Report No. 25 of 1999 Date: 25 June 1999
This report includes: A) FR Yugoslavia - Kosovo crisis B) Democratic People's Republic of Korea C) Afghanistan D) Horn of Africa: Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya E) Angola F) Namibia.
>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 24 June a) Some 300,500 Kosovo Albanians return to Kosovo; movement of Kosovo Serbs to Montenegro and Serbia continues. b) As of 1 July, WFP plans to feed 2.5 million people in the region, including 1.5 million Kosovo Albanian refugees, returnees and IDPs, war-affected local populations in other parts of FRY, and old Bosnian/Croatian refugee caseload in FRY. c) Current food stocks enough to feed 1.5 million beneficiaries in 45 days; in addition to bulk food, HRDs available in stock for vulnerable groups. d) WFP dispatches daily convoys from Skopje to Kosovo, carrying flour, HDRs, split peas and vegetable oil; during the past week approximately 1,066 tons of mixed WFP commodities delivered to Kosovo; three WFP bakery ovens, capacity - 36,000 loaves per day, transferred from Albania to Prizren. e) Helicopters used to deliver WFP relief to remote areas due to land mines. f) In Kukes, Albania, and Blace, Macedonia, WFP provides food rations to refugees going back to Kosovo.
B. DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
1. Update - information as of 24 June a) Sufficient cereals in stock for regular WFP food distributions until mid-August; new contributions required to avert break in pipeline; oil and pulses stocks limited; due to anticipated break in food pipeline, WFP postpones food-for-work and food-for-seed projects. b) Government stocks of food ran out; population lives on alternative foods and spring vegetables. c) Focus of WFP activities in north-east, area most affected by food shortages.
C. AFGHANISTAN
1. Update - information as of 24 June a) WFP emergency food distribution completed in Waras and Panjo by OXFAM; 2,000 tons handed out to 12,500 families. b) In Behsud 1 and 2, Wardak province, WFP food to be distributed to 12,000 families by Madera. c) New WFP water/sanitation and institutional feeding projects planned in Mazar-e-Sharif in collaboration with UN Habitat.
D. HORN OF AFRICA: SOMALIA, ETHIOPIA AND KENYA
1. Update - information as of 22 June a) Unusual shortage of rains across the region may affect harvests; an extended dry spell in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya likely to reduce both crop and livestock production. b) Somalia: below-normal status of crops and grazing areas observed in Juba Valley, parts of Bay and Bakool and Somaliland. c) Ethiopia: failure of belg rains caused significant crop losses and affected planting for meher season; no donor pledges confirmed yet for recently approved WFP emergency operation (EMOP 6143) worth USD 40.5 million to feed 1.2 million people affected by droughts; WFP urges immediate donor response.
E. ANGOLA
1. Update - information as of 22 June a) A new WFP emergency operation (EMOP 6138) to assist 800,000 victims of renewed fighting approved on 15 June; total cost - USD 37.5 million; duration - four months, starting in September; WFP requests urgent donor contributions. b) FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission from 11-22 May forecasts food production 11 percent below last year's; a gap of 180,000 tons to be covered by emergency food aid until March 2000; so far only 56,000 tons resourced. Full report of the mission available at <http://www.fao.org> click on "Economic", then "GIEWS" and then "Reports". c) Reports on deteriorating security in Kuito, Malange and Huambo; road access difficult, 80 percent of WFP relief food airlifted.
F. NAMIBIA
1. Update - information as of 14 June
a) WFP providing emergency assistance through school feeding and food-for-work activities to drought and flood affected areas; food to be provided to 30,000 children in schools, pre-schools and poor church, community or farm hostels in remote areas of Namibia by October; some 15,000 adults to benefit from WFP food-for-work activities.
