Report No. 46 of 1997 Date: 14 November 1997This report includes: A) East Africa: Somalia, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda B) Central Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) C) West Africa: Sierra Leone D) Iraq.
>From J.-M. Boucher, Chief, Programming Service. Available on the Internet at WFP Home Page http://www.wfp.org/ or by e-mail from Deborah.Hicks@wfp.org (fax 39 6 6513 2837). For information regarding resources, donors are requested to contact Francesco.Strippoli@wfp.org or Aleesa.Blum@wfp.org at WFP Rome, telephone 39 6 6513 2504 or 6513 2004.
PART I - HIGHLIGHTS (Details below in Part II)
A. EAST AFRICA: SOMALIA, BURUNDI, TANZANIA AND UGANDA
1. Somalia a) Several hundred thousand people displaced in flood affected area, from the Shebelle River west to Kenyan border and from Ethiopian border south to the sea. b) As part of inter-agency response, WFP appeals for USD 2.5 million for joint logistics operation; helicopters and boats urgently needed. c) WFP air operations begin: Buffalo aircraft starts evacuation of people from Bardera, where some 50,000 displaced Somalis are trapped. Twin Otter to be in place as of 15 November. A Hercules C-130 to operate out of Mombassa. d) UNICEF and ICRC deliver relief supplies to affected areas. e) WFP is airlifting survival rations from Europe and arranging additional supplies of high-energy biscuits.
2. Burundi a) WFP air service to the interior of the country suspended pending new funding. b) Displaced persons camp dismantled in Rwegura, Kayanza province.
3. Tanzania a) NGOs identified for targeting, distributing and monitoring food commodities under recently-approved WFP drought emergency operation. Distributions to begin soon.
4. Uganda a) Some 266,000 displaced Ugandans assisted in the district of Gulu, in contrast to original planning figure of 144,000 persons. Protected villages to be consolidated and numbers of villages reduced. b) Return of some displaced persons to villages leaves number being assisted by WFP in Bundibugyo and Nyahuka at 61,000 persons. Shelter material and blankets urgently needed.
B. CENTRAL AFRICA: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO AND REPUBLIC OF CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE)
1. Update a) UN Inter-Agency Flash Appeal for the Republic of Congo (Congo/Brazzaville) issued on 10 November, requesting USD 17.7 million to meet priority needs of some 650,000 internally displaced persons for initial period of three months. b) Sixty percent of Brazzaville city population has returned; WFP to provide food for 20,000 vulnerable Congolese registered by CRS/Caritas in 20 transit sites around the city; distributions to be by CRS/Caritas, MSF and IFRC. c) Food distributed to 10,200 remaining Rwandan and Burundian refugees in Congo/Brazzaville. d) Monitoring field trips restart in Bukavu in eastern DR Congo; UNHCR resumes repatriation of Rwandan refugees remaining in eastern DR Congo.
C. WEST AFRICA: SIERRA LEONE
1. Update a) Joint security assessment mission made in early November to Kambia and Port Loko districts by WFP, UNICEF, DHA, WHO, and UN Field Security Officer. Food supply adequate at this time; rice shortages expected due to increased populations in both areas. Potatoes and cassava readily available. b) Some displaced from Lungi area show signs of malnutrition; WFP supports therapeutic feeding programmes in Kambia, implemented by MSF-Holland. c) Large numbers of soldiers in Port Loko mean security less sure than in Kambia. Significant NGO activity in the area; WFP stores recently supplied from Freetown stocks.
D. IRAQ
1. Update a) Impact of current stand-off between UN and Baghdad over arms inspection in Iraq on renewal of Security Council Resolution 986/1111 (oil-for-food agreement) not yet clear. Present six-month phase of SCR 986 ends 4 December. b) Over 1.8 million tons of food commodities still due to arrive under present phase. c) Fighting between Kurdish groups in northern Iraq is hampers distribution of SCR 986 humanitarian supplies. Some 10,000 people displaced since renewal of violence between KDP and PUK on 13 October.
PART II - DETAILS
A. EAST AFRICA: SOMALIA, BURUNDI, TANZANIA AND UGANDA
1. SOMALIA
1.1 A committee has been established in Nairobi for joint response by aid agencies to the Somalia flood disaster, which has severely affected people in the area from the Shebelle River west to the border with Kenya and from the Ethiopian border south to the sea.
1.2 Floods have so far claimed hundreds of lives and have displaced hundreds of thousands of people. The affected population is in urgent need of shelter and household items, food, and health supplies. The impact is expected to continue once flood waters recede, as household food stocks in the affected areas have been lost and harvests destroyed.
