Report No. 29 of 1999 Date: 23 July 1999
This report includes: A) Democratic People's Republic of Korea B) Afghanistan C) Tajikistan D) FR Yugoslavia E) West Africa: Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Ghana F) Zambia G) Recent FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission Reports.
>From Manuel Aranda da Silva, Chief, Technical Support Service. Available 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. DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
1. Update - information as of 22 July a) With summer crop available, Government Public Distribution System resumes distribution of potatoes and winter barley; WFP/FALU observe cases of malnourished children in Kaesong; WFP distribution partner ACF distributes EU donated food in North Hamyong; WFP prioritizes food distributions to north-east as particularly vulnerable. b) WFP blended food expert reviews WFP-sponsored local production of blended food (CSB) and fortified biscuits. c) WFP requests donor pledges be shipped immediately to avoid pipeline break in September.
B. AFGHANISTAN
1. Update - information as of 21 July a) Inconclusive peace talks between Taleban and opposition alliance in Tashkent on 19 July. b) Insecurity limits UN staff movement in Afghanistan. c) Some 10,900 families benefited to date from WFP distributions in Behsud I and Behsud II. d) Due to winter drought, 11 different areas (in Central Highlands and Panjshir Valley, northern rainfed areas and Ghor, the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul city and rural northern Kandahar) identified as food insecure; VAM to collect data in order to identify food aid needs.
C. TAJIKISTAN
1. Update - information as of 22 July a) FAO reports decrease in area sown to grains, as a result output expected to decline to 420,000 tons from 500,000 last year; heavy rains in July affect crops in Leninabad. b) Flooding and landslides follow the torrential rains in early July; WFP provides emergency food for affected populations. c) The 1999 Mid-Term Review and Revision of UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Tajikistan available on ReliefWeb at <http://www.reliefweb.int>.
D. FR YUGOSLAVIA
1. Update - information as of 23 July a) Kosovo: next round of WFP food aid distribution expected to reach 900,000 people. b) Central Serbia: WFP distribution network to cover 770,000 needy. c) A futher UN Consolidated Appeal to be launched on 27 July in Geneva. d) Details on WFP activities available in the Balkan Operations Weekly Brief at <http://www.wfp.org> go to Balkan Alert, then Weekly Brief at rnd of text.
E. WEST AFRICA: SIERRA LEONE, LIBERIA, GUINEA, IVORY COAST AND GHANA
1. Regional PRRO update - information as of 23 July a) WFP operation (PRRO 4604.07) to feed 1.8 million refugees (from Sierra Leone and Liberia) and IDPs, in Guinea, Ivory Coast and Ghana; total cost USD 106.6 million; total food 173,000 tons; duration from July 1999 until June 2000.
F. ZAMBIA
1. D.R. Congo refugees in Zambia update - information as of 23 July a) Current WFP operation (PRRO 6134) for 21,900 refugees from Angola and D.R. Congo seriously underfunded having received less than a half of its resource requirements; WFP requests further donor contributions. b) Refugee influx into Zambia slows considerably; an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 refugees in villages around Kaputa and Chiengi move to camp Mwange due to insecurity and depleted food stocks of host population.
G. RECENT FAO/WFP CROP AND FOOD SUPPLY ASSESSMENT MISSION REPORTS
1. Update - information as of 23 July a) A summary of recently published reports of FAO/WFP crop and food supply assessment missions are given below: Middle East regional, Afghanistan, Albania, FYR of Macedonia, DPR Korea, Angola. b) FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission reports are available at <http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/faoinfo/economic/giews/english/alertes/sptoc.htm> or at <http://fao.org> click on "Economics", click on "GIEWS", then "Special Reports".
PART II - DETAILS
A. DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
1. UPDATE - information as of 22 July
1.1 With the summer crops now available, the Government's Public Distribution System (PDS) has partially resumed distribution of potatoes and winter barley, but severe cases of malnutrition are still being reported. WFP/FALU (Food Aid Liaison Unit) have recently observed cases of malnourished children in Kaesong and Action Contre la Faim (ACF), WFP implementing partner in North Hamyong currently distributing WFP food aid donated by EU (DGVIII), has reported more cases. The Chongjin-based ACF nutritionist visited a baby home and an orphanage and reported serious malnutrition situation among the young children there. WFP has identified the north-east as particularly vulnerable and prioritizes food distributions to this area.
1.2 The WFP nutrition advisor has just completed a three-week mission to DPR Korea to review WFP-sponsored local production of blended food (CSB) for nurseries and kindergartens and fortified biscuits for distribution to school children. There are plans to establish factories to produce enriched noodles for pregnant and nursing mothers during the course of the current WFP emergency operation.
1.3 The mission report recommends installing two additional blended food facilities, repairing five biscuit factories and establishing ten facilities for producing noodles. Preferred locations for the new WFP-sponsored food production facilities are Chongjin and Hamhung in the hard hit north-eastern mountainous areas which have little provincial food production capacity and are difficult to reach for much of the year due to weather conditions and impassable roads. The rest of the planned production facilities will be located in Pyongyang from where commodities can be distributed to other parts of the country and to Sinuiju in the north-west.
