WFP Emergency Report No. 08

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Title: [SW News](WFP) WFP Emergency Report No. 08 - Africa
From:[]
Date :[March 01, 2000 10:14 PM EST ]

WFP Emergency Report No. 08 - Africa

Story Filed: Wednesday, March 01, 2000 10:14 PM EST

Rome (World Food Programme, March 1, 2000) - This report includes: A) Mozambique - floods B) Ethiopia C) Somalia D) Angola E) Sierra Leone. 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 (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. PART I - HIGHLIGHTS (Details below in Part II) A. MOZAMBIQUE 1. Flood relief operations - information as of 28 February a) Expanded humanitarian assistance urgently needed for victims of the recent floods and cyclones. Hundreds of thousands of people still stranded, as additional flood waters engulf the hardest hit areas. Opening of the spillway gates of the Kariba dam on the Zambezi River on 27 February expected to cause further flooding. b) Immediate support is required to search, rescue and care for up to 300,000 people. c) As initial step in what will be a larger operation, WFP emergency operation (EMOP 6225) approved on 24 February, to provide food to approximately 110,000 for three months. d) A further USD 2.8 million special operation approved for WFP to increase its air power to search and rescue survivors, as well as transport food and non-food aid. e) Some 1,200 tons of relief food have been shuttled to 50 key delivery points by WFP using fleet of seven helicopters and five aircraft from the South African National Defense Force. The food is being distributed to over 100,000 people with the help of local authorities, NGOs, church groups, and area residents. WFP staff are spread throughout the southern and central regions to run the logistics operation, oversee food distributions and monitor the situation. B. ETHIOPIA 1. WFP EMOP VICTIMS OF NATURAL DISASTER - information as of 25 February a) New emergency operation (EMOP 6218) approved by WFP on 25 February; total cost USD 137 million; food needs are 217,360 metric tons of cereals and 32,640 metric tons of blended food. Operation is to feed 2.3 million victims of natural disasters for a nine month period 1 April - 31 December 2000; in agreement with the Government, WFP is to provide one-third of the food required for total 8 million people in need of food aid. C. SOMALIA 1. Update - information as of 23 February a) WFP distributes 260 tons of food aid to over 200,000 people in Wajid district in late January; second convoy, carrying 570 tons of WFP food departed Merca on 22 February, scheduled to arrive in the districts of El Berde, Rabdure and Wajid, at the end of February. Distributions previously limited by insecurity in the region, which borders Ethiopia. D. ANGOLA 1. Update - information as of 23 February a) Food flights into Kuito still restricted due to heavy rains and slow progress in repairs airport; food stocks insufficient to cover required distributions. WFP to augment food deliveries with an L-100 Hercules. Deterioration of airstrip in Kuito Kuanavale in Kuando Kubango province also requires switch to L-100 Hercules. b) In Huambo, joint registration teams temporarily suspend the registration of more 22,000 IDPs living in Casseque III camp. c) In Uige province, Negage airport reopens after several week of closure. E. SIERRA LEONE 1. UPDATE - information as of 23 February a) WFP and NGOs distribute a one- off vulnerable group feeding (VGF) ration to 17,522 beneficiaries in Lower Yoni Chiefdom, Tonkolili district, inaccessible for most of 1999, and severely affected by the fighting. b) WFP emergency school-feeding programme expanding rapidly up-country. c) HACU and WFP lead mission to Makeni on 18 February for discussions with the Revolutionary United Front Party (RUFP) military command on humanitarian access to the Masingbi-Magburaka-Matatoka axis. PART II - DETAILS A. MOZAMBIQUE - FLOOD OPERATIONS 1. UPDATE - information as of 28 February 1.1 The situation for hundreds of thousands of Mozambicans stranded by recent floods and cyclones is worsening and people will increasingly run the risk of illness and starvation if humanitarian assistance is not immediately expanded. 1.2 Over the past five days, an additional four to eight meters of flood waters have engulfed the country's hardest hit areas caused by an overflowing of dams in Southern Africa and Zimbabwe. The opening of the spillway gates of the Kariba dam on the Zambezi River 27 February will cause further flooding. 1.3 In response to the growing crisis, WFP is launching a massive emergency aid operation for the country -- and potentially the region. The food aid agency already estimates that immediate support is required to search, rescue and care for up to 300,000 people. 1.4 As an initial step, WFP has asked donors to fund a USD 4 million feeding operation (EMOP 6225), which was approved on 24 February, to ensure food supplies for approximately 110,000 people for the next three months. A further USD 2.8 million special operation has been approved for WFP to increase its air power to search and rescue survivors, as well as transport food and non-food aid. But WFP will need even further support from donors for the bigger operation that will follow. 1.5 The most critically hit areas are inaccessible by road, as the heavy flood waters washed away entire sections of the country's main transportation network and completely submerged many secondary roads reported WFP staff in the field. Private trucks attempting to ferry commercial food supplies and other urgent items such as water, fuel, and kerosene are reportedly getting stuck en route. 