Report No. 09 of 1998 Date: 27 February 1998This report includes: A) Sierra Leone B) Ethiopia C) East and Central Africa: Regional Transport Corridors, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo D) Democratic People's Republic of Korea E) Afghanistan.
>From Manuel Aranda da Silva, Chief, Technical Support Service. Available on the Internet on the WFP Home Page at http://www.wfp.org/ or by electronic mail from Deborah.Hicks@wfp.org (fax 39 6 6513 2837). For information on 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. New address of WFP is Via Cesare Giulio Viola 68, Parco dei Medici, Rome 00148.
PART I - HIGHLIGHTS (Details below in Part II)
A. SIERRA LEONE
1. Update a) WFP Freetown office reopens. International staff to return when UN security clearance given. b) First consignment of 760 tons of WFP food to be distributed by ICRC and Sierra Leonean Red Cross to 8,000 beneficiaries in hospitals and orphanages and by Action Contre la Faim to 120,000 children in and around Freetown. c) Two vessels chartered by WFP to transport food from regional stocks in Conakry to Freetown; first vessel to bring 2,000 tons of food. d) Flash Appeal for logistics support issued by WFP on 23 February, in coordination with CARE, CRS and World Vision; appeal is for USD 2.1 million, and includes requirements for food airlifts and port rehabilitation.
B. ETHIOPIA
1. Update a) WFP Executive Director visits Ethiopia. b) WFP emergency operation approved for food assistance to support voluntary repatriation of 80,000 Somali refugees and return of 16,000 Ethiopian refugees from the Sudan; a further emergency operation is under approval process, to provide 60,000 tons of food for 800,000 people affected by Meher crop failure in parts of the country.
C. EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA: UPDATE ON TRANSPORT CORRIDORS, RWANDA, BURUNDI, TANZANIA, UGANDA AND DR CONGO
1. Update on Great Lakes transport corridors a) Present WFP delivery capacity through both southern and northern corridors estimated at around 26,000 tons per month. b) Steps taken to relieve congestion at Dar es Salaam port; one vessel diverted with part of shipment to smaller port of Tanga.
2. Rwanda a) Local crop assessment team (Ministry of Agriculture, FAO and WFP) conducts follow-up mission to re-evaluate 1998 season A estimated production in view of continued heavy rains and flooding in lowland areas. b) Reports from Gisenyi of over 4,000 displaced persons at former refugee transit centre of Nkamira, and another 7,500 in Gisenyi town.
3. Burundi a) Caritas reports dramatic situation among estimated 37,500 displaced persons in Murago, Bururi province; 20 persons dying per day because of malnutrition and disease; 100 to 300 persons arriving each day in deplorable condition, after months in the forests and marshes.
4. Tanzania a) Food deliveries interrupted by very poor road conditions in Kibondo and Kigoma, affecting size and composition of rations distributed at refugee camps. b) Drought update: 16,000 tons of food pre-positioned by WFP for distribution to drought-affected populations; NGOs distribute 8,500 tons of this total. Food despatches improve following a dry spell.
5. Uganda a) Further deterioration in security condition in Kitgum, with another rebel raid on Kitgum town on 25 February; shops looted and civilians abducted. b) In Gulu district, landmines on some roads curtail relief activities.
6. Democratic Republic of Congo a) Confrontations between rival army factions leads to increased tension in Uvira; road between Uvira and Bukavu reportedly closed; skirmishes reported at Bukavu airport. Convoy of WFP food, despatched to Uvira through Rwanda, returns to Cyangugu due to security situation. b) Reduced number of Congolese refugees repatriated from Kigoma in Tanzania during past week, due to rains affecting transport of refugees and insecurity in Uvira region.
D. DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
1. Update a) WFP Executive Director and DPR Korea Permanent Representative to the UN Agencies in Rome sign Letter of Understanding regarding new one-year operation to start in April.
