This report includes: A) Angola B)
Namibia - Angolan refugees C) Burkina Faso D) East Africa:
Uganda and Tanzania E) India - Orissa cyclone F)
Selected WFP relief operations currently
facing resourcing shortfalls.
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. ANGOLA
1. Update - information as of 12 January
a) WFP to start a quick action project (Angola 6020) to improve nutritional tatus of children under five in peri-urban areas of Angola; two meals per day to be provided to children attending Community Infant Programme Centres; opportunities for mothers of children-beneficiaries to pursue income-generating activities in day-care centres.
b) Benguela: nutritional situation of both residents and IDPs in Balombo and Ganda rapidly deteriorating; in Ganda, ACF finds global malnutrition rate of 21.1 percent among IDPs; WFP plans small road convoys to Balombo and Ganda; clearance awaited from authorities to place WFP cargo aircraft at Lobito.
c) Congolese refugees: following joint WFP/UNHCR/MINARS mission Caxito, Bengo Province, and WFP/UNHCR mission to camps of Kikuxi and Caop in Viana, Luanda Province, Congolese refugees registered and reinserted in WFP distribution plan, as their nutritional status had deteriorated.
B. NAMIBIA
1. Assistance to Angolan refugees
a) New WFP emergency operation (EMOP 6206) for Angolan refugees in Namibia, approved 10 January, to provide 750 tons of food commodities for 7,500 beneficiaries at total WFP cost of USD 480,000; food assistance to be distributed through Government and UNHCR to refugees in Osire camp; initially planned for six months.
b) Most of the Angolan refugees come from Huambo, Huila, Kuando Kubango,Namibe and Luanda provinces.
C. BURKINA FASO
1. Assistance for Burkinabe population returning from Ivory Coast
a) WFP approved emergency operation (EMOP 6209) 21 December to assist 12,000 Burkinabe who fled back from Tebou, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso; WFP to provide 340 tons of assorted food for period of 50 days at WFP cost of USD 200,000 to help beneficiaries resettle in their villages of origin; some 70 percent of caseload women and children; provinces of Poni, Passore, Yatenga, Kouritenga and Boulkemde received majority of returnees.
D. EAST AFRICA: UGANDA AND TANZANIA
1. Uganda - information as of 13 January
a) Precarious security conditions in Bundibugyo district, western Uganda; most humanitarian activities for some 105,000 IDPs in Bundibugyo put on hold; aid staff relocated to Fort Portal or to Kampala while awaiting security clearance.
b) Security in northern districts of Gulu and Kitgum deteriorates; convoys with military escorts reinstated; staff and food aid movements outside of Gulu and Kitgum currently restricted; WFP in December provided food assistance to 312,000 persons in Kitgum and Gulu; and a daily cooked meal for 60,000 school children in both.
2. Tanzania - information as of 12 January
a) Over 15,000 new Burundian refugees arrived in Tanzania in December; WFP provides full food rations to all refugees; in 1999 over 71,000 tons of WFP commodities distributed in Tanzania camps; new refugees accommodated Karago camp.
E. INDIA - ORISSA CYCLONE
1. Update - information as of 10 January
a) WFP assistance to victims of cyclones in Orissa continues; short WFP emergency operation (EMOP 6192) assisted 230,000 persons at cost of USD 200,000; WFP requests additional funding for extensions of development projects IND 2206 and IND 5569 - to date only 11 percent of totalrequirements confirmed.
b) WFP staff permanently present in Orissa, where WFP is focal agency for UN/NGO coordination.
F. SELECTED WFP RELIEF OPERATIONS CURRENTLY FACING RESOURCING SHORTFALLS
1. Update - information as of 12 January
a) Selected emergency operations and protracted relief and recoveryoperations urgently in need of resources listed below.
PART II - DETAILS
A. ANGOLA
1. UPDATE - information as of 12 January
1.1 General: WFP will shortly start a new quick action project (Angola 6020) aimed at improving the nutritional status of children under five in peri-urban areas of Angola through the provision of two meals per day to children attending Community Infant Programme Centres (PICs). The implementation of the project through day-care facilities will also provide opportunities to the mothers of children-beneficiaries to pursue income-generating activities. WFP is in the process of establishing the implementation procedures with MINARS.
1.2 Security: Due to recent landmine incidents in Moxico humanitarian staff (UN and NGO) have been advised to apply additional caution when travelling in the area. Tension is growing along the Zambian border, but no cross-border attacks have been reported. More than 10,000 have crossed the border into Zambia since October.
