This report includes: A) Afghanistan
B) Angola C) Sierra Leone D) Colombia - war displaced
E) UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals for year 2000.
From Jean-Jacques Graisse, Assistant
Executive Director. 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. AFGHANISTAN
1. Update - information as of 3 December
a) Humanitarian corridor to Panjshir opens; first convoy with wheat and clothing for IDPs planned on 4 December.
b) Opening follows several weeks of negotiations between UN and Taleban authorities; new corridor is only access to 50,000 displaced people in the valley.
c) Second WFP wheat distribution to IDPs in the valley under way: to date, 2,500 families received 100 kg of WFP wheat, another 6,000 families to receive wheat ration in coming weeks.
d) WFP food-for-work emergency shelter project in Panjshir valley being implemented by ACTED.
B. ANGOLA
1. Update - information as of 1 December
a) In December, WFP plans to distribute 15,760 tons of food aid to some 1,143,000 beneficiaries; largest programmes in Malange, Bie and Huambo. b) Kwanza Sul: WFP providing food for work to support construction of 82 schools in municipalities of Sumbe, Porto Amboim and Conda.
c) Uige: further population displacements to cities of Uige and Negage reported from Cangola, Buengas and Senza-Pombo.
d) UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Angola for year 2000 launched - total requirement USD 258.5 million, WFP share USD 210.6 million for food aid.
C. SIERRA LEONE
1. Update - information as of 30 November
a) New WFP emergency operation (EMOP 6187) in Sierra Leone to provide food assistance as incentive for 45,000 combatants to disarm and reintegrate in civilian communities; total WFP cost: USD 2.7 million.
b) WFP and World Vision Sierra Leone start rehabilitation of Kenema-Kailahun road running through RUF controlled areas and which connects Government/ ECOMOG controlled areas.
D. COLOMBIA
1. Assistance to war displaced
a) WFP protracted relief and recovery operation (PRRO 6139), approved in October, will support Government's effort to assist 227,000 persons displaced by violence over two years; WFP requirement is USD 8.9 million, while Government committed USD 11.1 million; total quantity of food aid to be provided by WFP: 38,930 metric tons; operation to start in February 2000. b) Operation will be implemented in collaboration with Government's Social Solidarity Network (Red de Solidaridad Social); food-for-work activities to be phased in gradually to enhance food security and socio-economic recovery.
E. UN CONSOLIDATED INTER-AGENCY APPEALS FOR YEAR 2000
1. Update
a) List given below of UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals for year 2000; some Appeals described in earlier issues of WFP Emergency Report; year 2000 UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals available on OCHA Web page at < http://www.reliefweb.int/appeals/2000ap.htm>.
PART II - DETAILS
A. AFGHANISTAN
1. UPDATE - information as of 3 December
1.1 Humanitarian access to Panjshir Valley
a) Two UN missions surveyed on 30 November the humanitarian corridor recently negotiated with Taliban to be used by UN convoys. One team surveyed the route from Kabul up to the entrance to the Valley using the new road which leads to Bagram airport while the second team surveyed the route from the UN base camp in the Panjshir down to its southern entrance. The two mission teams, each including one international WFP staff member as well as UN Mine Action staff, met at the front line. The route was found to be mined and was subsequently demined on 1 December by a UN demining team.
b) The first eight trucks, from the WFP fleet based in Peshawar, Pakistan, are expected to leave Kabul on 4 December and arrive in Bazarak, in the Panjshir valley, by the end of the day. The first convoy is planned to carry 90 tons of WFP wheat and two truckloads of UNICEF-provided clothes. WFP plans to move 750 tons of food per month.
c) Humanitarian access to the 50,000 displaced people currently in the Panjshir Valley was granted on 21 November by Taliban authorities, following several weeks of negotiations with WFP and other UN agencies under the leadership of the UN Coordinator's Office. The situation of the displaced was of increasing concern to the UN as severe winter conditions set in earlier than expected this year. This made the delivery of urgently needed food and shelter materials increasingly problematic as the northern route to the valley, through the Anjuman Pass, was closed due to heavy snowfall. The sole remaining route, through Taloqan, over several hundred km of very poor roads, crossed close to the front-line and took up to 10 days for commercial trucks to reach the UN Panjshir Valley base camp at Bazarak.
1.2 Distributions: WFP has begun the second round of its emergency food distribution to the estimated 50,000 displaced people in the Panjshir Valley. To date, 2,500 families have each received 100 kg of wheat while the distribution is expected to reach another 6,000 families in the coming weeks. In the first distribution up to 8,500 families received a total of 850 tons of wheat. WFP stocks in the valley as at 2 December were reported at 350 tons of wheat.
