Report No. 17 of 1999 Date: 30 April 1999
This report includes: A) FR Yugoslavia and region - Kosovo crisis B) Democratic People's Republic of Korea C) Afghanistan D) Angola E) East and Central Africa: Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo/Brazzaville F) Somalia.
>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 or Natasha.Nadazdin@wfp.org (fax 39 06 6513 2854). For information on resources, donors are requested to contact Aleesa.Blum@wfp.org or Marius.deGaayFortman@wfp.org at WFP Rome, telephone 39 06 6513 2004 or 06 6513 2250. The address of WFP is Via Cesare Giulio Viola 68, Parco dei Medici, 00148 Rome, Italy.
This issue of the Emergency Report was prepared by Natasha Nadazdin.
PART I - HIGHLIGHTS (Details below in Part II)
A. FR YUGOSLAVIA AND REGION - KOSOVO CRISIS
1. Update - information as of 30 April a) Revised WFP emergency operation covers the food needs of 950,000 beneficiaries for three months; new total cost USD 86.2 million; US 49.6 million already pledged by donors. b) On 30 UNHCR report a total of 611,500 in the region. c) New WFP movable bakery in Skhoder, Albania, to produce 20,000 kg of bread a day starting on 7 May; WFP contracts two bakeries in Skopje, FYR of Macedonia, to produce 15,000-25,000 loaves of bread per day for refugees in Stankovic, Blace, Neprosteno, Senokos and Bojane camps. d) In Albania, WFP set up five sub-offices, in Kukes, Skhoder, Durres, Fier and Korca. Storage capacity in the country 8,000 tons; extra food supplies stored in Ploce, Croatia, and in Thessaloniki, Greece. e) In FYRoM, WFP delivers humanitarian daily rations to new refugee camp of Cegrane. WFP food in FYRoM allocated in coordination with NGOs also supplying relief food. f) WFP Kosovo Bulletins with operational details available on the WFP home page on the Web at http://www.wfp.org click on Kosovo Alert, click on Latest Updates.
B. DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
1. Update - information as of 29 a) New WFP emergency operation (EMOP 5959.01) to provide 584,000 tons of food aid worth USD 260 million for 12 months period; operation due to start on 1 July; 584,000 tons of food aid to be provided for 8.04 million of beneficiaries, including 500,000 elderly people; support to students to be expanded to secondary schools. b) Food aid expected shortly will relieve traditionally difficult food situation in months of May and June, and will make possible increased rations to primary school children and pregnant and nursing women.
C. AFGHANISTAN
1. Update - information as of 29 April a) Taliban launches counter-offensive to regain Bamyan; fighting in northern and central Afghanistan. b) USD 2 million locally generated by certain WFP relief and rehabilitation projects to be reinvested in the country, with priority given to women's activities. c) FAO/WFP crop and food supply assessment mission due to begin on 1 May. d) In Northern Region, mudslides caused by heavy rains block access by road; no UN flights to the region due to earlier insecurity.
D. ANGOLA
1. Update - information as of 28 April a) WFP appeals to donors for additional USD 8.8 million for airlifts for areas inaccessible due to fighting, in particular cities of Kuito, Huambo and Luena. b) Kuito airport reopened on 28 April. c) On 14 April five Angolan staff members of Save the Children US were killed during the attack on their vehicle in south-west Kwanza Sul province. d) Lack of trucks hampers WFP deliveries to Malange; sporadic shelling of the city continues.
E. EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA: RWANDA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO AND CONGO/BRAZZAVILLE
1. Update a) Food pipeline in Rwanda affected by delays of cereal shipments and unavailability of maize for local purchases in Uganda. b) Total of 700 tons of WFP food aid transported through seventh airlift from Pointe-Noire to Brazzaville. c) Assistance to 50,000 Angolan refugees in southern D.R. Congo hampered by delays in shipments, irregular railroad transport. d) In eastern D.R. Congo, WFP food distributed to 20,000 IDPs in Goma by Save the Children and Caritas; distributions to start in Bukavu to vulnerable persons and children in nutritional centres.
