Report No. 13 of 1998 Date: 27 March 1998This report includes: A) Afghanistan B) Sierra Leone C) East Africa: Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda D) Recently approved WFP Emergency and Protracted Relief Operations.
>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. AFGHANISTAN
1. Update a) In northern Afghanistan, agreement reportedly reached between leaders within the opposition alliance to demilitarize Mazar-i-Sharif, following fighting in the city between factions. b) Taliban gain ground toward Pulikhumri. c) UN withdraws from Kandahar area after series of incidents of harassment and interference; three WFP international staff leave. All food deliveries and food releases in the region temporarily suspended. d) Bamyan airstrip again bombed, just after arrival of ICRC plane. e) WFP assessment under way to remote areas of Sharistan (Uruzgon Province) and Jaghori and Malistan districts (Ghazni Province).
B. SIERRA LEONE
1. Update a) WFP international staff travel to Bo and Kenema to meet national staff, implementing partners and technical committees and to assess situation. Bo returning to normal but Kenema still tense. b) Road transport of food aid resumes to Bo and Kenema from Freetown; cross-border operations from Guinea continue to Kambia and Makeni areas. c) Fighting on-going in Eastern Province between ECOMOG and junta forces. d) Population movements from eastern Sierra Leone towards Lofa County, Liberia, because of the fighting; some 35,000 people reported to have arrived in Vahun as at 26 March.
C. EAST AFRICA: RWANDA, BURUNDI, TANZANIA AND UGANDA
1. Rwanda a) WFP receives request to provide food to people in new resettlement camps in Kibungo, where nutritional situation reported to be deteriorating. b) Beneficiary profile study completed, on participants of WFP-assisted food-for-work programmes; study also looks at impact of assistance. c) Continuing food aid shortages because of impact on logistics of excessive rains in Kenya and Tanzania; WFP distributed 717 tons of food between 16 and 22 March, mostly through food-for-work. Priority given to people most in need.
2. Burundi a) Airlift from Dar es Salaam to Bujumbura begins, for 700 tons of food commodities for nutritional feeding centres throughout country, assisting 37,000 children. b) WFP food assistance requested for some 13,000 persons recently displaced in Isale commune of Bujumbura Rural province as a result of fighting.
3. Tanzania a) More Burundian refugees voluntarily repatriate under UNHCR programme; returnees receive one-week WFP food ration. Spontaneous repatriation of Burundian refugees from the Mtabila and Muyovosi camps in Kasulu results in reduction of numbers needing assistance. b) Rail deliveries from Dodoma improve; WFP reaches target of 1,500 tons of food per week; onward delivery to refugee camps on secondary roads still difficult. c) Flood assistance: WFP provides food assistance to 8,000 persons affected by floods in Mbeya region; another 8,325 persons in Tabora region also to be assisted. Impact of floods in Kagera region is being assessed.
4. Uganda a) Security problems in north-western parts of the country. b) WFP warehouse to be set up in Tororo, on the Ugandan side of the border with Kenya to increase transport capacity along northern corridor; from Tororo, WFP food arriving by rail from Mombasa will be directly trucked to Uganda and Rwanda.
D. RECENTLY APPROVED WFP EMERGENCY AND PROTRACTED RELIEF OPERATIONS
1. Details given below for the following WFP operations, approved since early January 1998. a) Emergency Operations: Nepal EMOP 6000 - crop failure Northern Dhading; Ethiopia EMOP 5979 - Meher crop failure; Ethiopia EMOP 5978 - voluntary repatriation of Somali and Ethiopian refugees; Zambia EMOP 5983 - flood-affected populations in Luapula; Armenia EMOP 5301.03 - vulnerable groups amongst refugees and internally displaced; Kenya EMOP 5969 - floods; Somalia EMOP 5976 - floods; Cameroon EMOP 5973 - locust infestation; DR Congo EMOP 5971 - floods in Kisangani. b) Protracted Relief Operations approved at WFP Executive Board 1/98, in February 1998: Angola PRO 5602.02 - displaced and war-affected; Uganda PRO 5623.01 - Sudanese refugees; Iran PRO 5950 - repatriation to Iraqi and Afghani refugees.