E. AFGHANISTAN
1. Update a) Rustaq earthquake relief operations continue, with break in snowfall allowing airdrops. Poor condition of tracks slows aid traffic to outlying villages; 200 donkeys used to transport food and relief supplies to the most remote areas. b) Third convoy from Tajikistan arrives in Rustaq with 74 tons of wheat flour and 6 tons of fuel for UN vehicles and generators. c) Assessment of needs in flood-affected areas in southern Afghanistan continues, in Kandahar and Helmand provinces. d) Bamyan province operations: roads south and west of Bamyan city remain impassable due to heavy snow. WFP wheat sent from the north, from Hairatan via Pulikhumri, begins to arrive. WFP staff fly to Bamyan to conduct logistics assessment of routes to Hairatan and routes to affected areas in the Hazarajat.
PART II - DETAILS
A. SIERRA LEONE
1. UPDATE - information as of 26 February
1.1 The WFP Freetown office has been reopened and national staff are in place. International staff, relocated to Conakry last May following the coup, will be returning to Freetown immediately upon UNSECORD clearance. The WFP Headquarters Regional Director for Africa and the WFP Regional Manager for West Africa (based Abidjan) visited Freetown on 26 February. The situation in the city is reported calm.
1.2 The first consignment of 760 tons of WFP food, which arrived on a vessel from Monrovia last week, has been fully discharged, having been loaded directly onto trucks of the International Committee of the Red Cross. ICRC will distribute food together the Sierra Leonean Red Cross to some 8,000 beneficiaries in health institutions, hospitals and orphanages. Action Contre la Faim will distribute a portion of the food to 120,000 malnourished children in and around Freetown.
1.3 WFP is chartering two Danish vessels to transport additional quantities of food from regional stocks in Conakry to Freetown. The first vessel, carrying 2,000 tons of food, is expected to arrive at the beginning of next week. The second vessel will arrive in mid-March and carry 1,300 tons of food.
1.4 A WFP Flash Appeal, in coordination with WFP NGO implementing partners CARE, CRS and World Vision, was issued on 23 February. The appeal calls for USD 2.1 million to fund logistics support, including food airlifts and port rehabilitation.
B. ETHIOPIA
1. UPDATE
1.1 WFP Executive Director Catherine Bertini made an official visit to Ethiopia between 14 and 20 February. The Executive Director had meetings with the President, Prime Minister, Minister of Education, Minister for Economic Development and Cooperation and the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC). She also made an official visit to the secretary-general of the Organization of Africa Unity (OAU) and agreed to established a direct link with the OAU through the appointment of the WFP Ethiopia Country Director as Representative to the OAU.
1.2 There are two current WFP Emergency Operations (EMOPs) for Ethiopia. EMOP 5978, recently approved, will provide food assistance to support the voluntary repatriation of 80,000 Somali refugees to Somali from Ethiopia, and 16,000 Ethiopian refugees returning from Sudan to Ethiopia, and covers a period of ten months. EMOP 5979, currently under approval process, will provide 60,000 tons of food for 800,000 people who are affected by Meher (main season) crop failure in certain parts of the country, for the next ten months. WFP continues to provide food assistance to 306,700 refugees in Ethiopia from neighbouring Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya under an on-going protracted relief operation.
C. EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA: UPDATE ON TRANSPORT CORRIDORS, RWANDA, BURUNDI, TANZANIA, UGANDA AND DR CONGO
1. UPDATE ON GREAT LAKES TRANSPORT CORRIDORS
1.1 WFP's delivery planning capacity through both the southern and northern corridors is presently estimated at around 26,000 tons per month. WFP aims to deliver some 13,000 tons on the Mombasa rail corridor and another 13,000 tons through the southern corridors.
1.2 A vessel carrying a shipment of 22,336 tons of maize grain for distribution to drought and flood affected persons, destined for Dar es Salaam, has been diverted to the smaller port of Tanga, further north. The vessel discharged 7,000 tons in Dar es Salaam and the balance is being offloaded in Tanga, from where the food will be delivered by road to various destinations.
