HIGHLIGHTS

• Population movement – refugee numbers in the region continue to increase. Since May 1, there were more than 76,000 new refugees; at least 75% of those registered are women and children.

• Operational – Jordanian Ministry of Health and Interior Ministries agreed to relocation of new arrivals registration to Raba Sahan; health screening including immunization will occur here thus enhancing vaccination activities for new arrivals. In Lebanon, coordination skills training sessions was organized by UNHCR and OCHA on May 9.

May 21, 2013, CAIRO – Poverty and food insecurity in Egypt have risen significantly over the last three years according to joint reports released today by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the government’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

Syria:

Eritrea is considered one of the most repressive countries in the world; Freedom House, in its annual ranking of countries based on democratic freedom, considers Eritrea “one of the worst of the worst”. Since gaining independence from Ethiopia twenty years ago, the destitute and politically isolated country is often accused by international human rights groups of unlawful executions, tor-ture, and citizen detention.

Operation Highlights

Somalia is the country generating the third highest number of refugees in the world, after Afghanistan and Iraq. UNHCR leads protection and emergency relief interventions targeting 700,000 IDPs out of a total IDP population estimated at 1.1 million and over 2,300 refugees in Somalia.

This document provides an overview of developments in the Mediterranean Basin and other regions of interest from 30 April - 13 May 2013, with hyperlinks to source material highlighted and underlined in the text. For more information on the topics below or other issues pertaining to the region, please contact the members of the Med Basin Team, or visit our website at www.cimicweb.org.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

North Africa 1
Northeast Africa 4
Horn of Africa 5