F. SOMALIA
1. Update - as of 28 April a) Southern Somalia: from January to April WFP distributed close to 8,300 tons. b) FSAU confirms no rain in Puntland, water reservoirs empty; condition of livestock continues to deteriorate; water shortage is causing further migrations of pastoralists. c) Donation of 335 tons of cereals and pulses from EU arrived at port of Bosasso 27 April; to be distributed in Mudug and Hugal; Somalia Aid Coordination Body (including UN agencies, donors and NGOs) issues a donor alert for assistance to north-eastern Somalia.
PART II - DETAILS
A. FR YUGOSLAVIA AND REGION - KOSOVO CRISIS
1. GENERAL - information as of 30 April
1.1 WFP continues to adjust its appeal to donors to provide food aid for growing numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Kosovo, estimated by UNHCR to total 611,500 in the region as of 30 April. In order to assist an additional 300,000 beneficiaries, and in line with the UN consolidated inter-agency appeal revised 21 April, WFP further revised the budget for the current emergency operation, regional food assistance to Kosovar internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees in FR Yugoslavia, FYR of Macedonia and Albania, to a new total of US 86.2 million. Of this total, US 49.6 million have already been pledged by US, Netherlands, Norway, UK, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Australia, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Japan. The revised emergency operation covers the food needs of 950,000 beneficiaries for three months. The tonnage covered by the new budget revision is 18,660 tons of mixed commodities, including humanitarian daily rations as an immediate intervention for those who lack cooking facilities.
1.2 In April, WFP delivered 514 tons of wheat flour, pulses, oil and sugar to displaced Kosovars in Montenegro. In FYR of Macedonia, between 18 and 26 April, WFP distributed 764 tons of food aid including 723 tons of wheat and 13,000 humanitarian daily rations. Since 4 April, WFP has distributed more than 200,000 humanitarian daily rations in FYRoM.
1.3 A new WFP movable bakery in Skhoder, Albania, will be operational on 7 May. The production capacity of the bakery is 20,000 kg of bread per day, enough to feed a total of 40,000 beneficiaries. WFP currently has arrangements supporting three local bakeries in Tirana, Elbasan and Kukes. Together, they produce up to 35,000 loaves of bread daily, which are sent to refugees in the Kukes area. In FYR of Macedonia, WFP has contracted two bakeries in Skopje to produce 15,000 -25,000 loaves of bread per day for refugees living in camps; WFP is currently providing the daily bread supply for five refugee camps (Stankovic, Blace, Neprosteno, Senokos and Bojane). In Montenegro, WFP has delivered 43 tons of wheat flour to bakeries.
1.4 WFP Kosovo Bulletins with operational details are available on the WFP home page on the Web at http://www.wfp.org click on Kosovo Alert, click on Latest Updates. The latest budget revision of EMOP 6040 is also available on the WFP home page under Field Operations click on Kosovo Relief Programme.
2. ALBANIA
2.1 In Albania, WFP has five sub-offices (Kukes, Skhoder, Durres, Fier and Korca) and seven warehouses positioned throughout the country to ensure country-wide coverage of refugee needs. The total storage capacity in-country is around 8,000 tons. WFP plans to have a two-week supply of food available at the sub-office level at all times, a month supply of food will be stored at Durres port and a further one-month food supply will be located at the Croatian port of Ploce. This will allow WFP to react swiftly to any major additional influx of refugees. To support this new structure, as of 29 April WFP has 26 international staff and 69 seconded through standby arrangements with other organizations and donors (Danish Refugee Council, Norwegian Refugee Council, Swedish Rescue Services Agency, etc).
2.2 As of 1 May, WFP will be working closely with seven NGO partners (CRS, ADRA, CARE, Concern, InterSoS, ACTED and MCI) who will handle the distribution of WFP food commodities to the refugees in Albania.
2.3 On 30 April UNHCR estimates there are 373,400 refugees in Albania (approximately 100,000 refugees in the Kukes prefecture and more than 33,000 refugees in Skhoder).
3. FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
3.1 For the emergency operation in FYR of Macedonia, WFP contingency food stocks for any sudden influx of up to 100,000 refugees for two weeks have been stored in FYR of Macedonia and in the Greek port of Thessaloniki.