1.3 Provincial highlights:
a) Uige: The local authorities inform that as of 5 January, the airstrip of Negage is closed for 10 days for repairs. The military commander of Uige has agreed that the UN could have access to the airstrip of Uige in cases of emergency.
b) Bie: Because of the poor condition of the runway, the Kuito airstrip was closed for five days (7-11 January) and will close for another week as of 14 January for repairs.
c) Benguela: The nutritional situation of the population of Balombo and Ganda (among both internally displaced persons and residents) is rapidly deteriorating. In Ganda, Action Contre la Faim has identified a global malnutrition rate of 21.1 percent among IDPs. In December, WFP only managed to cover the pressing needs of beneficiaries in Balombo and Ganda nutritional and therapeutic centres, school canteens and collective kitchens by organizing rotations of a small Beechcraft plane from Catumbela. WFP now plans to send small road convoys from Lobito to Balombo and Ganda on a commercial basis, although lack of bridges along both ways forces WFP to arrange costly transhipment operations. Clearance from the Angolan Ministry of Transport on the placement of the a cargo aircraft at Lobito is still awaited.
d) Huambo: On 5 January, a meeting of UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in nutrition and health projects took place in Caala. Local, municipal and communal authorities also attended the meeting, which focused on humanitarian assistance in Caala, where malnutrition rates were high in November, with global malnutrition as high as 23.3 percent and severe malnutrition 5.8 percent. ICRC is re-registering the resident population of Caala to better target beneficiaries. MSF/F presented a detailed list of perceived health/nutrition needs. WFP assistance will be further reinforced through the creation of more Community Infant Programme Centres, community kitchens and food-for-work projects.
e) Huila: 130 persons (all men except for 10 young children and 3 women), originating from the areas of Ngove (Huambo Province), Dirico/Calai (Kuando Kubango Province) and Cunene Province have been concentrated by MINARS in the MINARS transit centre, while waiting to be repatriated to their areas of origin. MINARS' objective is to support them with food aid until their return can be organized.
f) Kuando Kubango: The Angolan NGO Cooperativa Mbembua has informed the WFP sub-office in Menongue that there are some 1,200 new IDPs stationed in Cavanga (90 km south of Menongue) on the road to Caiundo and an unknown number of IPDs moving towards Caiundo from the south (Mucumbi, Chimbueta, Savate) in search of food. Due to the high insecurity existing on the road to Caiundo, WFP is exploring the possibility of organizing an evaluation mission to Caiundo by air.
g) Malange: At the end of December, MINARS reported that 6,600 new IDPs had arrived in the city of Cangandala (south of the city of Malange), fleeing on-going military tension in Bemba, Cambundi-Catembo and Lukembo. WFP and other humanitarian agencies operating in Malange could not confirm the numbers as Cangandala is located outside the security range of humanitarian organizations.
h) Uige: A verification of beneficiaries in the therapeutic and supplementary feeding centres of Uige and Negage, led by WFP with the participation of CUAMM, Cooperacao Internacional i Cultural and MINARS, revealed the presence of 279 children at the centres, of whom 53 percent are residents, in Uige and 128 children, of whom only 2 percent are residents, in Negage. In Uige, the high attendance of resident children is due to the low food stocks available during the lean season. MSF/S have announced that they would shortly commence specialized feeding programmes with WFP food in Uige, which should alleviate the current malnutrition problem experienced in Uige until the next harvest.
1.4 Congolese refugees:
a) On 6 January, a joint WFP/UNHCR/MINARS mission went to Caxito, Bengo Province, to register the Congolese refugees who have been living in the Boa Esperanca camp for the last 17 years awaiting repatriation. A total of 550 refugees, mostly women and children, were registered. Precise information on the expected time frame of food aid needs and programme, repatriation and/or settlement, is awaited from UNHCR.
b) On 11-13 January, another WFP/UNHCR joint mission was organized to the camps of Kikuxi and Caop in the Municipality of Viana (Luanda Province), to register the 6,133 refugees who are accommodated there.
c) As of December 1999, Congolese refugees have been reinserted into the WFP distribution plan as a joint WFP/UNHCR mission, conducted in October 1999, concluded that their nutritional status had deteriorated over the previous six months.
