaces 60,000 in the Bundibugyo area near the Ruwenzori mountains.
C. CENTRAL AFRICA: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, REPUBLIC OF CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE)
1. Democratic Republic of Congo (information as of 20 July) a) 11,727 refugees from Republic of Congo registered in Kinshasa. UNHCR registration process hampered by refugees? lack of identification papers. b) Caseload in Kisangani area totals 11,848 persons. Refugees are airlifted from Kisangani and Mbandaka to Rwanda, bringing total to 50,945. c) 2,000 displaced Tutsis arrive in Goma from the Masisi area, and are transported by the authorities to Mushaki. World Vision completes registration exercise of 10,243 internally displaced persons. d) The joint WFP/GOC/UNHCR mission to Beni reports around 27,000 Ugandan refugees in the border area in the Ruwenzori mountains. Refugees are in good health.
2. Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) a) 9,225 Rwandan refugees reported by WFP in Loukolela, Ndjoundou and Liranga. b) Repatriation by air from Loukolela continues at the average rate of 80 people per day.
D. ANGOLA
1. Update a) WFP continues emergency assistance to displaced persons in N? Zaji, Lunda Norte province with regular two-week food distributions. Airlift continues as needed. b) Conflict is reported in Lunda Sul province, where over 500 people have fled to Saurimo. c) Humanitarian support reportedly needed for populations in Xinge, Cuilo and Camaxilo in northern Lunda Norte province and Muconda and Dala in southern Lunda Sul province. Insecurity does not, however, allow assessment of these areas. d) Provincial government in Huila lifts temporary ban on resettlement. e) WFP and other agencies will repair a bridge to allow displaced persons in Castanheira da Pera and Canhina to return to Cunene province. f) Under a WFP project, NGO Halo Trust completes the clearance of anti-personnel mines. g) WFP-contracted reconstruction of bridge reopens main road from Malange to Kangandala on 10 July.
E. SUDAN
1. Update a) WFP delivers food to 60,000 people in the southern sector and to 25,500 Sudanese returnees from Uganda. b) Security in Bahr El Ghazal deteriorates; several food deliveries canceled. c) Poor August harvest predicted by NGO and USAID/FEWS missions. Additional food assistance may be required beyond the harvest.
PART II - DETAILS
A. WEST AFRICA: LIBERIA, SIERRA LEONE
1. LIBERIA
1.1 National Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, Charles Taylor, has been declared the winner of presidential elections in Liberia by the west African country's independent elections commission (IECOM). The 19 July elections took place without incident, following lengthy campaigns of awareness and reconciliation.
1.2 WFP completed July food distributions to refugees and food-for-work/school feeding projects (1,320 metric tons) prior to the elections. Little movement of people in Liberia was reported in the period just prior to the elections. Some 3,500 Sierra Leonean refugees have been registered in Bo Waterside after fleeing recent clashes in the Zimmi area.
2. SIERRA LEONE
2.1 WFP is still distributing food on limited scale in Freetown, Bo, Kambia, Makeni and Kenema, mostly to vulnerable people through international and local NGOs.
2.2 WFP local staff in Kenema report that the situation is tense and food supplies extremely low in this area. NGOs report the influx of some 25,000 displaced persons to Kenema since the coup.
2.3 The systematic looting of WFP stores in Freetown by armed men and civilians has resulted in the loss of 600 metric tons of rice. On 12 July, government soldiers commandeered a truck transporting 12 metric tons of WFP vegetable oil.
2.4 Since the beginning of July, WFP has been transferring food stored in Freetown to more secure locations up-country. To date, 725 metric tons of various food commodities have been transported by truck, mainly to Kambia and Kenema.
2.5 Movement of Sierra Leonian refugees back and forth across the Guinea/Sierra Leone border continues. The Guinean border has been officially closed by Guinean authorities.
B. EAST AFRICA:
1. KENYA
1.1 WFP continues to deliver emergency food assistance to beneficiaries in areas affected by severe drought in the eastern and north-eastern provinces of Kenya. Against expected delivery of 10,000 metric tons, WFP has been able to borrow and distribute 5,800 mt of maize and 880 metric tons of beans available for other WFP-assisted projects.