3.2 According to UNHCR estimates of 30 April, there are 160,700 refugees in FYR of Macedonia (divided between some 64,200 refugees living in transit camps and the rest living in private accommodation or with host families).
3.3 On 29 April, a new refugee camp in Cegrane is opening and initially will accept up to 2,000 newly arrived refugees. WFP delivered 5,800 humanitarian daily rations to cover the immediate food needs of the current expected arrivals. Cegrane camp is in addition to the camps already in operation at Brazda, Stankovic, Senokos, Radusa, Blace, Neprosteno, and Bojane. WFP food monitors visit each refugee camp on a daily basis to observe food management and distribution procedures. Of the 90,000 refugees living with host families and in private accommodation, approximately 50 percent are in Tetovo, another 25 percent in Skopje and 5 percent in Kumanovo. Refugees in Tetovo are receiving one loaf of bread per person per day, while refugees in Kumanovo are receiving the basic WFP food commodities (wheat flour, pulses, oil, sugar, canned food, humanitarian daily rations). WFP coordinates with the two NGOs, MRC and CRS, which are also providing food to host families.
3.4 WFP has 22 international staff deployed in FYR of Macedonia.
B. DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
1. UPDATE - information as of 29 April
1.1 New WFP emergency operation (EMOP 5959.01) for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was jointly approved by WFP's Executive Director and Director General of FAO on 20 April, providing 584,000 tons of food aid to assist 8.04 million of beneficiaries at a cost of USD 260 million for 12 months from 1 July. For the first time, WFP emergency operation targets 500,000 elderly people seen as particularly vulnerable, and plans to give high energy biscuits to students at both primary and secondary schools.
1.2 Additional food-for-work programmes will target workers from counties who are under-employed with no access to land and rural industrial workers who are at nutritional risk. In addition, the WFP assistance will continue to feed children in nurseries and kindergartens and to support pregnant and nursing women.
1.3 Food shipments expected to arrive shortly for the current phase of the WFP operation will enable WFP to immediately start providing food during the critical months of May and June. These are the hardest months for most people in DPR Korea, before some produce, such as potatoes, becomes available in the summer. The arriving food shipments will make it possible to increase the ration to primary school children and to pregnant and nursing women.
C. AFGHANISTAN
1. UPDATE - information as of 29 April
1.1 A counter-offensive was launched by the Taliban this week to regain Bamyan which was taken last week by the Northern Alliance forces. The Taliban also carried out bombing raids in central and northern Afghanistan; civilian casualties have been reported.
1.2 The Afghanistan programme has acquired more than USD 2 million in locally generated funds from certain WFP relief and rehabilitation projects under the current emergency operation (such as the bakery project which provides highly subsidized bread to vulnerable women and children) and from the sale of jute bags. These funds will be reinvested in Afghanistan as a support to beneficiaries residing in those areas where the funds have been raised, with priority given to women's activities.
1.3 Central Region: The FAO/WFP crop and food supply assessment mission is scheduled to begin in Kabul on 1 May. The mission will eventually cover remaining regions, security permitting. The assessment will take up to eight weeks to complete.
1.4 Northern Region: After the last week's fighting, the area is quiet. Heavy rains have generated mudslides which have blocked road access to the area. All UN flights to the area have been suspended due to earlier insecurity.
D. ANGOLA
1. UPDATE - information as of 28 April
1.1 General:
a) WFP urgently appeals to donors for funding for food aid airlifts in Angola. Due to shortages of funds, the tonnage of airlifted food in the country was reduced in the second half of April by 40 percent. In May WFP expects a further reduction from an estimated need of 5,000 tons to approximately 2,800 tons. WFP needs a further USD 8.8 million to charter additional cargo aircraft to transport relief food to the war-affected cities of Kuito, Huambo and Luena. Airlifts have been required for areas not accessible by road due to insecurity. However, WFP has been able to transport significant amounts of food by truck in an effort to reach as many of the 1.5 million people in need as possible.
b) On 14 April five Angolan staff members of Save the Children US were killed during an attack on their vehicle while they were travelling from Gabela to Sumbe in south-west Kwanza Sul province.