B. NAMIBIA
1. ASSISTANCE TO ANGOLAN REFUGEES
1.1 A new WFP emergency operation (EMOP 6206) for Angolan refugees in Namibia, approved on 10 January, will provide 750 tons of food commodities (maize meal, pulses, oil, fortified CSB, sugar and salt) for 7,500 beneficiaries at the total WFP cost of USD 480,000.
1.2 This emergency operation aims at providing food assistance, through the Government of Namibia and UNHCR, to refugees in Osire camp. The assistance, initially planned for six months, will protect these refugees from hunger and malnutrition and sustain them until security is re-established in their home provinces.
1.3 WFP assistance is intended to provide food rations for the refugee population in the camp and proceed with supplementary feeding whenever the general ration proves inadequate. In order to bridge the time required to receive pledges from donors, WFP may use its immediate response account (IRA) account to start distribution immediately.
1.4 The refugee population crossing into Namibia is brought by UNHCR to Osire Camp, which is located 250 km north-east of the capital Windhoek in Otjozondupa region. The refugee population has now reached some 7,500 people, most of them (95 percent) from Angola and others (5 percent) from DR Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. With the continued insecurity along the border, the number of Angolans crossing into Namibia is expected to rise.
1.5 The Angolan refugees come from the provinces of Huambo, Huila, Kuando Kubango, Namibe and Luanda.
C. BURKINA FASO
1. ASSISTANCE FOR BURKINABE POPULATION FROM IVORY COAST
1.1 On 21 December WFP approved an emergency operation (EMOP 6209) to provide food assistance to 12,000 persons belonging to Burkinabe community who recently fled the area of Tebou, Ivory Coast, due to insecurity and crossed back to Burkina Faso. The operation will provide a total of 340 tons of assorted food to be purchased locally for 12,000 beneficiaries for the period of 50 days at the WFP cost of USD 200,000. WFP will offer initial necessary food aid to help the beneficiaries resettle in their villages of origin.
1.2 Following a land tenure dispute in early November 1999 in the Tabou region, Ivory Coast, many members of the Burkinabe community were forced to flee back to their home country. They arrived in the provinces of Poni, Passore, Yatenga, Kouritenga and Boulkemde. About 70 percent of the displaced people are women and children. It is estimated that the coping mechanism of the beneficiaries is very low and that the receiving provinces are among the poorest in the country.
D. EAST AFRICA: UGANDA AND TANZANIA
1. UGANDA - information as of 13 January
1.1 Security conditions in the district of Bundibugyo, in western Uganda along the border with D.R. Congo, remain precarious. Rebel attacks and military activity have intensified in the area since mid-December. Attacks along the main transport routes in the district and attacks on the camps for displaced persons continue to be reported, although the military are now providing protection to the camps for displaced persons.
1.2 Humanitarian activities in Bundibugyo, which involve assistance to some 105,000 displaced persons in the district, have been affected by the insecurity. Most activities have been put on hold and aid staff relocated to Fort Portal, in the neighbouring district of Kabarole, or to Kampala, awaiting security clearance. WFP is ready to resume food deliveries and food distributions once clearance is received and improved protection measures are put in place for its food convoys.
1.3 After almost one year of peace and security, the situation in the northern districts of Gulu and Kitgum has once again deteriorated. Rebel movements were first reported at the end of December and since then various attacks have taken place. Convoys with military escorts have been reinstated along the main roads but some routes are out of bounds. Staff and food movements outside of Gulu and Kitgum are currently restricted, while waiting for clearance from the authorities.
1.4 As a result of the recent security incidents, thousands of displaced Ugandans who had gone back to their homes, are reportedly returning to the relative safety of the protected camps. Many of these persons left hurriedly leaving behind most of their possessions. The food situation in the camps closer to the border with Sudan is reportedly deteriorating, bit it is stable in the other camps.
1.5 WFP has been assisting displaced Ugandans in Gulu and Kitgum since early 1997. As of last December, the number of persons receiving food assistance amounted to 312,000 persons. In addition WFP provides food to 60,000 school children in both districts that benefit from a daily cooked meal. The last food distributions in Gulu and Kitgum were carried out in mid December.
2. TANZANIA - information as of 12 January
2.1 In the second half of December, over 15,000 new Burundian refugees arrived in Tanzania, mostly to the district of Kibondo. The official refugee caseload as of the beginning of 2000 stands at approximately 424,300 refugees. WFP provides full food rations to all the refugees. During 1999 over 71,000 tons of WFP commodities were distributed in the camps. The new refugees are being accommodated at the camp of Karago, after all the empty plots in Nduta and Mtendeli were occupied. Karago camp was officially opened on 23 December and has now close to 15,000 refugees, representing more that half of the camp's capacity.