PART II - DETAILS
A. AFGHANISTAN
1. UPDATE
1.1 Northern Afghanistan
a) Skirmishes in Mazar-i-Sharif have taken place between the Hezbe Wahdat and the forces of General Rashid Dostum. ICRC non-essential staff have been evacuated. The United Nations return to Mazar was scheduled for the end of February, and later for the end of March. This has not been possible due to the security situation.
b) Update on situation in Mazar: media reports on 26 March indicate that leaders within the opposition alliance have agreed to demilitarize the main northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to end the confrontation between the two rival factions.
c) The Taliban have gained ground toward Pulikhumri, the provincial capital of Baghlan Province, north of Kabul. Pulikhumri is on the main route which leads from Kabul to Mazar-i-Sharif.
1.2 Kandahar: All three WFP international staff working in Kandahar have been withdrawn, and all national staff have been asked to stay at home. In addition, all food deliveries and food releases in the region have been temporarily suspended. These moves follow the UN withdrawal from the region after a series of incidents of harassment and interference, including physical aggression against international staff. The deputy UNOCHA coordinator has returned from a mission to Kandahar where he discussed the situation with Taliban authorities.
1.3 Bamyan
a) Bamyan airstrip was bombed again twice on March 22 just after the arrival of the ICRC plane. WFP currently has one international staff member in Bamyan.
b) WFP has received reports of a worsening food situation in Sharistan (Uruzgon Province) and Jaghori and Malistan districts (Ghazni Province), both located in the Hazarajat and blockaded from the south by the Taliban. WFP national staff accompanied by representatives from an Afghan non-governmental organization have begun separate assessment missions, going on horseback to each province. Travelling by horse from Bamyan to Uruzgon takes eleven days one way; the missions are expected to return in one month. WFP is also conducting road assessment missions on horseback, covering parts of the Darisuf route, which links Bamyan with Mazar. The road is expected to remain impassable due to snow for up to another month.
1.4 Takhar earthquake operations: assistance to victims of the major earthquake of February 4 has now ended. WFP distributed 716 tons of food to the area via both land and air. The food was distributed to a total of 3,679 families in fifteen quake affected villages. Just over 130 tons of food remain in stock in the area, which will be used as food for work for essential rehabilitation activities.
B. SIERRA LEONE
1. UPDATE
1.1 President Ahmed Tejan-Kabbah, who returned to Sierra Leone on 10 March following his nine-month exile in Guinea, appointed a new government on 20 March.
1.2 WFP on 24 March chartered a flight to Bo and Kenema, where international staff assessed the overall situation and met national staff, implementing partners and technical committees. National staff are in place in WFP offices in Kambia, Makeni, Bo and Kenema. Communications links with the sub-offices have been re-established. Security is reported to be calm and returning to normal in Bo, but tense in Kenema as fighting continues in surrounding areas.
1.3 A third vessel is being offloaded in Freetown, having delivered 1,100 tons of food commodities (500 tons for CARE and 600 tons for WFP). The vessel will return to Conakry where a further 1,100 tons of WFP maize meal will be loaded.
1.4 Road transport of food commodities by WFP and other agencies has resumed to Bo and Kenema from Freetown. Air operations to these areas are therefore currently not necessary. Cross border operations utilizing existing stocks in Guinea continue to be carried out to the Kambia and Makeni areas.
1.5 Many rural areas in eastern Sierra Leone remain unsafe. Fighting between ECOMOG and junta forces in still on-going in the Eastern Province, near Kono and east of Daru/Segwema towards Kailahun.
1.6 ICRC has completed distributions to institutions including hospitals, orphanages, and some displaced persons in the Western Area of the country. WFP and implementing partners will resume distribution to most of the ICRC caseload starting in May.
1.7 The fighting in eastern Sierra Leone has resulted in population movements towards Lofa County, Liberia. As at 26 March, about 35,000 people, most of whom are recent arrivals, were reported in Vahun. Aid agencies meet on 28 March in Liberia to discuss humanitarian intervention to this group. Local resources in Vahun are already strained, and WFP and other agencies are concerned about the difficult access to the area, which is expected to worsen at the onset of the rainy season.
