HIGHLIGHTS
ERREC and OCHA facilitated and held
a meeting with partners on CAP-2003 Mid Year Review on 17 April 2003;
The response to the food crisis appealed by WFP under CAP reaches 32%;
The Eritrea National Committee for the Coordination of Combating Drought bought and distributed 10,000 MT food commodities to drought affected population in three zones and plans to buy additional 8000 MT;
The Security Council called on both Ethiopia and Eritrea to cooperate fully and promptly with the Boundary Commission;
UNHCR says 36,000 Eritrean refugees registered and waiting for Voluntary Repatriation to Eritrea from Sudan;
Rainstorm had destroyed 420 tents in Mai-Wurai IDP camp;
OCHA facilitated a second mission for UN Country team members to donor countries for further assistance to drought in Eritrea;
CAP- 2003 MID-YEAR REVIEW MEETING TOOK PLACE
A meeting on CAP-2003 Mid-Year Review was held on 17 April 2003.
During the meeting participants shared information and discussed on the prevailing humanitarian situation in Eritrea. After a brief discussion the meeting came up with specific tasks which include:
- Review the needs and figures of the target population
- prioritise intervention areas
- Concretise life saving interventions
- Involve NGOs in the process
- Consolidate different humanitarian assistance and interventions onto the equation i.e. inputs from Government, Bilateral, Diaspora and Internal contributions, NGOs and International organisations.
The meeting was facilitated by ERREC and OCHA. 35 participants from relevant Government ministries, UN Agencies, Donors, ICRC and NGOs attended the meeting.
DROUGHT UPDATE
The pledge situation remains inadequate despite the continuous calls from ERREC and UN Country Team. As a result of the low pledge only about 1.4 million out of 2.3 million of the drought affected population are currently being reached by food distribution that are limited to 60% of standard ration. WFP confirmed that the response of food aid against the CAP-2003 appeal reached 32% (USD 32 million). The impact of the pledges made so far are minimal as only smaller proportion has been delivered.
For example, villagers in Gash Barka have begun to migrate to neighbouring areas in search of day labour in order to survive.
ICC field officers in their mission from 24 March to 14 April 2003 to Debub have also observed migration of households specifically from villages in Mai-Mine and Areza sub zone (70 households) to urban area such as to Mendefera and towns nearby in search of employment.
Similarly, villagers have noted that food security problems have been compounded in recent months by limited purchasing power. In Anseba region the price of available food has nearly doubled. It has been reported in the Debub region, that coping mechanisms have stretched to collecting roots of the wild trees.
Water shortages continued to worsen in many parts of the country and severe water shortages are feared during the coming months. The lack of available fodder and water is having critical effects on livestock across the country.
ERITREA DROUGHT COMMITTEE DISTRIBUTES FOOD AID
The Eritrea National Committee for the Coordination of Combating Drought bought and distributed 10,000 MT food to 525,062 drought affected population in three zones namely Debub (179,484), Anseba (179,000) and Gash Barka (166, 578) and plans to buy additional 8000 MT to cover other areas affected by drought. The food stuff is being procured from the contributions made by Eritreans in and out side the country.
UN Country Team Visited North America for Further Appeal
Further to the Geneva donor briefing mission organized in February this year, OCHA facilitated another mission to Washington DC, New York and Ottawa for senior UN country representatives in March 2003. One of the main objectives of the mission to donor countries was to alert the donors on the serious humanitarian emergency caused by drought in Eritrea.
The UN Country Team members led by Mr. Simon Nhongo, Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator had been able to share the current humanitarian crisis in Eritrea and its consequence unless reversed by adequate humanitarian assistance from donors.
Mr. Simon Nhongo after the mission in his interview with IRIN said, "The situation is really quite desperate and dire as the normal coping mechanisms are already almost completely exhausted."
PEACE PROCESS
The Security Council in its 14 March 2003 meeting called on both Ethiopia and Eritrea to cooperate fully and promptly with the Boundary Commission in its delimiting and demarcating activities, to implement fully the Commission's binding Demarcation Directions and to abide promptly by all its orders.
The Council, in its resolution, also expressed its concern on the worsening humanitarian situation caused by drought and war in Eritrea and Ethiopia and the implications it could have for the peace process. In that regard, the Council called on Member States to continue to provide prompt and adequate support for humanitarian operations.
