Report No. 27 of 1998 Date: 3 July 1998
This report includes: A) Guinea Bissau B) Angola C) Sierra Leone D) East and Central Africa: Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo E) Sudan - update in the form of a supplement F) Yugoslavia and Region: Kosovo crisis.
>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 Aleesa.Blum@wfp.org or Claudia.VonRoehl@wfp.org at WFP Rome, telephone 39 6 6513 2004 or 6 6513 2504. The address of WFP is Via Cesare Giulio Viola 68, Parco dei Medici, Rome 00148.
PART I - HIGHLIGHTS (Details below in Part II)
A. GUINEA BISSAU
1. Update - information as of 6 July a) Conflict spreads from Bissau to parts of Quinara, Oio and Cacheu provinces. Mediation attempts fail. ECOWAS discusses possible deployment of ECOMOG forces. b) A first convoy of trucks with 46 tons of WFP relief food arrives in Bafata on 5 July, from Guinea Conakry. WFP staff member positioned in Bafata, where large numbers of people from Bissau displaced by the fighting are now located. ICRC and Caritas will distribute the food. More convoys from Guinea Conakry planned. c) Findings and conclusions of UN inter-agency mission to Bafata and Gabu at the end of June are included in up-coming UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Guinea Bissau. d) The current crisis has disrupted traditional pattern of sale/barter of cashew nut crop to obtain rice. With an estimated 270,000 people from Bissau now outside the city, a food crisis in many parts of the country is foreseen if the conflict continues.
B. ANGOLA
1. Update a) Security situation continues to deteriorate with attacks and occupation of villages leading to increased population movements. Many NGOs have joined UN agencies in suspending activities outside provincial capitals. b) Additional sanctions against UNITA into effect on 1 July. c) Joint WFP/UCAH/World Vision assessment mission visits drought-affected areas in southern Kuando Kubango; food assistance to affected populations likely to be recommended.
C. SIERRA LEONE
1. Update a) Continued fighting in east and north between ECOMOG and junta forces affects food availability in these areas. Villages in east and north-east are still targets of organized rebel attacks and atrocities. b) Food supplies will be strained in coming months with onset of the heavy rains and the traditional lean season. c) People fleeing rebel attacks in the north-eastern part of Port Loko district are crossing at a rate of several hundred per week into eastern Kambia district. d) Commandeering of trucks carrying relief supplies and periodic road closures between Freetown and Bo and Freetown and Makeni slow WFP deliveries. e) UN launches inter-agency appeal for USD 20.2 million to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of populations affected by the crisis in Sierra Leone, including refugees in neighbouring countries; under the appeal WFP requests USD 3.76 million for logistics support.
D. EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA: RWANDA, UGANDA AND DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
1. Rwanda a) Preliminary results of assessment of the 1998 B harvest point to improvement in the food security situation in most areas in Rwanda, except in Gisenyi, Ruhengeri, parts of Gitarama and in Gikongoro provinces.
2. Uganda a) WFP distributions to displaced in Gulu carried out in spite of deteriorating security situation in northern districts which makes transporters reluctant to travel in hazardous areas. b) Food provided in support of special feeding programmes in Gulu. c) Deliveries of food for distribution to 9,600 displaced persons in the districts of Bundibugyo and Kasese in western Uganda in late June.
3. Democratic Republic of Congo a) Joint missions assess situation of some 20,000 Angolans who have crossed the border into DR Congo, fleeing from insecurity in northern Angolan province of Lunda Norte. Majority are in Katanga province. b) WFP may resume assistance to some 40,000 displaced persons in areas north of Goma. c) Burundian refugees in the Ruzizi Plain in South Kivu to be transferred to a new site 15 km from the border.
E. SUDAN
1. Update in the form of a supplement to the WFP Emergency Report a) WFP daily bulletins on WFP operations in southern Sudan begin 6 July. A copy of the first bulletin is being sent as a supplement WFP Emergency Report 27.
F. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA AND REGION: KOSOVO CRISIS
1. Update - information as of 3 July, with some updates of 6 July. a) Tension remains high in Kosovo. WFP delivers more food to Junik. b) Influx of internally displaced persons into Montenegro continues. WFP delivers 145 tons of food aid to Montenegro. c) Food aid to be pre-positioned in Belgrade for use in Montenegro and Kosovo. d) Many refugees in northern Albanian district of Tropje move to other cities in Albania. WFP distributes food with IFRC on 26 June in the Tropje district.
PART II - DETAILS
A. GUINEA BISSAU
1. UPDATE - information as of 6 July
1.1 Over the past week, the conflict in Guinea Bissau between President Joao Bernardo Vieira and rebels under former army chief General Ansumane Mane has escalated and spread to areas outside of Bissau, in the provinces of Quinara, Oio and Cacheu. Mediation attempts by various outside parties have failed to halt hostilities. Representatives of the member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting in Abidjan discussed the possible deployment of ECOMOG forces to Guinea Bissau.
1.2 The first convoy of three trucks with 46 tons of WFP relief food arrived in Bafata on 5 June, dispatched from Guinea Conakry. Bafata, in the central part of the country, is the present location of large numbers of displaced people from Bissau. WFP has positioned a staff member, previously part of the country programme, in Bafata, to work in coordination with ICRC and Caritas, who will be distributing the food. WFP is planning more convoys from Guinea Conakry, the only logistics corridor which can be used for the time being. Conakry has WFP stocks of food which can be loaned to this new operation.
1.3 A UN inter-agency mission, including a representative of WFP, assessed the situation in Bafata and Gabu between 29 June and 1 July. The arrival of the displaced in Bafata, the second largest urban area in the country, was described by local officials as having doubled the population.
1.4 The current crisis hit just at the beginning of the rainy season, at a time when food reserves are low, and the population in many areas of the country depends on their cashew nut crop to obtain money for food purchases or to barter for rice. With the disruption of all commercial activity, this traditional method of obtaining food for the current period of the year until the next rice harvest in October/November is not possible. Combined with the increased population, swollen by the estimated 270,000 people who left Bissau, this means that a food crisis in many parts of the country is foreseen if the conflict continues. The usual distribution system for seeds and fertilizer for the current planting season has also broken down.
1.5 Detailed findings of the UN mission are included in the UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Guinea Bissau, which is expected to be released in the very near future.
1.6 WFP has approved an immediate response Emergency Operation for a one month period using WFP food stocks in Bissau warehouses. Stocks are being distributed in the city by ICRC, IFRC and Caritas. A further WFP Emergency Operation for the coming months, to provide assistance to the 350,000 people estimated to be in need, is under preparation.
1.7 Reports speak of an estimated 50,000 displaced arriving in Mansoa, in the north, from Bissau. This group was again displaced, along with the population of the town, as fighting between loyalists and rebels moved to the area in recent days.
1.8 Updated information about the situation in Guinea Bissau on a daily basis is available from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa (IRIN-WA) by contacting Tel: +225 21-73-54, Fax: +225 21-63-35, or e-mail: <irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci>. IRIN-WA reports are also available via ReliefWeb at http://www.reliefweb.int/ under Guinea Bissau in the Complex Emergencies section. Also on ReliefWeb is the latest summary of ICRC activities in Guinea Bissau. An ICRC team was able to assess the situation along the main Farim-Mansoa-Buba route (which runs from north to south) and Buruntuma-Bafata-Mansoa (from east to west); another team is assessing the situation in some ten islands on the archipelago of Bijagos.
B. ANGOLA
1. UPDATE
1.1 The plane crash in which Maitre Alioune Blondin Beye, Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Angola, lost his life along with five MONUA aides and three crew members, happened at a time of intense diplomatic activity and heightened tension throughout the country. The security situation has continued to deteriorate.
1.2 Attacks and occupation of villages were daily occurrences over recent weeks, and population movements increased. Many non-governmental organizations have joined UN agencies in suspending activities outside provincial capitals; in Menongue, Action Contre la Faim, the only international NGO which had remained in the town, has pulled out its entire staff. Furthermore, the closure and/or relocation of MONUA team sites, which is being accompanied also by the departure of NGOs, throughout the country, is generating a certain degree of alarm among the populations of the concerned towns.
1.3 The additional sanctions against UNITA came into effect on 1 July, the Security Council having agreed to postpone them by five days.