C. EAST AFRICA: RWANDA, BURUNDI, TANZANIA AND UGANDA
1. RWANDA
1.1 The nutritional situation of residents in newly established resettlement camps in Kibungo is reported to be deteriorating. WFP has been requested to assist with the provision of food to nutrition centres in some of the areas. Other agencies will also provide assistance to these new resettlement camps.
1.2 WFP has conducted a beneficiary profile study, with the objective of gathering data on participants of WFP-assisted food-for-work programmes and on the impact of the assistance provided. In total, 500 persons employed on food-for-work projects were interviewed. Preliminary results of this study show that:
a) over 70 percent of the participants are female, with 53 percent female heads of households; b) 10 percent of those interviewed are minors, the majority replacing their parents, engaged in other activities; c) almost half of those interviewed are returnees; d) 70 percent can only afford one meal a day, the main component of which are vegetables; 94 percent had not consumed meat or fish over the previous two weeks.
1.3 Between 16 and 22 March, WFP distributed 717 tons of food in Rwanda. Over 75 percent of the food commodities were distributed to food-for-work programmes. Due to continuing food shortages as a result of land transport constraints caused by excessive rains in Kenya and Tanzania, WFP is prioritizing food distributions to those groups of people most in need of assistance.
2. BURUNDI
2.1 The airlift of 700 tons of urgently needed WFP food commodities from Dar es Salaam to Bujumbura started on 25 March, funded by ECHO. This air operation is intended to ease food shortages for priority WFP-supported programmes in Burundi, the result of land transport constraints. The food commodities being airlifted include powdered milk, sugar, oil and pulses, for distribution in nutritional feeding centres throughout the country, benefiting some 37,000 malnourished children.
2.2 WFP has been requested to provide food assistance to over 13,000 persons recently displaced in Isale commune of Bujumbura Rural province. An inter-agency mission scheduled to travel to the area to assess the situation of these displaced had to be postponed due to lack of security clearance. According to reports, these displacements are the result of intense confrontations between the military and rebels in the hills surrounding Bujumbura.
3. TANZANIA
3.1 The fifth UNHCR-facilitated voluntary repatriation trip to Burundi was accomplished during the week, with 164 refugees returning home from the Nduta and Mtendeli camps. To date a total of 817 Burundians have returned to Ruygi province in Burundi. WFP continues to provide these returnees with a one-week food ration.
3.2 The repatriation of Congolese refugees also proceeded during the week. Three voyages were carried out, transporting 2,363 refugees from Lugufu and Nyarugusu camps in Kigoma region.
3.3 Following rumours of spontaneous repatriation of Burundian refugees from the Mtabila and Muyovosi camps in Kasulu, a verification of empty plots was completed revealing that over 1,000 plots had been abandoned. A close monitoring of the actual beneficiaries present during the food distribution was also carried out and a corresponding reduction in the numbers is being implemented.
3.4 Rail deliveries from Dodoma have improved and WFP is now reaching its target of 1,500 tons of food per week. Deliveries to the refugee camps via small secondary roads remain problematic. WFP is endeavouring to make available four-wheel drive recovery vehicles to assist in pulling out trucks stranded in mud along these roads.
3.5 Flood assistance: following a request from the Government, WFP is providing food assistance to 8,000 persons affected by floods in Mbeya region. WFP will also assist another 8,325 persons in the Tabora region where a settlement has been isolated leaving its population homeless and without food stocks. The WFP food will be delivered to the nearest accessible area but the beneficiaries will have to walk between 5 and 15 km to collect their rations. WFP is also assessing the situation of over 5,000 persons displaced by recent floods in the Kagera region.
4. UGANDA
4.1 While security in the northern districts of Gulu and Kitgum appears to have recently improved, in north-western parts of the country various incidents involving implementing partners staff were reported. A UNHCR protection officer was ambushed while travelling from Palorinya, a settlement for Sudanese refugees. On two other incidents a vehicle belonging to Accord and another to the local government hit land mines at different spots and intervals.