PART II - DETAILS
A. FR YUGOSLAVIA AND REGION - KOSOVO CRISIS
1. UPDATE - information as of 24 June
1.1 Regional:
a) As of 25 June, UNHCR estimates that some 300,500 Kosovo Albanians, previously refugees in FYRoM, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, or displaced in the Republic of Montenegro, have returned to Kosovo. As Kosovo Albanians return to Kosovo, there are large movements of Kosovo Serbs to Montenegro and to Serbia.
b) As of 1 July, WFP plans to feed 2.5 million people in the region in need of food assistance. Out of this number, 1.5 million are Kosovar refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), 500,000 are war-affected people in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FYR) excluding Kosovo, and 500,000 refugees in FR Yugoslavia from the Bosnian and Croatian conflicts.
c) WFP has enough food in FYR Macedonia and Albania to feed 1.5 million people in the region for 45 days and expects to have additional food in stock by the end of June. Current food stocks in the region stand at 37,750 tons of food commodities.
d) In addition to bulk food stocks, WFP also has 300,000 humanitarian daily rations in FYR Macedonia, 250,000 in Albania and 150,000 in its food pipeline. There are some 77,500 HDRs in FYR Macedonia refugee camps for possible refugee movement. The HDRs will be primarily used to feed the most vulnerable groups in Kosovo.
1.2 Kosovo (FRY): Since 13 June, WFP has been organizing daily convoys from Skopje to Kosovo, transporting wheat flour, HDRs, yellow split peas and vegetable oil. Between 13 and 22 June, WFP delivered from Skopje and from Kukes in northern Albania a total of approximately 1,066 tons of mixed commodities. Because of the land mines, WFP has been unable to drive trucks on many of the roads and has to use two helicopters to deliver food supplies to some remote areas in Kosovo. WFP has transferred three bakery ovens from Albania to Prizren in Kosovo with a production capacity of 36,000 loaves per day.
1.3 Serbia (FRY): On 23 June 1999, WFP started the distribution of 525 tons of wheat flour, 53 tons of vegetable oil and 45 tons of pulses in order to accommodate the food needs of some 50,000 Kosovo Serb IDPs in central Serbia. A WFP representative will directly monitor this food distribution.
1.4 Montenegro (FRY): As of 25 June, some 18,944 new IDPs (mainly Serbs) have entered Montenegro from Kosovo since 9 June. Some 10,170 have remained in Montenegro, while the others have left for Serbia. The current stocks of wheat flour, oil and beans are sufficient for the current IDP caseload. Half of the Kosovo Albanians living in Montenegro receive food assistance from WFP, while the remainder is reached by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). As of 25 June, some 8,100 IDPs have returned to Kosovo, and the current number in Montenegro is 61,600. WFP also provides food aid for the old Bosnian refugee caseload (some 28,340 persons).
1.5 Albania: Refugees are moving northwards to Kukes, in anticipation of their return to Kosovo. In Kukes, most camps are now empty. UNHCR will start the official repatriation process on 29 June. Returnees in Kosovo are hiring buses in order to return to Albania to collect families. WFP is providing refugees leaving camps and collective centres with in-transit food consisting of 1 humanitarian daily ration (HDR), 3 loaves of bread, 3 cans of fish or meat, and 300 grams of high energy biscuits. In Kukes, WFP is providing a basic food ration to refugees going back to Kosovo. The ration per person is: 10 kg of flour, 2 kg of pulses, 1 l of oil, 2 tins of canned fish, 1 HDR. Approximately 180 tons of food commodities are handed out per day to returning refugees. WFP has dispatched 816.631 tons of basic food commodities to Kukes since 1 June.
1.6 Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: As of 25 June, approximately 116,600 refugees have returned to Kosovo from FYRoM while 141,700 are remaining. WFP has despatched 10,000 HDRs to Blace border crossing point to be distributed to refugees waiting to cross back to Kosovo.
B. DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
1. UPDATE - information as of 24 June
1.1 The final shipment of wheat for the WFP operations is currently being unloaded in ports serving DPR Korea. There are sufficient cereals to allow regular distributions until mid-August, after which the pipeline will run dry unless new contributions are shipped. WFP is also concerned that there are limited stocks of oil to complement the cereals distribution, and no pulses to provide valuable proteins.
1.2 The anticipated break in the food pipeline has forced WFP to postpone a number of initiatives, including halting all existing food-for-work programmes and a proposed food-for-seed swap with FAO. This may also have an impact on the local production of biscuits and CSB for vulnerable children.
1.3 WFP field staff have observed growing incidence of people digging up the potato harvest before it is ready, as other food is scarce. Government stocks of food ran out in early April, and the population currently lives on processed alternative food, some spring vegetables and wild foods. Even the production of alternative foods is affected in some areas by a shortage of ingredients.
1.4 WFP continues to focus its operations on the most vulnerable groups in the north-east, a region particularly affected by the short growing season, limited agricultural land and a population largely located in urban industrial areas.
C. AFGHANISTAN
1. UPDATE - information as of 24 June
1.1 The WFP emergency food distribution operation in the Central Highlands districts of Waras and Panjo was completed on 18 June in cooperation with OXFAM. WFP staff monitored the distribution of over 2,000 tons of food commodities to cover the food needs of 12,500 families.
1.2 In late June, under the second phase of the operation, WFP plans to distribute 2,000 tons of food commodities in cooperation with the NGO Madera to 12,000 families in the districts of Behsud 1 and 2 in the Wardak province. The current security situation and closure of the road for UN traffic from Kabul to Behsud may delay the operation.
1.3 Starting in July, a new WFP water and sanitation project and an institutional feeding project will be running in Mazar-e-Sharif. The sanitation food for work project will include digging 50 wells and installing hand-pumps. A total of 266 tons of wheat has been allocated for this project which will employ 3,600 labourers and 50 female managers. The institutional feeding project targets kindergartens managed by community fora and is planned to reach 1,500 girls and boys and 30 female caregivers. A total of 162 tons of food commodities is allocated. Both projects were designed by UN Habitat and are to be implemented by community groups. This is the first time since 1997 that WFP has approved projects for the area. WFP support is contingent upon stocks being moved from Uzbekistan into northern Afghanistan.
1.4 Under a WFP/UNHCR agreement, refugees returning to Afghanistan should receive their wheat ration, 300 kg per family, in two instalments, 100 kg per family upon arrival in Afghanistan and 200 kg to be made available in September. This agreement will not effect the upcoming pilot project of 1,500 Afghans to be repatriated from Iran through the western province of Herat whereby they will receive their ration in a one-time distribution.
D. HORN OF AFRICA REGION: SOMALIA, ETHIOPIA AND KENYA
1. UPDATE - information as of 22 June
1.1 WFP is concerned at an unusual shortage of rains across the Horn of Africa which could seriously affect the upcoming harvests. Despite good rains in late April, an extended dry spell in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, with erratic rains during May and June, is likely to reduce both crop and livestock production and thus further worsen the already precarious food situation in the region.
1.2 In Somalia, 80 percent of the country's harvest is dependent on the Gu rains which fall between April and June. This year the rains fell for only half the normal period, and were light and scattered. Satellite imagery shows a below-normal status of crops and grazing areas since mid-May in the Juba Valley, parts of Bay and Bakool and the agricultural areas of Somaliland.
1.3 In Ethiopia, rainfall in the Highlands which feeds into Somalian rivers has been poor. The failure of the belg rains from February to May has caused significant crop losses in areas which are already suffering from food shortages and affected the planting of crops for the subsequent meher season. On 1 June, WFP approved a USD 40.5 million emergency operation (EMOP 6143) to feed some 1.2 persons in need of food aid in eight drought-stricken regions in Ethiopia. To date, no pledges from donors have been confirmed. In order to respond to the deteriorating food security situation in Ethiopia, WFP urges donors to expedite their food pledges for this operation.
