700,000 children vaccinated against measles in Malawi

• Humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe deteriorates
• UNICEF still needs US$ 18 million to address the crisis

Click here to see southern African Drought Affected Areas

1. EMERGENCY OVERVIEW

Census and the Demographic and Health Survey (DNS) augment database in Zambia

JOHANNESBURG - In response to warnings that a worsening humanitarian crisis is on the horizon in southern Africa next year, the international donor community has contributed vital funds to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) that will help save millions of lives across the region in the coming months.
Fresh end-of-year contributions, totaling more than US$ 25.2 million, have lifted WFP's emergency operation out of a weeks-long funding slump. With the new donations, the largest from Japan, the African Development Bank (ADB), Germany and Canada, the operation is now 62 percent resourced.

REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
On 12 December in Zambia, WFP and DFID signed a bilateral agreement to move 23,000 tons of Government food through WFP channels. This will be a complicated logistics operation, as the Government food is in over 50 locations throughout the country. By 24 December, WFP had dispatched 9,600 tons of the Government food, out of total dispatches of 18,113 tons to date for the month.

It was announced in the local Zambian press that a Government contract with two South African suppliers to import 300,000 tons of maize has been cancelled and the Government is reported

This Ops Update is intended for reporting on emergency appeals.
Launched on 2 May 2002 for CHF 6,803,000 for 12 months revised 22 July to CHF 89,285,274 (USD 61.6 m/EUR 60.9m) in cash, kind and services to assist a minimum of 1.3 million beneficiaries for 12 months.
Disaster Relief Emergency Funds (DREF) allocated: CHF 50,000
Period covered: - 27 November - 12 December 2002

IN BRIEF

Appeal coverage: 44.1%
Related Appeals: Southern Africa 2002 Annual Regional Appeal no. 01.16/2002
Outstanding needs: CHF 47,926,580

The Department for International Development Clare Short today announced a further £30 million contribution to meet emergency assistance in Africa. £15m of the contribution will go to meeting emergency needs in Ethiopia and the other £15 million will be put to humanitarian assistance and recovery programmes across southern Africa.

Clare Short, Secretary of State for International Development said:

"I am very worried about food shortages in Africa. There are serious problems in Southern Africa and Ethiopia. The problems have different causes and therefore pose different challenges.

This report by Hisham Khogali
23 December 2002 (HPN) - An estimated 14 million people in Southern Africa will need food assistance between now and March 2003. Governments within the region have struggled to respond, while international help has been slow to arrive. Hisham Khogali looks at what caused the crisis, and how the international community has responded.

The roots of Southern Africa's food crisis lie in a combination of environmental shocks, chronic poverty, a health crisis and damaging government policies. Over the past two to three

Montréal, le 20 décembre 2002 - DÉVELOPPEMENT ET PAIX vient d'acheminer une nouvelle somme de 30 000 $ aux victimes de la famine en Afrique australe.
Cette famine, conséquence des inondations, des périodes de sécheresse et des incertitudes politiques et économiques qui secouent cette région du monde, affecte quelque 13 millions de personnes. Le Zimbabwe est actuellement le pays le plus durement frappé. Parmi les autres pays, on retrouve le Lesotho, le Malawi, le Mozambique, le Swaziland et la Zambie.

Depuis le printemps 2002, DÉVELOPPEMENT

HIGHLIGHTS
Influx of refugees into Malawi

In Malawi, UNHCR reported an influx of asylum seekers coming from the refugee camps in Tanzania.

UN SG statement

In his address on receving an honorary doctorate from the university of Cape Town, the UN SG poined out, "Today, the lifeline that women in Southern Africa represent is being threatened by two mutually reinforcing emergencies: famine and AIDS."

Fuel blues in Zimbabwe

U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
BUREAU FOR DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT, AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE (DCHA)
OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (OFDA)

Note: the last situation report was dated December 6, 2002.

BACKGROUND

A number of Southern African countries are currently experiencing food security crises, due to a combination of adverse climate conditions for two consecutive growing seasons, mismanagement of grain reserves, and restrictive government policies that severely inhibit private sector commerce. During the past production season, unusually dry