ICC Humanitarian Update 30 Jul 2001

SUMMARY
A two-day Workshop facilitated by UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was held at Embasoira Hotel on 26-27 July 2001 to pave way for the Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP-2002). IDPs movement and repatriation of Eritrean refugees from Sudan has slowed down. So far around 170,000 IDPs have returned to their home villages and about 69,975 IDPs are staying in the existing and newly established temporary camps until their home areas are safe. Between 12 May and 8 July 2001, 20,907 Eritrean refugees returned home from Sudan with the assistance of UNHCR.

PEACE PROCESS

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan attended the Lusaka Organization of the African Unity (OAU) Summit. Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Eritrea and Ethiopia also attended the meeting. In his statement to the OAU, the Secretary General praised the Organization for its efforts to bring peace to Eritrea and Ethiopia and its collaboration with UNMEE. The UN Secretary General held meetings with the Eritrean President and Ethiopian prime minister, accompanied by the SRSG Mr. Legwaila. At the summit Mr. Legwiala also met the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, and senior officials from other UN agencies and programmes, to discuss the situation in Eritrea and Ethiopia and ways the UN can make a greater contribution.

CONSOLIDATED APPEAL PROCESS (CAP-2002)

A two-day CAP workshop facilitated by OCHA was held at Embasoira Hotel, Asmara on 26-27 July 2001 where donors, UN agencies, ERREC, Line ministries and NGOs have participated. The main objective of the workshop was to discuss, with humanitarian actors in Eritrea, the development and production of a consolidated appeal for humanitarian assistance for affected population in 2002. Major issues highlighted during this workshop are the need for the Government, UN agencies and NGOs to consolidate their efforts to assist both the war and drought affected population. The meeting further agreed the establishment of a CAP committee composed of focal persons from various humanitarian actors that will coordinate the activities of the appeal process. The CAP-2002 document is expected in Geneva by 07 October in time for the global CAP launch to be made on 27 November this year.

POPULATION MOVEMENTS

Exchange of Nationals

Between 5-30 July, 839 Ethiopian nationals from Eritrea and one Eritrean national from Ethiopia were repatriated with the assistance of ICRC. ICRC has facilitated the repatriation of 20,868 Ethiopians from Eritrea and 2,659 Eritreans from Ethiopia since the signing of the peace agreement between the two countries on 12 December 2000.

IDPs

Return movement of IDPs to their home areas by ERREC has slowed down in the past weeks as majority has returned home. Organized return brought back home some 170,000 IDPs.

However about 69,975 are still not able to return home and are staying in either existing or newly established camps (See the table above). In Gash Barka 41,044 IDPs are in the camps of Adi-Keshi, Korokon, Shelab and Dembe-Doran. In Debub 28,931IDPs are in temporary camps in Senafe and Tsorona sub-zones.

Repatriation from Sudan

UNHCR and ERREC have completed the first phase of repatriating Eritrean refugees from Sudan. A total of 20,907 refugees have been repatriated since 12 May when the exercise started. An additional 41,000 are expected to repatriate until the end of this year. In the second phase, more emphases will be made on reintegration of the refugees. There is need to rehabilitate and expand existing health centers, schools and water supply systems in the areas where the refugees are returning. Meanwhile, during the recent Reintegration of refugees review meeting, it was agreed that a Zonal Reintegration Committee would be established in Gash Barka to coordinate and facilitate the return and reintegration of refugees. This committee will also identify projects.

MINE ACTION

Mine Action Coordination Center (UNMACC) reported that a major effort is underway to address the safety concerns of IDPs returning to their homes. Mine action operations are continuing in the TSZ, including work by 240 humanitarian deminers from the Eritrean Demining Agency (EDA). HALO Trust has clearance, survey, marking and mechanical teams in action. Dan Church Aid (DCA) and the Danish Demining Group (DDG) have mechanical assets and rapid response teams working in the area. UNMACC disclosed that it is also working with Ethiopian authorities to obtain more minefield information. Other partners in the UN such as UNICEF and UNDP are also active in mine action programmes. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is undertaking a project to determine the parameters for establishing and enhancing the national mine action capacity in Eritrea. UNICEF continues to develop and support mine awareness projects in both countries. In addition, UNMACC reported that the donor countries are expressing increased interest in, and showing support for, mine action programmes. Currently, MACC's major efforts are focusing on marking dangerous areas and mine awareness about the dangers of land mine and UXOs. Landmine and UXOs are still a threat to thousands of population returning to their home village.