1.4 A joint WFP/UCAH/World Vision assessment mission visited drought-affected areas in southern Kuando Kubango and will shortly issue a report which is likely to recommend food assistance to affected populations.
1.5 Updates and analyses of the situation in Angola are available from the recently established IRIN Southern Africa service - the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network for Southern Africa (IRIN-SA Tel: +27 83 737 7867 e-mail: irin-sa@iafrica.com for more information or free subscriptions. Reports are also found on the Angola page of ReliefWeb's Complex Emergencies section, at http://www.reliefweb.int)
C. SIERRA LEONE
1. UPDATE
1.1 Continued fighting in the east and north of the country between ECOMOG and junta forces is affecting food availability in these areas. The fighting will also affect the next harvest as many families will miss the planting season due to displacement. Villages in the east and north-east of the country are still targets of organized rebel attacks and related atrocities.
1.2 WFP is concerned that food supplies will be strained in coming months with the onset of the heavy rains and the traditional lean season.
1.3 WFP assessment missions observed that people are fleeing rebel attacks in the north-eastern part of Port Loko district and are crossing at a rate of several hundred per week into eastern Kambia district. WFP distributed food to some 400 of these displaced persons in mid-June. Large-scale distribution difficult as at present due to security conditions.
1.4 UN assessment mission visited Makeni, Masingbe and Kabala on 30 June by helicopter to assess influxes of displaced persons.
1.5 WFP distributed food aid alongside seeds and tools to 20,000 rural families under its food for agriculture programme in May. Emergency food aid was also distributed to more than 35,000 internally displaced and vulnerable people in Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Makeni and Segbwema in May.
1.6 The commandeering of trucks carrying relief supplies and periodic road closures between Freetown and Bo and Freetown and Makeni have also slowed WFP's supply of food to delivery points and affected food distributions in both locations over the recent period.
1.7 On 26 June, the UN launched an inter-agency appeal for USD 20.2 million to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of populations affected by the crisis in Sierra Leone, those displaced within the country and those who have sought refuge in the neighbouring states of Liberia and Guinea. Under the appeal, WFP has requested USD 3.76 million for logistics support (provision of increased trucking capacity), roads rehabilitation and helicopter support.
D. EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA: RWANDA, UGANDA AND DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
1. RWANDA
1.1 The preliminary results of the joint mission that assessed the prospects of the 1998 B season point to a considerable improvement in the food security situation in most areas in Rwanda, with the exception of the north-western prefectures of Gisenyi, Ruhengeri, parts of Gitarama and in Gikongoro, a traditionally food-insecure prefecture.
1.2 Preliminary data indicates that the cultivated areas are still below pre-war levels, but some 9 percent higher than during the 1997 season. Food production is forecast to be around the same level as during 1990. The food deficit which was estimated at nearly 103,000 metric tons during the first semester is now estimated not to exceed 60,000 metric tons of food.
2. UGANDA
2.1 The deteriorating security situation in the northern districts continues to hamper the transport and distribution of relief food commodities, as transporters are reluctant to travel to hazardous areas and escorts to accompany trucks and distribution teams are not always available on time. Despite these constraints, WFP succeeded in supplying six of the existing 20 camps for displaced persons in Gulu during the two last weeks of June, benefiting over 13,000 households.
2.2 WFP continues also to provide food assistance in support of special feeding programmes in Gulu, targeting children and attendants in hospitals and health centres, children under the care of Gusco, the Gulu Save the Children Organisation, children in the World Vision Trauma Centre and some 2,200 children and lactating mothers who receive a hot meal every day, prepared by the Church of Uganda.
2.3 During the last week of June WFP provided food commodities for distribution to 9,600 displaced persons in the districts of Bundibugyo and Kasese in western Uganda. Due to security constraints and military activities, the registration exercise for displaced persons in these western districts could not go ahead as planned.
2.4 Congolese refugees from the Kyaka II camp in western Uganda continue to repatriate to DR Congo, assisted by UNHCR. There are now 8,800 refugees in Kyaka II awaiting repatriation. WFP has pre-positioned sufficient food stocks at Nyahuka, on the Uganda/DR Congo border, to provide all the returnees with a repatriation food package.
3. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
3.1 Over 20,000 Angolans are reported to have crossed the border into DR Congo, fleeing from insecurity in the northern Angolan province of Lunda Norte. The majority of these refugees have concentrated in Katanga province and are without shelter. Some others have settled in Kahemba, Bandudu province, and are staying with host families and in public buildings. Recommendations of the joint missions that travelled to the area to assess the situation of the refugees are expected soon.
3.2 WFP is considering a request from provincial authorities, to resume assistance to some 40,000 displaced persons in areas north of Goma. The food requirements of these groups are estimated at some 655 tons per month. Assistance to displaced Congolese in these areas was suspended during late 1997 but a recent joint UN assessment mission that visited the area indicated they are in need of food assistance.
3.3 Burundian refugees who sought asylum in the Ruzizi Plain in South Kivu are to be transferred to a new site 15 km from the border, near Baraka, as agreed between Congolese and Burundian authorities and UN agencies. There are an estimated 10,000 Burundians in the eastern part of DR Congo and WFP is assisting them with food. Since mid June WFP has provided food rations to over 7,700 of these refugees.
3.4 The repatriation of Congolese refugees from Kigoma resumed this week, with 666 refugees crossing the lake into Baraka. This repatriation programme organized by UNHCR started during December, and to date over 48,000 Burundians have returned home. Another 16,000 Burundians are reported to have returned to DR Congo spontaneously.
3.5 Food-for-work activities in the Bukavu region are expected to resume soon, following the arrival of some food commodities. These activities were suspended during late January and WFP food assistance in the area has been restricted to hospital inpatients and vulnerable groups. Currently some 1,000 beneficiaries in institutional feeding programmes receive WFP food.
E. SUDAN
1. WFP DAILY BULLETINS ON SUDAN AVAILABLE - STARTING 6 July 1998
1.1 WFP will be transmitting daily bulletins on WFP operations in southern Sudan beginning on 6 July. These reports are available on request by contacting the Africa bureau through Omar.BulaEscobar@wfp.org. A copy of the first bulletin is being sent as an update on the Sudan situation to accompany WFP Emergency Report 27, in the form of a supplement.
F. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA AND REGION: KOSOVO CRISIS
1. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - information as of 3 July, with some updates as of 6 July 1998
1.1 Kosovo: Tension remains high in Kosovo with fears of further military action. WFP delivered a further 6.5 tons of wheat flour to Junik on 2 July. The food, requested by UNHCR, will be distributed to villagers and displaced persons in the nearby mountains. It will meet immediate needs of some 1,600 people, mainly women and children. So far, a total of 11.5 tons have been sent to Junik.
1.2 Montenegro: The influx of internally displaced persons into Montenegro continues. According to UNHCR (5 July), there are 13,300 IDPs in Montenegro. WFP delivered 145 tons of food aid (125 tons wheat flour, 10 tons vegetable oil and 10 tons pulses) to Montenegro on 24 June. Distribution has been delayed by authorities in Belgrade who are still conducting sample analysis of the food. It is hoped that the necessary documentation will be completed this week. Although the Montenegrin authorities have released a similar quantity of food aid from their reserves, this is not enough to meet the needs of the IDP caseload in Montenegro.
1.3 Belgrade: A total of 362.5 tons of food aid (310.5 tons wheat flour, 25 tons pulses and 27 tons oil) will be pre-positioned in Belgrade for use in Montenegro and Kosovo. The food will leave stocks in Bosnia Herzegovina on 7 July.
2. ALBANIA
2.1 The influx of refugees into northern Albania has barely increased since 18 June and there has been a steady outflow of refugees from the Tropje district, northern Albania to other cities in Albania. As of 6 July, there are 6,659 registered Kosovar refugees in Albania. WFP began a combined distribution with IFRC on 26 June in the Tropje district. This distribution correspond to one month's food ration for the registered refugees. WFP has pre-positioned 1.5 tons of wheat flour in Kukes, south of Tropje district, as contingency stocks in case of a further influx of refugees.
Note: all tonnage figures above refer to metric tons
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 27 of 1998 - July 3, 1998)
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