1.4 WFP continues to distribute food to vulnerable groups including children in nurseries, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, orphans, hospital patients and pregnant and nursing women. Unless new pledges are shipped immediately, distributions will cease in September when the pipeline runs dry.
B. AFGHANISTAN
1. UPDATE - information as of 21 July
1.1 Inconclusive peace talks between the Taleban and the opposition northern alliance were held in Tashkent on 19 July. The peace conference was also attended the so-called Six Plus Two group, made up of Afghanistan's neighbouring states plus U.S. and Russian officials, and the UN's special envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi.
1.2 Military activities have been reported some 25 km north of Kabul. UN staff have been advised to limit their travel to the Central Highlands area.
1.3 The total amount of food dispatched from Kabul for the emergency distribution in Behsud I and Behsud II as at 21 July is some 1,750 tons of wheat and 180 tons of CSB. To date some 10,900 families have benefited from the distribution. The operation is ongoing and is expected to be completed by the last week of July.
1.4 As a result of the late arrival of a scheduled wheat shipment, WFP Afghanistan has been obliged to transfer 3,200 tons of wheat from northern Afghanistan for use in the southern areas and to borrow 4,000 tons of wheat from mills in Pakistan and 500 tons from CARE. This amount of wheat will permit WFP Afghanistan activities to continue, albeit at a reduced level of food inputs, until the end of September.
1.5 Due to the 1998/99 winter drought, with snowfall in many highland areas being the lowest in 40 years, 11 different areas in Afghanistan have been identified as currently especially vulnerable to food insecurity. These areas are concentrated in the Central Highlands and Panjshir Valley, northern rainfed areas and Ghor, the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in the north, Kabul city and rural northern Kandahar in the south of Afghanistan. Given that the factors affecting food security differ by area, appropriate questionnaires will be designed and data collected by the WFP Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) teams with the collaboration of the sub-offices. The data will provide a baseline picture for each area and will contribute to WFP's identification of appropriate food aid requirements.
C. TAJIKISTAN
1. UPDATE - information as of 22 July
1.1 According to FAO figures the area sown to grains (mostly wheat) declined this year and crop output is now forecast to decline to 420,000 tons, compared to about 500,000 tons last year. The heavy rains in the beginning of July also affected the crops in Leninabad region. According to information received from the regional authorities in south Tajikistan, the average yield of wheat per hectare decreased from 1.3 to 1.1 tons. Although some districts have an increased yield compared to 1998, 12 out of 21 districts have a lesser yield per hectare.
1.2 As a result of torrential rains on 7-8 July three districts in Tajikistan have experienced severe flooding and landslides. At least 23 persons died and around 70 were swept away by waters and mudslides. In Asht, the worst hit area, more than 500 houses have been damaged, of which more than 200 are completely destroyed. WFP provided six tons of food commodities through the National Red Crescent Society in Khojend, Leninabad region, while German Agro Action (GAA) will provide food assistance to the victims in Asht since they have sufficient food supplies in the northern region. WFP also provided emergency support for the population affected by the landslides in eastern Tajikistan (Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast - GBAO).
1.3 The 1999 Mid-Term Review and Revision of the UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Tajikistan was published by OCHA on 22 July and is available on ReliefWeb at <http://www.reliefweb.int>.
D. FR YUGOSLAVIA
1. UPDATE - information as of 23 July
1.1 Kosovo: WFP is quickly expanding its operations in the province, now that supply bottlenecks have been resolved. The next round of distribution is expected to reach 900,000 people.
1.2 Central Serbia: Inflation and income losses are expected to severely diminish the purchasing power of the population of Central Serbia, as winter sets in. WFP has now established a distribution network to provide assistance to 770,000 IDPs, refugees and social cases.
1.3 A futher UN Consolidated Appeal will be launched on 27 July in Geneva. WFP has revised downwards its requirements under EMOP 6136, in view of the latest information available from the field and the exceptional support provided directly by bilateral donors and NGOs.
1.4 Details of WFP relief operations in the Balkans are available in the Balkan Operations Weekly Brief at <http://www.wfp.org>. Click on Balkans Alert, then on Weekly Brief at end of text.
1.5 For other information on UN activities in Kosovo, see "Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary General" page at <http://www.un.org/news/ossg>, then click on "UN in Kosovo today". For daily UNHCR refugee and repatriation updates go to <http://www.unhcr.ch/news/media/Kosovo.htm>.
E. WEST AFRICA: SIERRA LEONE, LIBERIA, GUINEA, IVORY COAST AND GHANA
1. REGIONAL PRRO UPDATE - information as of 23 July
1.1 Under the regional WFP protracted relief and recovery operation (PRRO 4604.07) recently approved by the Executive Board, WFP will feed 1.8 million refugees and displaced people in West Africa. The operation targets refugees from Sierra Leone and Liberia, and the host countries of Guinea, Ivory Coast and Ghana. Total cost of the operation is USD 106.6 million, total food requirement is 173,000 tons, to cover the period from July 1999 until June 2000. WFP will feed refugees in their host countries until they return home. IDPs in Sierra Leone will also receive WFP assistance until June 2000 under the project.