1.3 All efforts continue to be made by WFP, to find alternative routes and increase current capacities, in order to overcome the logistics bottlenecks caused by the disruption in transport routes and allow food distributions at the planned levels. A series of missions are currently being organized, to assess and evaluate possible alternative road and rail routes.
2. RWANDA
2.1 A joint local team comprising representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, FAO and WFP is conducting a follow-up mission on the crop assessment, aiming at re-evaluating the 1998 season A estimated production in view of continued heavy rains and flooding in lowland areas. A follow-up report will then be released, giving an update on the country's food requirements, up to the next harvest.
2.2 Agricultural authorities are reporting that crops have been affected by the continued heavy rains. In Gisenyi, crop production is estimated at one-third of last year's level, due to a combination of insecurity, which prevented planting, weeding, and harvesting, looting of crops and damage to the crops in the field by the rains.
2.3 Unconfirmed reports received from Gisenyi indicate that there are over 4,000 internally displaced persons at Nkamira, the former refugee transit centre, and another 7,500 in Gisenyi town. The local authorities plan to organize the return of some 10,000 persons and will request food and non-food items to be distributed upon arrival in home villages.
3. BURUNDI
3.1 Caritas reports that 20 persons are dying per day in Murago, Bururi province, due to malnutrition and disease. The situation in the town is described as dramatic, with an average of 100 to 300 persons arriving each day in a deplorable state, after wandering for months in forests and marshes. Caritas has requested urgent relief assistance to this displaced population estimated at 5,368 families totalling 37,500 persons.
3.2 These displaced persons are living in overcrowded conditions, some squatting in parish buildings, lacking latrines, blankets and cooking utensils. Malnutrition is affecting all age groups, but most severely children under five years, and no referrals to therapeutic feeding programmes are possible. The Caritas-supported supplementary feeding centre has had its stocks depleted for over a month. This area has been cut off from humanitarian assistance due to insecurity.
4. TANZANIA
4.1 Very poor road conditions in Kibondo and Kigoma continue to hamper the delivery of WFP food commodities. In Kibondo, seven trucks carrying WFP cereals were stranded on the road to Mtendeli camp, preventing the distribution of cereals to the refugees in this camp. In the other camps, the distribution of seven-day WFP food rations continued, with cereals and pulses rations reduced by half.
4.2 The arrival of Burundian refugees in Kibondo continues at a relatively high rate. During the week a total of 437 Burundians were received at the border. These new arrivals are coming from provinces other than the ones to which UNHCR plans to facilitate voluntary repatriation.
4.3 Drought update: to date WFP has pre-positioned 16,000 tons of food for distribution to drought-affected populations; non-governmental organizations have been able to distributed 8,500 tons of this total. Food despatches have improved during last week, following a dry spell. Transport rates have, however, been revised in several areas, due to bad road conditions.
5. UGANDA
5.1 Deteriorating security conditions persist in Kitgum, northern Uganda. Another rebel raid on Kitgum town in the early hours of 25 February, resulted in looting of shops and the abduction of civilians. Many of those abducted were persons who regularly seek refugee in town during the night. The area where the offices of WFP and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are located was surrounded by rebels but the offices were not broken into.
5.2 Insecurity is also affecting relief assistance to displaced persons in the neighbouring Gulu district. The activities of the Norwegian Refugee Council, WFP's implementing partner, are being curtailed due to restricted access, because of landmines planted on some of the roads.
6. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
6.1 Tension increases in Uvira, with reports of confrontations between rival army factions. The road between Uvira and Bukavu is reportedly closed and skirmishes between groups of soldiers were also reported at the Bukavu airport. A 9 truck convoy carrying 500 tons of WFP food despatched to Uvira through Rwanda had to return to Cyangugu, due to the deteriorating security situation. This food is needed to feed Congolese returnees arriving from Tanzania and Burundian and Rwandan refugees in South Kivu.