1.3 As part of inter-agency response, WFP has submitted an appeal for USD 2.5 million for the funding of a joint logistics operation. Access has been the main constraint in responding to the disaster: helicopters and boats are urgently needed to reach displaced persons as well as people cut off by water in villages and towns. WFP has advanced USD 500,000 towards the operation from Immediate Response Account funds.
1.4 WFP air operations in response to the emergency
a) WFP has begun aid and evacuation flights with a Buffalo aircraft brought in from Kenya, which on 13 November started to move people from Bardera, where some 50,000 displaced Somalis are trapped. Bardera is one of the only two airports in the Juba Valley that are still above water, the other airport being Buale.
b) On 15 November, WFP will start operating a Twin Otter plane for transporting relief staff and urgently needed relief items.
c) Beginning the week of 17 November, WFP will be operating a Hercules C-130 out of Mombassa; the plane will be used for possible food airdrops in the most severely affected areas of Lower and Middle Juba.
1.5 Meanwhile, on 11 and 13 November UNICEF and ICRC delivered relief supplies, including high-energy biscuits, blankets, tarpaulins, Supermix and medicine, to Gedo region Bardera, Luqq, Badidogle, and Burdubo. Currently WFP is in the process of moving survival rations to the region from Europe and is making arrangements to deliver additional supplies of high-energy biscuits from stocks in Uganda.
1.6 While longer-term response strategies are still being investigated, preliminary figures of food aid needs are roughly estimated at 20,000 metric tons for the next six to seven months, on the basis of the WFP Food Security Assessment Unit aerial assessment mission over the Lower Juba on 12 November. This figure could increase if the situation along the Shebelle river worsens, as it has along the Juba river, within the next weeks.
2. BURUNDI
2.1 The WFP air service to the interior of the country has now been suspended, pending new funding for this operation. During the last week of operations the WFP aircraft carried 47 passengers. The last flight was on 10 November.
2.2 The sudden dismantling of a displaced persons camp in Rwegura, Kayanza province, is causing some concern. The camp hosted 5,300 persons who had fled fighting in the neighbouring provinces of Cibitoke and Bubanza where conditions are not yet stable. The decision to dismantle the camp also means the end of the nutritional feeding programme which had been benefiting vulnerable persons in the camp.
2.3 Between 3 and 9 November, CARE teams distributed WFP return packages to some 12,200 formerly-regrouped persons in Muramvya province. In Kayanza, the distribution cycle to populations still in regroupment camps has been completed. In addition to a food ration, these persons received also bean seeds.
3. TANZANIA
3.1 WFP has now identified the non-governmental organizations which will be responsible for targeting, distributing and monitoring food commodities in the drought-affected regions under the recently-approved drought emergency operation, EMOP 5889. Distributions are expected to begin soon.
3.2 Illegal immigrants exercise update: since 21 September, nearly 8,500 Congolese and 8,900 Burundians have been found living illegally in Tanzanian villages in Kigoma. Half of the Congolese have been returned by UNHCR to camps in Nyagurusu and Lugufu and 90 percent of the Burundians have been transported to Mtabila and Nduta camps. Some of the Congolese are reported to be spontaneously repatriating to DR Congo.
3.3 The evaluation of the blanket feeding programme in Nduta camp shows very positive results. Under this programme, WFP has provided a daily ration of 200 gr. of corn-soya blend to 5,175 children under five years of age, for a period of two months. Recent surveys carried out in the camp show that 88 percent of a random sample of children under five years of age have gained weight and malnutrition levels have dropped from 12.9 percent in April/May to 1.3 percent in September. A drop in the mortality rate has also been registered.
4. UGANDA
4.1 WFP is presently assisting 266,000 displaced Ugandans, at reduced rations, in the district of Gulu. This is a significant increase from the planning figure of 144,000 persons and follows the recent registration exercise. For increased safety and better control, protected villages are being consolidated and the number reduced to twenty.
4.2 With the return of some displaced persons back to their villages, the current caseload being assisted by WFP in Bundibugyo and Nyahuka stands at 61,000 persons. Tarpaulins for shelter and blankets continue to be urgently required for these displaced persons.
4.3 The USAID/Famine Early Warning System November report for Uganda notes that record high prices continue to be registered for maize and beans, although in general prices have remained stable since September. These commodities are reportedly available in all major markets throughout the country and prices are only expected to increase slightly before the harvest in January.