4.2 It has been reported that a number of Sudanese refugees from Rhino camp, in north-western Uganda, are on their way back to southern Sudan. Preliminary reports indicate that as many as 2,000 refugees could be on their way to Koboko, at the northern border, carrying their belongings. UNHCR has sent a team to investigate this issue.
4.3 In order to increase the current transport capacity along the northern corridor, WFP is setting up a warehouse in Tororo, on the Ugandan side of the border with Kenya. This will allow the expeditious turnaround of wagons travelling to and from Mombasa. From Tororo the WFP food commodities will then be directly trucked to Uganda and Rwanda through Kampala.
D. RECENTLY APPROVED WFP EMERGENCY AND PROTRACTED RELIEF OPERATIONS (EMOPs AND PROs)
1. Operations approved since early January 1998 (some figures rounded off); list includes operations described in recent WFP Emergency Reports:
1.1 Emergency Operations (EMOPs)
Nepal EMOP 6000 - Emergency food assistance to rural populations affected by natural disaster in Northern Dhading. Duration: 90 days; 2,057 metric tons (mt); 10,500 beneficiaries; total WFP cost: USD 113,130. EMOP approved by the Country Director under delegated authority for Immediate Response on 25 March.
Ethiopia EMOP 5979 - Relief Food Assistance to victims of Meher crop failure. Duration: 9 months; 60,000 mt; 800,000 beneficiaries; total WFP cost: USD 23,700,000. Jointly approved by FAO and WFP, 16 March.
Ethiopia EMOP 5978 - Food Assistance for voluntary repatriation of Somali and Ethiopian refugees. Duration: 315 days; 15,800 mt; 96,000 beneficiaries; total WFP cost: USD 6,450,000. Approved by WFP 19 February.
Zambia EMOP 5983, including revision - Emergency assistance to flood-affected populations in Luapula. Duration: 75 days; 306 mt; 22,000 beneficiaries; total WFP cost: USD 139,660. EMOP approved by the Country Director under delegated authority for Immediate Response on 2 February.
Armenia EMOP 5301.03 - Vulnerable groups amongst refugees and internally displaced. Duration: 365 days; 17,640 mt; 220,000 beneficiaries; total WFP cost: USD 8,000,000. Jointly approved by FAO and WFP on 4 February.
Kenya EMOP 5969 - Floods. Duration: 80 days; 7,560 mt; 390,700 beneficiaries; total WFP cost: USD 7,655,000. Approved by WFP on 5 February.
Somalia EMOP 5976 - Food assistance to flood-affected people. Duration: 210 days; 9,740 mt; 657,500 beneficiaries; total WFP cost: USD 12,892,000. Approved by WFP on 5 February.
Cameroon EMOP 5973 and revision - Locust infestation. Duration: 30 days; 540 mt; 60,000 beneficiaries; total WFP cost: USD 199,860. Approved by the Country Director under delegated authority for Immediate Response on 8 January.
Congo DR EMOP 5971 - Floods in Kisangani (Eastern Province). Duration: 30 days; 168 mt; 13,000 beneficiaries; total WFP cost: USD 192,880. Approved by the Country Director under delegated authority for Immediate Response on 5 January.
1.2 Protracted Relief Operations (PROs) approved at WFP Executive Board 1/98, in February 1998
Angola PRO 5602.02 - Displaced and war-affected. Duration: 365 days (March 1998-February 1999); 79,350 mt; 539,500 beneficiaries; total WFP cost: USD 52,066,000.
Uganda PRO 5623.01 - Sudanese refugees. Duration: 540 days (April 1998-September 1999); 51,100 mt; 165,000 beneficiaries; total WFP cost: USD 28,800,000.
Iran PRO 5950 - Food assistance and support for repatriation to Iraqi and Afghani refugees in Iran. Duration: 365 days (April 1998-March 1999); 18,390 mt; 88,000 beneficiaries; total WFP cost: USD 5,850,000.
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 13 of 1998 - March 27, 1998)
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