1.3 Emergency shelter: WFP approved a food-for-work emergency shelter project in the valley, to be implemented by the international non-governmental organization (NGO) ACTED. Under this project WFP will provide 400 tons of food aid commodities. Construction of 1,200 new shelters began in September for those families who have been living in the open while 1,200 existing shelters will be repaired. To date it is reported that 192 new shelters and 720 rehabilitated shelters are ready to accommodate internally displaced persons (IDPs).
1.4 UN flights to Afghanistan resumed on 2 December, following a one-day suspension on 1 December as a reaction by Taliban authorities to the UN Secretary-General's report on Afghanistan of 29 November.
B. ANGOLA
1. UPDATE - information as of 1 December
1.1 In December, WFP plans to distribute 15,760 tons of commodities to a total of 1,143,000 beneficiaries. The largest individual programme is planned in Malange where 2,824 tons of food products will be allocated to 272,930 beneficiaries, followed by Bie (2,698 tons to 187,230 beneficiaries) and Huambo (2,179 tons to 179,370 beneficiaries). In some provinces, fewer beneficiaries are served than in November, as some IDPs have returned to their places of origin.
1.2 Huambo: WFP continues to distribute food to all the beneficiaries confirmed by SCF/UK for a period of one month until re-targeting of beneficiaries is finalized by teams composed of WFP, SCF/UK, MINARS and representatives of the community. It is estimated that the teams will need a month to approach and interview all the resident population, approximately 280,000 persons.
1.3 Kwanza Sul: Construction of 82 schools is under way in the municipalities of Sumbe, Porto Amboim and Conda, supported by WFP food-for-work activities. The Government's Provincial Group for Humanitarian Aid Coordination will provide material, financial and transport means. Apart from food, WFP also contributes to this project by providing tools and material.
1.4 Uige: Further population displacements to the cities of Uige and Negage were reported last week from areas reoccupied by Government forces, namely Cangola, Buengas and Senza-Pombo. Assistance to the approximately 4,800 new IDPs has been provided by WFP through the Danish Refugee Council (DRC). As a result of the new IDP arrivals, the number of children in the pediatric centre in Uige keeps growing. Last week, the Portuguese NGO Cooperacao e Intercambio Cultural (CIC) in charge of controlling malnutrition in the pediatric centre of Uige has registered 67 cases of serious malnutrition and 170 cases of moderate malnutrition. The quantities of WFP food for December distribution are increased to cover the growing needs.
1.5 On 23 November, USAID confirmed to WFP a contribution of USD 1,134,000.
1.6 The UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Angola for the year 2000 was presented in Geneva on 23-24 November. The total requirement for the Appeal is USD 258.5 million, the WFP share being USD 210.6 million. By mid-2000, more people are expected to be in need of humanitarian aid than at the end of 1999. Irrespective of security developments, agricultural harvests in early 2000 are expected to fall far short of requirements. Food, health services, clean water, sanitation, agricultural inputs and education will have to be provided to a significant segment of the population by the humanitarian community. Full document of the appeal is available on the ReliefWeb, at < http://www.reliefweb.int/appeals/index.html> click on Angola.
C. SIERRA LEONE
1. UPDATE - information as of 30 November
1.1 WFP is launching a new emergency operation (EMOP 6187) in Sierra Leone to provide food assistance as an incentive for 45,000 combatants to disarm and prepare for reintegration in civilian communities. At a total cost of USD 2.7 million, WFP will deliver some 3,000 tons of food commodities (rice, oil, pulses, canned fish/meat, salt and sugar) to encampment sites and the National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (NCDDR) will distribute the food in the camps. The objective of the WFP food assistance is to contribute to the Government's and international efforts to foster peace and national reconciliation in Suerra Leone, as provided by the Lome peace accord signed by the representatives of the Government and the Revolutionary United Front on 7 July.
1.2 It is expected that various international and national agencies will support the reintegration programmes of ex-combatants following their departure from the sites. An multi-donor mission to Sierra Leone in early November showed international commitment to support Sierra Leone's recovery from its eight year civil war through relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction programmes. The mission team included representatives of SIDA (Sweden), the Bureau of Population, Refugee and Migration Department (USA), Department for International Development Cupertino Unit for Humanitarian Assistance (Finland), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Norway), USAID/OFDA/Bureau of Humanitarian Response, DFID (UK), OCHA (Geneva), ECHO/EC, FAO, IOM and the UN, including a WFP representative.