1.2 Kuito: Cargo flights to Kuito resumed on 25 April after security clearance was granted for landings at the airport. WFP had not been able to re-supply the base in the city for over a month. On 28 April, WFP facilitated the return of a few key humanitarian staff, who will augment ongoing relief efforts for city residents and the 46,000 registered IDPs who are in the area.
1.3 Malange: Sporadic shelling of the town continues. A lack of trucks to transport food to distribution points within Malange continues to hamper WFP activities in the area.
1.4 Huambo: The security situation in Huambo is calm. WFP assisted 16,775 IDPs in Huambo in the week of 9 - 17 April. In total, WFP reaches over 90,000 IDPs, vulnerable persons and other beneficiaries each month.
D. EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA: RWANDA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO AND CONGO/BRAZZAVILLE
1. RWANDA
1.1 Delays in the arrival of pledged cereal contributions and unavailability of maize for local purchases in Uganda are seriously affecting the Rwanda food pipeline. WFP is making arrangements for urgent loans from other operations to cover cereals requirements during the month of May.
2. D.R. CONGO AND CONGO/BRAZZAVILLE
2.1 The seventh WFP food airlift from Pointe-Noire to Brazzaville has been completed with 700 tons of cereals and corn-soya blend transported in total. Part of the food airlifted will be ferried across the river for distribution in Kinshasa.
2.2 The assistance to 50,000 Angolan refugees in southern parts of D.R. Congo continues to be hampered by several constraints. There have been delays in food arrivals; trains for food transport between Lubumbashi and Kisenge, the location of a large part of the Angolan refugees, run only every two weeks, wagons are scarce; and road conditions very poor. The nutritional situation of the refugee children has however improved, following a decision to extend food assistance and health care to all children under five years of age.
2.3 Food distributions continue in Goma, benefiting approximately 20,000 vulnerable displaced Congolese, and local malnourished people. To date close to 290 tons of WFP food have been distributed in the area through Caritas and the Save the Children Fund.
2.4 Food distributions to vulnerable persons in Bukavu, including children in nutritional centres, is to start within the next few days, following the despatch of 60 tons of food to the area.
E. SOMALIA
1. UPDATE - as of 28 April
1.1 From January to April, WFP distributed close to 8,300 tons of food to the worst affected areas of southern Somalia. WFP plans to distribute 6,500 tons during May and June, bringing the total since the beginning of the emergency operation to 18,000 tons.
1.2 Following an assessment in Puntland in mid-April, the Food Security Assessment Unit (FSAU), confirmed that Puntland has had little or no rain to date. Most berkads (water reservoirs) were empty and only a few boreholes continue to function. The condition of livestock continues to deteriorate and herd sizes of sheep and goats are 25-50 percent below normal; a high death rate amongst these animals is being observed. The assessment confirmed that milk production was 20 percent of normal and prices of livestock are 30-50 percent below normal, thus critically eroding coping mechanisms.
1.3 Puntland has been severely affected by the lack of rain since the end of 1998. Short rains were expected in December but failed and the long rains due in April have been delayed. The lack of rains over the past 12 months has created a severe water shortage, forcing many pastoral families to move their heads of cattle towards the few areas where water can still be found. Should there be no rainfall by mid-May, thousands of heads of cattle are expected to die, putting at risk the livelihoods of approximately 100,000 nomadic people.
1.4 A total of 335 tons of cereals and pulses arrived at the port of Bosasso on 27 April. The food, donated by the European Union, will be distributed to nearly 21,500 people in the worst affected areas of Mudug and Nugal in the north-east. This is the first of part of a 1,500 ton consignment scheduled for the north-east for the month of April.
1.5 On 20 April, the Somalia Aid Coordination Body (SACB), which consists of UN agencies, donors and NGOs, issued a donor alert for assistance to north-eastern Somalia. The donor alert follows an earlier appeal to the international community.
Note: all tonnage figures in report above refer to metric tons
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 17 of 1999 - April 30, 1999)
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