1.4 Below average rainfall will reduce the next harvest and food availability in Kenya. The most affected by the drought are the pastoral districts and some grain-producing areas of the Rift Valley.
E. ANGOLA
1. UPDATE - information as of 22 June
1.1 A new WFP emergency operation (EMOP 6138) to assist 800,000 victims of renewed fighting in Angola was approved on 15 June. The value of the operation is USD 37.5 million and it will last for four months, starting in September. WFP requests urgent donor contributions in order to avert a possible break in the pipeline end of August.
1.2 The FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to Angola from 11-22 May found that hundreds of thousands of Angolans face an increased risk of malnutrition due to reduced access to food, coupled with poor health and inadequate sanitation conditions. The Mission forecasts the 1999 cereal production at about 530 000 tonnes, some 11 percent below last year. Cereal import requirements for 1999-2000 are estimated at 505,000 tons of which 215,000 tons consist of maize. It is estimated that 325,000 tons will be imported commercially, leaving a gap of 180,000 tons to be covered by emergency food aid until March 2000, of which some 56,000 tons are already pledged. The full report is available at <http://www.fao.org> click on "Economic", then "GIEWS" and then "Reports".
1.3 Recent reports confirm growing insecurity in Kuito. From 16 to 22 June, hundreds of new internally displaced persons (IDPs) arrived in the city from Ongondo, about 14 km north of Cuquema, fleeing UNITA attacks. WFP continues to prioritize the most vulnerable groups. A therapeutic feeding centre operated in partnership with MSF-Belgium is currently treating approximately 570 severely malnourished children. Some 2470 children are fed each week in Concern/WFP supplementary feeding centres in Kuto and Kunje.
1.4 Transportation of relief food by road remains difficult because of continuous fighting and insecurity. WFP is now forced to airlift 80 percent of its food aid, which considerably increases the cost of the operations.
1.5 Due to insecurity on the road, WFP has not been able to deliver food to Malange for two weeks. The shelling of the city by UNITA continues.
1.6 Security in Huambo deteriorated over the past week, as UNITA forces moved close enough to shell the city. Civilian casualties are reported. WFP food distribution through GAC, Save the Children UK, Oikos, ADRA and Molisv continues during the quiet spells. In the first week of June, food has been distributed to 4,600 IDPs in the areas of Vila Nova and Londuimbale.
F. NAMIBIA
1. UPDATE - information as of 14 June
1.1 WFP is currently providing emergency assistance through school feeding and food-for-work activities in Namibia. Areas indicated by the May 1999 Crop Assessment Report released by the Namibian Early Warning and Food Information System (NEWFIS) as having pockets of drought or combinations of drought and flooding have been selected as a focus of WFP relief effort.
1.2 Through a school feeding project, administered by the Ministry of Basic Education (MBEC), WFP provides CSB and oil to feed needy children in schools, pre-schools and poor church, community or farm hostels in remote areas of Namibia. Since the onset of the project in April, 73 schools and some 16,250 children (aged 5- 14) have received meals in the Northern Regions of Caprivi, Ohangwena, Khomas and Otjozondjupan. An estimated 30,000 children will have benefited from the programme by the end of October. Parents of students also benefit from the programme through food-for-work activities.
1.3 An estimated 15,000 adults will benefit from food-for-work projects in the regions of Kunene, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Ohangwena, Caprivi, Kavango and Erongo, implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development (MAWRD). Since the programme began in March, some 30 percent of WFP-provided food has been distributed to 2,000 beneficiaries.
1.4 Communities in the target regions have constructed earth dams and wells in order to access much needed water and have built feeder roads, which will later be paved by the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication. Food for work also allows remote rural communities the opportunity to construct classrooms and teacher quarters.
Note: all tonnage figures in report above refer to metric tons
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 25 of 1999 - June 25, 1999)
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