MINE INCIDENTS
An incident occurred on 30 March 2003 when a shepherd stepped on and detonated two landmines in a marked mined area at Girme in Gash Barka zone. In line with this, a 35-year-old person from Tokombia was killed on 23 March 2003 after detonating a land mine out side Shilalo.
POPULATION MOVEMENT
IDPs
There has been no movement of IDPs recently. Expellees residing in Shelab camp would be resettled tentatively by the end of May 2003.
Preparation has been going on by the Local Administration of Gash Barka and UNDP/PoWER to resettle 8,570 people expelled from Ethiopia permanently.
Repatriation of Nationals
On 10 April ICRC reunited two Eritreans with their families. ICRC has facilitated the repatriation of the two Eritreans from Ethiopia via Nairobi. According to report from ICRC the two Eritreans who were in poor health condition had lost touch with their families since the border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia in 1998.
Repatriation from Sudan
The voluntary repatriation programme of Eritrean refugees from Sudan has not resumed as planned. Currently, there are about 36,000 Eritrean refugees who have registered for return to Eritrea. The voluntary repatriation operation, organized by UNHCR and the Governments of Eritrea and Sudan, began in 2000 with the return of Eritreans who fled the May-June border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Right after the repatriation of the new caseload, in May 2001, UNHCR began to repatriate refugees who had been living in camps since the 1960's.
So far, since July 2000, UNHCR has repatriated 103,000 Eritrean refugees to their country under the voluntary repatriation programme.
SECTORAL UPDATE
Education
The Education Sectoral Working Group in its recent meeting discussed on going projects of rehabilitation of schools in Gash Barka, Debub, Northen Red Sea and Anseba zones. In addition, the group reported that School-feeding programme was encountering water shortage to carry out wet feeding.
So far, there are 115 schools under school feeding programme.
Food Security
Reports from Nairobi based meteorological information management; the agricultural outlook for the country is not encouraging. There have not been signs of Azmara rain. Nevertheless, the MoA together with members of the Food Security Sectoral Working Group is striving to secure seed for farmers for the coming planting season. The Ministry appealed for 16,247 MT of assorted seeds. The pledges secured yet are 17% from ERP and 30 % from NGOs and FAO. The MoA renewed its appeal in the past meeting of the SWG to partners to step up their efforts to provide farmers with adequate amount of seed before the rainy season.
As regards to livestock condition, ICC Field Officer on 14 April reported that Farmers in Mai-Mine sub zone are loosing their livestock due to drought. In two villages of the sub zone alone villagers have lost 117 livestock. Similar incident had been reported from Anseba where 14, 362 livestock died in five Local Administrations namely: Aget, Gulbub, Kelhamet, Camchewa and Naro in Afabet sub-zone. New reports are being received of sudden increases of deaths from nearly all areas of the country.
Health and Nutrition
The Ministry of Health is under final preparation to carry out a nation-wide nutrition assessment to see the impact of the drought in a bigger picture.
With the assistance of a nutrition expert hired by WFP for MoH, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has set up a technical group to advice the Nutrition Unit of the MoH on matters related to information management. The information management among others will include harmonization of survey methods, data quality assurance, reliability of data, timely dissemination and appropriate utilization of information.
Shelter and Household Items
ICC field officers reported that on 31 March 2003 a stormy rainfall had destroyed 420 tents in Mai-Wurai IDP camp. Currently, ICRC is distributing tents and tarpaulins to families whose tents are worn out. The tents and tarpaulins available in ICRC stock are reported to be short to meet the existing demand in the IDP camps.
Water and Sanitation
Although, a comprehensive report of current assessment made by the Water and Sanitation Sectoral Working Group is under compilation, in the meantime they indicated that the situation is worrisome.
In Nakfa and Gelalo sub zones, the problem of drinkable water is becoming very acute.
Recent ICC field assessment to Debub zone reveals that the water situation is seriously bad. For instance in Senafe sub zone out of eight micro dams six have dried up rendering acute water supply problem to the communities and small irrigation activities. In addition, the field visit showed that similar water problem exists in other four sub zones visited namely: Areza, Maimine, Segeneiti and Debarwa. The water situation remains depressed in other parts of the country including in some IDP camps such as Dembe-Doran.
For further information relating to the ICC Update please contact ICC Information Officer Sirak Gebrehiwot, Tel: 182923, 185154 or email icc@gemel.com.er