B. CENTRAL AFRICA: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO AND REPUBLIC OF CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE)
1.1 Kinshasa and Congo/Brazzaville
a) The United Nations Inter-Agency Flash Appeal for the Republic of Congo (Congo/Brazzaville) was issued on 10 November, with a request for USD 17.7 million to meet the needs of some 650,000 internally displaced persons for a period of three months. Priority assistance includes food, shelter, health care and sanitation as well as seeds and tools. This initial appeal is likely to be followed by a request for donor support for a longer-term assistance programme for the country. WFP's requirements at this time are USD 5.1 million (already covered under the ongoing Great Lakes Regional emergency operation, therefore not requested under the Flash Appeal) and an additional USD 807,200 for transport and telecommunications costs, requested under the Flash Appeal.
b) It is estimated that 60 percent of the population of Brazzaville has returned to the city. Congolese refugees in Kinshasa are crossing the river at a rate of 500 per day. Catholic Relief Services/Caritas have now registered 20,000 vulnerable Congolese in 20 transit sites around Brazzaville. WFP plans to provide 80 metric tons of food to assist these vulnerable groups. The distributions will be carried out by CRS/Caritas, MSF and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
c) From 6 to 8 November, WFP distributed food rations to 27,060 Congolese refugees in Kinkole and Kinshasa. The next distribution will only include those refugees actually staying at the Kinkole camp, estimated at some 11,000 persons.
d) The number of Rwandan and Burundian refugees in Congo/Brazzaville now stands at 10,204 persons. Food distributions continued in the various sites holding the refugees; during the past three weeks, a total of 67 metric tons of food was distributed.
1.2 Eastern DR Congo
a) A mission comprising WFP, OFDA and CRS visited the CRS/SEIPI relocation project for displaced Congolese in Butembo, Lubero and Beni, north of Goma. Under this programme, WFP has provided a 45-day food ration to 3,200 displaced families to last until the next harvest, while CRS/SEIPI has assisted them with transport and return kits.
b) WFP food distributions continue in Uvira and surrounding areas to returnees who arrived from Tanzania during September and October. Boats carrying spontaneous returnees are also arriving daily in Uvira, Baraka and Kazimiya, coming from Kigoma.
c) Between 3 and 9 November WFP Bukavu assisted some 3,400 beneficiaries, mostly food-for-work participants, with 42 metric tons of food. Monitoring field trips have now been reinitiated and UNHCR has resumed the repatriation programme for Rwandan refugees remaining in eastern DR Congo, along all axes. During the week only 87 refugees were repatriated.
C. WEST AFRICA: SIERRA LEONE
1. UPDATE
1.1 WFP participated in a joint security assessment mission with UNICEF, DHA, WHO, and a United Nations Field Security Officer, from 3 to 5 November in Kambia and Port Loko districts. This was the first UN international staff mission into the country since the evacuation of UN staff was completed on 30 May 1997. No security incidents were encountered.
1.2 The mission found no evidence of a general lack of food or malnutrition in either Kambia or Port Loko. Harvesting of the rice crop has just started. Yields are expected to be reduced due to interrupted planting in May and shortages are expected due to increased populations in both areas. Potatoes and cassava are readily available.
1.3 As Kambia is located close to the Guinean border, the population is transient and moves back and forth between Freetown and Guinea frequently. Much of the displaced population has been assimilated into the local population. Some displaced persons (mainly children under five years) originating from Lungi area have shown signs of malnutrition, which is attributed to problems affecting access to food in that area. WFP is supporting therapeutic feeding programmes in Kambia, which are being implemented by MSF-Holland.
1.4 Security in Port Loko is reported as slightly worse than Kambia, mainly due to the large numbers of soldiers in the town, and regular movements of troops into the fighting areas of Lungi and Loko Mansama districts. There is significant NGO activity in the area. WFP stores are well maintained and have been recently supplied from Freetown stocks.
D. IRAQ
1. UPDATE
1.1 The stand-off between the UN and Baghdad over arms inspection in Iraq remains very tense. Recent diplomatic efforts have been fruitless. This has resulted in a unanimous vote by the Security Council on 12 November to impose new sanctions on Iraq, banning foreign travel by Iraqi officials who do not cooperate with the UN disarmament commission. At this point, it is still unclear if the stand-off will affect or not the renewal of Security Council Resolution 986/1111 (oil-for-food agreement). The present six-month phase of SCR 986 ends on 4 December 1997.
1.2 Food and related commodities continue to arrive through various entry points, and are dispatched to the fifteen governorates in the centre/south and the three northern autonomous governorates. Since the inception of the agreement, approximately 2.5 million tons of commodities have arrived in Iraq. More than 1.8 million tons of commodities have yet to arrive under the second phase of SCR 986.
1.3 On-going fighting between rival Kurdish groups in northern Iraq is hampering the distribution of SCR 986 humanitarian supplies. The combat zone is out of reach of UN agencies. More than 10,000 people have been displaced (mostly elderly, women and children) since the renewal of violence between KDP and PUK on 13 October.
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 46 of 1997 - November 14, 1997)
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