1.2 Reports indicate unusually dry weather in May and early June in the high potential maize growing areas in the Rift Valley, as well as lower areas of the Eastern Province. However, vegetative conditions are reported to be above normal levels in the previously drought hit areas of northern and eastern pastoral districts (Marsabit, Garissa, Wajir, Tana River, Mandera and Turkana). Although no longer deteriorating, full recovery of the pastoralist condition is not expected until the end of 1997/early 1998, assuming normal short rains in October/November. The Government of Kenya has extended the zero import duty on maize until the end of August.
2. TANZANIA
2.1 The trend of the influx of Burundian refugees into the Kigoma region continued to decrease. Between 14 and 20 July, 903 new arrivals were registered in Mtabila camp in Kasulu district. The total number of Burundian refugees in Mtabila I and II camps as at 20 July was 67,086. 57 new arrivals from Burundi were registered in Nduta camp in Kibondo district (total as of 20 July 22,462) and 41 in Lukoli camp in Ngara district (total at 20 July 102,000).
2.2 The total caseload of refugees in Tanzania as of 20 July was 414,421 out of which 94,969 were Congolese refugees, 1,347 Rwandans and 318,105 Burundian refugees. Refugee registration exercises were underway in all camps in Kasulu, Kibondo and Kigoma districts. The registration teams in Lugufu camp in Kigoma district had to put up with stiff resistance from the camp population that delayed the exercise.
3. BURUNDI
3.1 The WFP Burundi caseload totalled 126,348 people during the period 14 to 20 July with a total dispatch of 588 metric tons of various food commodities.
3.2 Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) officially reopened their common borders on 16 July at Kiliba and Kavimvira near Uvira in DRC.
3.3 Many countries in the region, especially Tanzania, were still upholding the embargo against importing goods from Burundi. At the same time, Kenya had authorised commercial airlines to resume flights between Nairobi and Bujumbura. The first commercial flight, run by Africa Airlines, arrived in Bujumbura 19 July. As a result, the Kenyan authorities had revoked the Special Clearance for WFP?s two-weekly passenger flights Nairobi-Bujumbura-Nairobi. Clearance has to be obtained on a week to week basis now. Service to the interior of Burundi by WFP aircraft (Twin Otter) out of Bujumbura will continue. These WFP flights carried 86 passengers between 14 and 20 July.
3.4 Insecurity remains a major concern and constraint to operations in Burundi. Attacks by rebels/bandits have taken place over the past few days in Karuzi, Makamba and Bujumbura with over 60 deaths reported. Mines, both anti tank and anti personnel continue to kill and maim people, with two serious incidents last week, one in Mutimbuzi, (rural Bujumbura) and one on a coffee plantation in Kayanza, resulting in four deaths.
4. UGANDA
4.1 UNDP declared the West Nile region, where the Sudanese refugee camps of Koboko, Mvepi and Rhino camp were located, to be in security phase 3, down from phase 4, an indication of the improving security situation. As of 20 July there were 45,475 Sudanese refugees in the West Nile region out of a total of about 170,000 Sudanese refugees in Uganda.
4.2 Caseload of internally displaced persons in the Bundibugyo area, near the Ruwenzori mountains in west Uganda, rose to 60,000 including 18,400 in Nyahuka town between Bundibugyo and the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. All were displaced by the recent fighting between ADF rebels and the Ugandan army. A distribution was planned for 24 July. Commercial and WFP convoys to Bundibugyo and Nyahuka went relatively smoothly despite attacks from rebel forces. The convoys were all escorted by the Ugandan army.
C. CENTRAL AFRICA: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, REPUBLIC OF CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE),
1. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
1.1 Immigration authorities in Kinshasa had registered (as of 20 July) 11,727 refugees from the Republic of Congo that had entered into the Democratic Republic of Congo. Between 4 and 19 July WFP had distributed 57 metric tons of various food commodities to 6,500 Congolese refugees. A registration process carried out by UNHCR was underway but hampered by the fact that most refugees did not carry identification papers and were scattered throughout Kinshasa.
1.2 Caseload of refugees, internally displaced persons and beneficiaries of rehabilitation projects in the Kisangani area totalled 11,848 by 20 July out of which 2,911 were refugees and internally displaced persons and 8,937 beneficiaries of food-for-work, special feeding and rehabilitation projects. WFP distributed 48 metric tons of various food commodities between 14 and 20 July. During the same period 467 refugees from Kisangani and 352 refugees from Mbandaka were repatriated by air to Rwanda bringing the total of refugees repatriated by air from Kisangani to Mbandaka to 50,945.