SECTORAL WORKING GROUPS (SWG)

Education

Ministry of Education in collaboration with UN agencies, World Bank, other bilateral donors and NGOs has been able to provide basic education for the children in IDPs camps. Makeshift classes, furniture and basic equipment have been provided and are moving with the returning population. However, the education facilities in the TSZ have been damaged and require rehabilitation. Currently, Ministry of Education is making assessment to come up with overall magnitude of the damage. Preparation to rehabilitate/reconstruct 30 schools is underway; in line with the effort being undertaken to re-deploy the makeshift classrooms from the camps to the schools in the TSZ and additional 40 makeshift classrooms are being manufactured for Debub zone. About 1,800 school desks are being produced, training for 615 teachers in pedagogic skills has started and educational supplies for 67,000 students have been prepared and fund has been allocated to procure school materials for another 10,000 students in sub-zones of Tsorona and Mai-Aini, Debub zone. The Ministry of Education has also been printing more than 800,000 textbooks to replace the lost textbooks in the TSZ.

Food Security

Despite the failure of the early rains in April and May, developments in June and July have been positive. In Debub July rains was fairly distributed with less breaks. Large areas of land have been ploughed but it is not clear how much has been planted. Rainfall patterns are best evaluated by monitoring the onset of season rains, distribution within the season and when it terminates. This year, it started slow in May, indicating below normal rainfall. This has affected the long and medium cycle crops such as Sorghum, Maize and Wheat and Barley respectively. In June, there was slight delay of the rains as well. However, it improved towards the end of June. The remaining part of the rainy season is suitable for short cycle crops, especially pulses such as Chickpeas. There is urgent need to provide Chickpeas in order to improve the food production this season. FAO is presenting a project proposal for 80 metric tons of Chickpeas seeds required to plant in 1,000 ha of land to benefit 5,000 persons. The project is expected to cost USD 161,000 to purchase seeds locally and make them available to farmers. This is a critical intervention that needs to be considered by Donors as soon as possible in order to improve the food security.

Shelter and Non-food Item

The Shelter SWG reported that UNDP through the Dutch funding is providing iron sheets for roofing doors and windows for 3,000 families (2,000 in Tsorona and 1000 in Senafe sub-zones). Agreement has been signed with Debub administration for implementation of the programme. Rehabilitation of 1,340 Agudos (traditional mud huts) has been completed by ICRC in Shambiko, while the rehabilitation of 70 houses in Senafe sub zones is progressing but slowly due to the rains. Assessment has been done in Bushuka and Shambiko areas for rehabilitation of more Agudos and is awaiting confirmation from the zone administration. Beneficiary selection is underway in Gash Barka zone to rehabilitate 2,400 houses in the zone. 60 houses have their roof repaired at Kisad Eka in Debub zone. IDPs have expressed concern about the tents in camps of Adi-Keshi, Korokon and Shelab as most of them are worn out; in the SWG it was reported that some NGOs will do assessment in the camps and will distribute new tents out of their existing stock.

WatSan

MSF-H will wind up their intervention on emergency WatSan activities. MoH requested MSF-H to assist in the forthcoming campaign of malaria control until the end of the rain season. The request is being considered. The secretariat of the WatSan SWG was asked to arrange a programme of field visit by its members to Debub and Gash Barka zones to monitor all ongoing activities carried out by their group and prepare an updated comprehensive report with an accompanying map.

SCHEDULE FOR NEXT SWG MEETINGS

NB: NGOs and Aid agencies are encouraged to share pictures of their recent activities with ICC.

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