2.2 During the last food distributions of December there was a shortage of corn-soya blend and this commodity was not included in the ration distributed. The small quantity available was reserved for special feeding programmes and new arrivals. Stocks of corn-soya blend have now arrived at the camps and will be included in the next distribution cycle.
E. INDIA - ORISSA CYCLONE
1. ASSISTANCE TO CYCLONE-AFFECTED POPULATION
1.1 WFP continues to provide food assistance to victims of the two severe cyclones which hit the Indian state of Orissa on 18 and 29 October 1999. The WFP activities have been designed to support the Government's relief and rehabilitation efforts. To date, WFP has made available the following quantities of food aid to the relief and rehabilitation effort: 234 tons of high energy biscuits, 1,122 tons of rice and 2,554 tons of blended food. WFP food aid has so far been distributed through the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme and some through the Indian Red Cross, the Council for Professional Social Workers (CPSW) and ActionAid.
1.2 Following the 29 October cyclone WFP, in consultation with the Government of India started a small immediate response emergency operation (EMOP 6192) which was approved at the total cost of USD 200,000 to assist 234,000 cyclone-affected persons in Orissa. WFP also requested donors for additional directed multilateral contributions for expanding its two existing development projects (IND 2206: Support to the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and IND 5569: Food Security in Tribal Areas through Forestry Activities).
1.3 To date, donors have confirmed only 11 percent of the additional resourcing for the expansion of development activities (4,768 tons out of 42,070 tons requirement). Pledges have been confirmed by Germany, DFID/UK, Australia, Spain. The initial short EMOP 6192 was fully resourced.
1.4 WFP staff is permanently present in Orissa in order to effectively manage the increase in humanitarian deliveries for Orissa. Additionally, in order to implement its rehabilitation activities WFP has been actively seeking to extend its partnership with NGOs and has recently received proposals for food-for-work projects from ActionAid, CPSW, CARE, OXFAM, and IFRC. WFP continues to serve as the focal agency for UN/NGO coordination.
1.5 WFP is currently preparing further rehabilitation activities to assist a total of 425,000 beneficiaries in two badly affected coastal districts of Orissa, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur. Beneficiaries will include vulnerable women and children through expanded Integrated Child Development Services, school children and workers engaged in rehabilitation activities and their families.
F. SELECTED WFP RELIEF OPERATIONS CURRENTLY FACING RESOURCING SHORTFALLS
1. UPDATE - information as of 13 January
1.1 The WFP operations listed below may face serious pipeline problems in the coming months if donors' proposals already submitted and/or new contributions are not confirmed shortly:
- Democratic People's Republic of Korea EMOP 5959.01. Emergency assistance for vulnerable groups. Duration: 1 July 1999 - 30 June 2000. Number of planned beneficiaries: 5.2 million. Current estimated 2000 shortfall: 421,000 metric tons - USD 188 million. Pipeline break expected in May (cereals and sugar).
- D.R. Congo EMOP 6110. Assistance to war-affected people and vulnerable groups. Duration: six months. Number of planned beneficiaries: 350,000. Current estimated 2000 shortfall 25,000 metric tons - USD 20 million. Pipeline breaks: CSB and sugar - immediate; maize meal - April; pulses- June.
- Afghanistan PRRO 6159. Assistance to war-affected people. Duration: 1 January 2000 - 31 December 2001. Number of planned beneficiaries: 2.5 million. Current estimated 2000 shortfall: 189,000 metric tons - USD 142 million. Pipeline break is expected in April - May (wheat).
- Angola PRRO 6159. Assistance to war-affected persons. Duration: 1 January - 31 December 2000. Number of planned beneficiaries 1.1 million. Current estimated 2000 shortfall: 189,000 metric tons - USD 142 million. Pipeline break is expected in April (maize, CSB, pulses).
- Venezuela EMOP 6210. Emergency food assistance for flood victims. Duration: 1 January - 30 May 2000. Number of planned beneficiaries: 110,000. Current estimated 2000 shortfall: 9,300 tons - USD 5 million.
Note: all tonnage figures in report above refer to metric tons
(End WFP Emergency Report No. 2 of 2000 - January 13, 2000)