1.2 Under the same operation, WFP will also support reconstruction efforts to help repatriated refugees settle back home. In Liberia, this will include helping rebuild schools, roads and bridges.
1.3 Current WFP food aid stocks are sufficient for the next three month period (July-September). To avoid pipeline breaks in October, WFP needs 7,000 tons of cereals, 1,650 tons of oil and 2,250 tons of CSB.
1.4 In Liberia, about 2,500 tons of assorted food commodities have been pre-positioned in Kolahun (near the Sierra Leonean border), in Harper (near Ivory Coast border) and in Zwedru (in central Liberia) to cover the needs of approximately 30,000 refugees and vulnerable persons during the peak of the rainy season (July-September) when the roads leading to these areas become impassable.
F. ZAMBIA
1. D.R. CONGO REFUGEES IN ZAMBIA UPDATE - information as of 23 July
1.1 On 22 July in Lusaka the Presidents of D.R. Congo, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Namibia and the Defence Minister of Angola signed a ceasefire agreement for D.R. Congo. Zambia, OAU, UN and SADC signed as witnesses. A Joint Military Council and a Political Committee have been constituted for the implementation of the ceasefire in D.R. Congo.
1.2 On 19 July, WFP Lusaka convened a donor briefing on the refugee situation in the country, with the participation of UNHCR. Several donors attended, including Sweden, US, Netherlands, Ireland, UK, Germany, Italy and France. At the meeting, WFP alerted the donors that the current WFP operation (PRRO 6134) providing food assistance to 21,900 refugees from Angola and D.R. Congo in Zambia is seriously underfunded, having received to date less than a half of its resource requirements.
1.3 The refugee influx into Zambia from D.R. Congo has decreased considerably. An estimated 6,000 to 10,000 refugees who spontaneously settled in villages around Kaputa and Chiengi are being forced to move into the refugee camp at Mwange for security reasons and due to depleted food stocks of the local host population. The Mwange camp already had a population of some 13,580. It may be necessary to use a new camp site, already identified, if the arrivals in Mwange exceed 5,000 in the next two weeks.
1.4 To date, WFP has supplied some 1,880 tons of commodities (maize meal, maize grain, vegetable oil, split peas/beans, salt and high energy protein supplement) borrowed from development stocks to approximately 13,580 refugees. New commitments are required to continue to meet needs and to enable WFP to repay food loans. Newly arrived from Kaputa cause some concern as their nutritional condition is reported to be poor. WFP has pre-positioned sufficient quantities of high energy protein supplement in the area in case a supplementary and/or therapeutic feeding programme is deemed necessary at the camp clinic.
G. RECENT FAO/WFP CROP AND FOOD SUPPLY ASSESSMENT MISSION REPORTS
1. UPDATE - information as of 23 July
1.1 The following is a summary of recently published reports of FAO/WFP crop and food supply assessment missions - references to some of these reports have been made in previous issues of the WFP Emergency Report.
Middle East regional: "Special report: drought causes extensive crop damage in the Near East raising concerns for food supply difficulties in some parts" was issued by FAO and WFP on 16 July. Food output in several countries in the Middle East was severely reduced by drought. Particularly affected are Jordan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq and Syria. Current estimates suggest that aggregate cereal output in the sub-region will amount to around 52.4 million tons this year or some 12 percent lower than the average over the last five years.
Afghanistan: The Report on FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to Afghanistan was issued on 7 July. According to its findings, more than 1 million people will need relief and rehabilitation aid in the next 18 months due to a reduction in cereal production of 16 percent. The import shortfall of 323,000 tons is only partly covered by 97,000 tons of WFP food, leaving the deficit at 226,000 tons.
Albania: The Report on FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to Albania, issued on 7 July, maintains that the precarious food security being experienced by Albanian households is attributable mainly to the general economic and development difficulties that the country has experienced throughout the 1990s, rather than to the Kosovo refugee crisis.
FYR of Macedonia: The report on FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was issued on 7 July. The Mission found no evidence of significant food shortage or malnutrition problems in the country. The impact of the refugee crisis on agricultural production, food prices, and the overall food security in Macedonia was mitigated by the quick response of the international agencies providing emergency assistance.
DPR Korea: The report on FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, issued on 29 June, underlined declining nutritional standards and estimated the uncovered import requirement until October 1999 at some 98,000 tons, mostly cereals.
Angola: The report on FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to Angola was issued on 15 June. The mission forecast the 1999 cereal production at about 530,000 tons, or 11 percent less than last year. The import requirement for 1999-2000 is estimated at 505,000 tons of which 325,000 tons will be imported commercially, leaving a gap of 180,000 tons to be covered by emergency food aid until March 2000.
1.2 The FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission reports are available at <http://fao.org> click on "Economics", click on "GIEWS", then "Special Reports", or <http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/faoinfo/economic/giews/english/alertes/sptoc.htm>.
Note: all tonnage figures in report above refer to metric tons
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 29 of 1999 - July 23, 1999)
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