6.2 During the reporting week, only 798 Congolese refugees were repatriated from Kigoma to eastern DR Congo. It has been reported that this reduction is due to the rains affecting the transport of the refugees and the insecurity prevailing in the Uvira region.
D. DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
1. UPDATE - information as of 27 February
1.1 On 23 February the WFP Executive Director and the Permanent Representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the United Nations Agencies in Rome signed the Letter of Understanding of a new one-year operation to start in April.
1.2 Highlights of the agreement:
a) WFP appeals for USD 378.2 million in emergency food aid for DPR Korea to assist 7.47 million people, mainly children. The target is to raise 657,972 tons of food. In addition to children, hospital patients, handicapped people and expectant/nursing mothers will receive food assistance, as will participants in food-for-work activities aimed at agricultural rehabilitation and reconstruction.
b) WFP will increase its resident international staff to 46. They will be based in the Pyongyang central office and five sub-offices located in Wonsan, Hamhung, Chongjin, Hyesan and Sinuiju. The Government has agreed that WFP staff can travel wherever WFP food is distributed.
c) The Government is responsible for the receipt, handling, transport and distribution of the commodities. It will continue to meet related costs. However, following the introduction in 1997 of a consignment note system, WFP will reimburse the Government part of its transport costs at a fixed rate per ton. A detailed protocol for the transport subsidy is part of the Letter of Understanding.
d) The Government will ensure that sufficient national staff, as requested by WFP, are made available for the support of the operation.
1.3 Two contributions to the current appeal have been confirmed: the USA has pledged 200,000 tons of commodities valued at about USD 76 million and the Czech Republic has pledged USD 20,000, its first contribution to WFP.
E. AFGHANISTAN
1. UPDATE
1.1 Rustaq earthquake relief operation
a) The weather in Rustaq and surrounding areas improved over the course of the past week. When snowfall stopped on 25 February, airdrops were able to continue. However, road conditions continue to worsen. As the traffic has increased on these narrow dirt trails, they have become progressively more damaged, slowing movement of aid to outlying villages. To the most remote areas, 200 donkeys are being used to transport food and relief supplies.
b) The third convoy from Tajikistan has arrived in Rustaq carrying 74 tons of WFP-supplied wheat flour and 6 tons of fuel for UN vehicles and generators. Thus far, WFP Tajikistan has dispatched 200 tons of wheat flour, 9 tons of vegetable oil, 6 tons of sugar and 15 tons of beans for a total of 230 tons of food. The Tajikistan office has also received confirmation of further donations from Save the Children (US) and German Agro Action, for wheat flour, vegetable oil, and beans totalling 300 tons. In addition, WFP has dispatched one Toyota pick-up and one motorbike from Termez, Uzbekistan to the affected area.
c) On 26 February, four more WFP staff have been assigned to Takhar, where they will serve over the next several weeks as food aid monitors. This brings the total of WFP staff in Rustaq to seven.
1.2 Floods in southern Afghanistan
a) WFP assessment of needs following the floods affecting Kandahar and Helmand provinces is continuing. The assessment of two affected districts of Kandahar is almost complete. Preliminary indications are that up to 500 families may have been affected just in these two districts, and up to 20 may have died. Given the widespread destruction of homes and loss of livelihood, WFP will make in-country stocks of wheat and sugar available to affected families.
1.3 Bamyan province
a) Almost all of the Hazarajat is still blanketed with heavy snow and the roads south and west of Bamyan city remain impassable. From the north, some of the WFP wheat sent from Hairatan via Pulikhumri, which was stalled for weeks, has begun to arrive.
b) WFP staff flew in to Bamyan city on 26 February to conduct a logistic assessment of routes to Hairatan and routes to affected areas in the Hazarajat. In consultation with local experts they will determine the best route from Bamyan city to the affected districts in Bamyan province, Ghazni province, Ghor province and Uruzgon province to the south.
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 09 of 1998 - February 27, 1998)
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