This study explores the actual and potential role of consultation with or participation by populations affected by emergencies in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programmes to assist them.

It focuses on "shared social learning", i.e. processes of working with people to discover and understand their own social and cultural ideas, realities and actual practices of meeting immediate survival needs in times of severe stress. Examining the appropriateness, feasibility, and effectiveness of some of the numerous methods of social

Arguing that international organisations present in areas where violations occur have an obligation to act in ways to enhance the protection of civilians, this paper offers examples of specific strategies and tactics which have been used in the field to prevent or mitigate abuses. The following chapters are included:

- Protection: What is it and who does it?
- Field-level protection strategies
- Protecting endangered groups
- The role of NGO relief organisations in protection

The paper aims to contribute to the increased

U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID)
BUREAU FOR HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE (BHR)
OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (OFDA)

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American scientists say satellite photographs indicate the weather-altering La Nina phenomenon has all but vanished from the Pacific Ocean.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory reports the pool of unusually cool tropical water marked by low sea levels has shrunk and the equatorial Pacific is warming to normal temperatures.

But they cautioned that, like its warm counterpart El Nino, a La Nina condition will influence global climate and weather until it has completely subsided.

La Nina had shrunk several times and grown again over the past 12 months.

ABIDJAN, 1 July (IRIN) - Guinea has denied a news report published on Thursday that it had banned men from Sierra Leone from entering the country by sea.
The chairman of Guinea's Bureau national de coordination des refugies (National Refugee Coordination Office) told IRIN on Thursday: "Guinea has never, never restricted (the entry of) Sierra Leonean males."

The official, Alhousseine Thiam, said there had been cases of boats coming to Guinea with some people requesting refuge and others - businessmen - saying they had no intention of staying.

HARARE (July 1) XINHUA - European Union (EU) has said it is planning to establish a cooperation and peace process to enable it to start development projects in war-torn developing countries.
"There are tens and tens of millions of Euro meant for developmental projects lying idle and cannot be used until peace is attained in those countries," EU representative to Zimbabwe Asger Pillegaard said here Wednesday.

Pillegaard was speaking at a hand-over ceremony of the EU presidency in Harare from Germany to Finland, the Zimbabwe News Agency reported Thursday.

by Michel Moutot

RACAK, Yugoslavia, July 1 (AFP) - Of Kosovo's martyred villages, one in particular is set to have lasting significance for the province's ethnic Albanian population.

For it was the massacre at Racak of 45 people by the Yugoslav military on January 15 which ignited international indignation and set off a historic chain of events.

The attack on a fleeing column of some 40 civilians, old men, women and children escorted by guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army was witnessed by observers of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

BAGHDAD, July 1 (AFP) - Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan on Thursday rapped the "weakness" of the UN secretariat general in the face of an alleged US-British campaign to delay humanitarian contracts for sanctions-hit Iraq.

The official news agency INA said Ramadan raised the issue of delayed contracts in a meeting with visiting UN envoy Benon Sevan who heads the organisation's humanitarian programme for Iraq.

He deplored "the weakness of the UN secretariat general, which is in charge of implementing the oil-for-food

Vienna (dpa) - The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Thursday decided to send a new mission to Kosovo.

The move was given the go-ahead by the OSCE's Permanent Council in Vienna.

The mission will comprise 700 people. They will play a major role in establishing democratic institutions and human rights in the province.

In addition, elections need to be organised while police and administrative staff need to be trained, the OSCE said. dpa jp

AP-NY-07-01-99 1128EDT

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