1.3 UNAMSIL and the National Commission for Disarmament Demobilisation and Reintegration reported on 24 November that a total of 1,125 ex-combatants of the estimated total of 45,000 have registered at the DDR camps around the country. Daru, the DDR site for RUF soldiers, has not reported any arrivals yet. The National Commission is carrying out a sensitisation campaign up-country hoping this will increase the turnout rate.
1.4 WFP and World Vision Sierra Leone have started the rehabilitation of the Kenema-Kailahun road which runs through RUF controlled areas and connects Government/ ECOMOG controlled areas. WVSL will implement the programme through WFP-provided food for work. The road will serve as a vital supply route for humanitarian operations and as an opportunity for farmers to sell their produce at nearby towns.
1.5 WFP mission to the area of Kailahun has established a need to provide vulnerable group feeding rations to the elderly and children in Segwema, among them abductees and orphans, as soon as possible. In Daru the nutritional situation is satisfactory, compared to earlier findings during a mission in late September, perhaps attributed to ongoing harvests and access to previously RUF-held areas.
D. COLOMBIA
1. ASSISTANCE TO WAR DISPLACED
1.1 A new WFP protracted relief and recovery operation (PRRO 6139) was approved by the WFP Executive Board on 20 October to provide food assistance for persons displaced by violence in Colombia. Under this operation, the Government of Colombia and WFP will join their efforts to assist a total of 227,000 beneficiaries over a two-year period. WFP requirement for this operation is USD 8.9 million, while the Government has committed USD 11.1 million. The operation is due to start in February 2000.
1.2 During the implementation of the operation, WFP will work closely with the Government's Social Solidarity Network (Red de Solidaridad Social). Once humanitarian food aid has stabilized the IDPs' situation, food-for-work activities will be phased in to enhance food security and socio-economic recovery. Main long-term objectives of the PRRO are to restore human capacity and enhance social cohesion, support settlement, resettlement and return to facilitate reintegration into society, mitigate the impact of future crises, and contribute indirectly to the peace process.
1.3 Through its different activities, WFP will provide a total of 38,930 metric tons of food aid commodities (cereals, vegetable oil, fortified blended food, pulses, milk) mostly to women and children (113,500 beneficiaries per year).
1.4 Over the past 15 years 1.5 million Colombians have been displaced by violence and 750,000 of them have been forced to flee from their places of origin since 1996.
E. UN CONSOLIDATED INTER-AGENCY APPEALS FOR YEAR 2000
1. UPDATE
1.1 Below is the list of UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals for year 2000 launched on 23-24 November in Geneva. Some of the below Appeals have been described in earlier issues of the WFP Emergency Report:
Afghanistan (January - December 2000, total requirement USD 220.7 million)
Angola (January - December 2000, total requirements USD 258.5 million, WFP share USD 214.1 million);
Burundi (January - December 2000, total requirements of the appeal: USD 70.6 million, WFP share: USD 34 million)
Republic of the Congo (January - December 2000, total appeal's requirement: USD 17.1 million, WFP share: USD 7 million)
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (January - December 2000, total budget: USD 331.7 million, WFP share: USD 240 million)
Democratic Republic of the Congo (January - December 2000, total budget: 71.4 million, WFP share: USD 34.3 million)
Countries of the Great Lakes Region and Central Africa: Burundi, Congo D.R. Congo, Tanzania and Uganda (January - December 2000, total budget: 162.9 million, WFP share: 64.2 million)
East Timor (October 1999 - June 2000) total budget: USD 199 million, WFP share: USD 46 million.
Northern Caucasus: Russian Federation - Ingushetia, Dagestan (December 1999 - February 2000, total budget: USD 16.2 million, WFP share USD 5.3 million)
Sierra Leone (January - December 2000, total budget: USD 70.9 million, WFP share: USD 39.2 million)
Somalia (January - December 2000, total budget: USD 64 million, WFP share: USD 11.2 million)
South-eastern Europe: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FR Yugoslavia including Serbia, Montenegro and UN-administered province of Kosovo, FYR of Macedonia (January - December 2000, total budget: USD 659.8 million, WFP share: USD 121.9 million)
Sudan (Jan - Dec 2000, total budget: USD 125.6 million, WFP share: USD 59.1million)
Tajikistan (January - December 2000, total budget: USD 34.8 million, WFP share: USD 16.7 million)
Uganda (January - December 2000, total budget: USD 56 million, WFP share: USD 29 million)
The year 2000 UN Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals are available on the OCHA Web page at <http://www.reliefweb.int/appeals/2000ap.htm>.
Note: all tonnage figures in report above refer to metric tons
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 48 of 1999 - December 3, 1999)