1.3 Beginning 12 July, Goma experienced an influx of 2,000 displaced people from the Masisi area. The displaced were Tutsis from villages north-west of Sake (30 km west of Goma) that were, according to the displaced, attacked by armed elements. On 20 July, all displaced were transported by the authorities from Goma to Mushaki, a village 15 km north of Sake in the Masisi region. On 23 July WFP distributed 7 metric tons of food commodities to the 2,500 displaced in Mushaki. The area north and west of Mushaki was reportedly insecure. World Vision, implementing partner of WFP, finished their registration exercise of 10,243 internally displaced persons in Rutshuru and in Jomba (both north of Goma), to where it was reported that Congolese returnees from Uganda had also arrived.
1.4 The joint WFP/GOC/UNHCR mission that left on 13 July to Beni to collect information about Ugandan refugees in the Ruwenzori mountains, reported a presence of around 27,000 Ugandan refugees in the border area with Uganda. The mission had to travel by motorbike to reach the bulk of refugees that were found in good health and accommodated by Congolese families. Efforts were underway to examine the possibility of repatriation to the Bundibugyo area in Uganda on the other side of the border.
2. REPUBLIC OF CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE)
2.1 Two WFP staff members visited Loukolela in the north of the Congo on 19 July and reported the presence of 9,225 Rwandan refugees in three locations (Loukolela, Ndjoundou, Liranga). All refugees had received full rations amounting to a daily quantity of 400 grams of maize meal, 120 grams of beans, 30 grams of corn soya blend (CSB), 20 grams of oil and 5 grams of salt. The next distribution (two-weekly) was planned for the end of July.
2.2 Between 6 and 20 July, UNHCR repatriated 746 Rwandan refugees from Loukolela, Ndjoundou and Liranga to Kigali. Repatriation by air from Loukolela was continuing with an average of 80 persons per day.
D. ANGOLA
1. UPDATE
1.1 WFP continues to provide emergency assistance to some 8,000 displaced persons in N?Zaji, Lunda Norte province. Influx of displaced people to N?Zaji, who have been fleeing violence in the province, has considerably slowed since early July. Some 10-15 new arrivals are currently being registered daily. A regular two-week food distribution system has been implemented, and WFP continues airlift operations of food and non-food supplies into the area as needed.
1.2 Conflict is also reported in Lunda Sul province, where over 500 persons have fled Muconda municipality to Saurimo. WFP is monitoring the situation; relief assistance not required present.
1.3 Populations in Xinge, Cuilo and Camaxilo in northern Lunda Norte province and Muconda and Dala in southern Lunda Sul province are reportedly in need of humanitarian assistance; assessment of these areas is currently not possible due to security conditions.
1.4 In Huila, the provincial government has lifted its temporary ban on resettlement in the province. Meanwhile, displaced persons in Castanheira da Pera and Canhina are making plans to return to Cunene province; WFP and other agencies will repair a bridge connecting the two provinces to enable their return.
1.5 Under a WFP food-for-work project in Kuito, Bie province, NGO Halo Trust has completed the clearance large numbers of anti-personnel mines and explosive devices, resulting in increased access to water sources, fuel wood and land for agricultural activities for the residents of Kuito and Catabola.
1.6 The main road from Malange to Kangandala was opened on 10 July following the reconstruction of the bridge over the Cuije River by WFP-contracted NGO Swedrelief. An additional five small bridges along the road from Kaculama to Kambundi-Katembo municipalities have been reconstructed.
E. SUDAN
1. UPDATE
1.1 WFP delivered 374 metric tons of food to 60,000 people in the southern sector, primarily through airdrops, from Lokichokio, Kenya. In addition, 81 metric tons were delivered by road to Equatoria region and distributed to 25,500 Sudanese returnees from Ugandan refugee camps.
1.2 The security situation in Bahr El Ghazal continued to deteriorate over the last week, causing several food deliveries to be canceled to locations where high levels of malnutrition have been reported.
1.3 WFP has received reports from NGO and USAID/FEWS indicating that up-coming harvest will be poor. As a result, communities already being supported by WFP and NGOs are likely to require food assistance beyond August. Numbers of beneficiaries currently being assisted may have to be increased in some areas. Consequently, WFP is making preparations to contact donors with revised food needs for the remainder of 1997.
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 30 of 1997 - 25 July, 1997)
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