1.6 Using a fleet of seven helicopters and five aircraft from the South African National Defense Force, WFP has already shuttled some 1,200 metric tons of maize, pulses, sugar and oil to over 50 key delivery points in badly hit districts. The food is being distributed to over 100,000 people with the help of local authorities, non-governmental agencies, church groups, and area residents. 1.7 A large WFP team is spread out throughout the country's southern and central regions to run the logistics operation, oversee food distributions, monitor the conditions of the people and report on other humanitarian needs that are developing as the crisis continues. 1.8 WFP staff report that in some villages thousands of people are living precariously huddled in the few public buildings still above water and other makeshift shelters. Most have lost their homes, crops, livestock, and personal possessions. 1.9 WFP staff working in Beira, Mozambique's largest and busiest port, reported that cyclone Elina sank four ships docked in the port's channel. As a result, port activities have been severely hampered. WFP has 365 tons emergency food supplies waiting to be cleared from the port for emergency distribution in flood-struck areas in the central region of the country. 2. Web sources for updates on the flood situation, relief operations and maps: 2.1 Map of Mozambique showing areas of Flood Affected Population - prepared by WFP Vulnerability and Analysis Unit (VAM), Maputo, is available on the ReliefWeb Map Centre at http://www.reliefweb.int/mapc/afr-sth/cnt/moz/moz- wfp.html or go to at http://www.reliefweb.int and click on Map Centre. 2.2 Yahoo World News full coverage section on Mozambique floods, with links to various news sources is at http://fullcoverage.yahoo.com/fc/World/Mozambique/ 2.3 Maps of Mozambique and region found at UN Cartographic Section (click on General Maps) at http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/htmain.htm and via Univ. of Texas at Austin PCL Map Collection at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map-collection/ B. ETHIOPIA 1. WFP EMOP FOR VICTIMS OF NATURAL DISASTER - information as of 25 February 1.1 WFP on 25 February approved a USD 137 million emergency operation in Ethiopia (EMOP 6218) to feed 2.3 million victims of natural disasters for a nine month period from 1 April to 31 December 2000. A total of 250,000 metric tons of food aid is required (217,360 metric tons of cereals and 32,640 metric tons of blended food). 1.2 According to the Ethiopian Government's Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Commission (DPPC), drought, excessive rainfall, frost, black beetle and crop damage due to hail will force eight million people in Ethiopia (of the total population of around 60 million) to depend on food aid this year. As agreed with the government, WFP will provide one-third of the food requested under the Government appeal. 1.3 Up to a third of Ethiopians live in areas which chronically suffer from food shortages. Many more, however, have lost their assets and their livestock over the past year and have had to mortgage their future crops. This has caused them to join the numbers already receiving food distributions. 1.4 A major cause for the current crisis was the poor harvest of the Meher, or main agriculture season. The late rains of the secondary season, the Belg, resulted in poor land preparation, late planting and short term, low-yielding crops. 1.5 WFP is especially concerned about the conditions in 58 crisis woredas, or districts, where WFP will concentrate on minimizing the dilution of rations and, through supplementary feeding, increase the nutritional level of the most vulnerable. 1.6 In the Somali and Afar regions, more than 1.3 million pastoralists need food aid because of the serious effects of the prolonged drought in the area; in some places four years have passed without a significant rainfall. In recent months, WFP has provided food aid to about 1.5 million people in the Somali region as well as supplementary food to approximately 26,000 of the most vulnerable people in two districts. Health interventions and non-food items are still badly needed. The continued insecurity in parts of Somali region has made assessments and monitoring more difficult. WFP, working through its local non- governmental organization (NGO) partners, the Ogaden Welfare Society (OWS) and Pastoral Concern Association of Ethiopia, PCAE, has over 60 food monitors in the region to oversee the targeting of distributions to the most vulnerable. C. SOMALIA 1. UPDATE - information as of 23 February 1.1 WFP distributions to Bakool region a) WFP distributed some 260 tons of food aid to over 200,000 people in Wajid district in late January. A second convoy, carrying some 570 tons of WFP food departed from Merca on 22 February and is scheduled to arrive in the districts of El Berde, Rabdure and Wajid, bordering with Ethiopia, at the end of February. This will be the first distribution to Rabdure since March 1999 and to El Berde since September. In the past, distributions have been limited by the insecurity in the region. b) The lack of rains during the past three seasons has greatly affected the food security of the agro-pastoral populations in Hudur and Wajid districts of Bakool region causing a large number of people to move towards the Ethiopian border in search of food and water. Livestock, particularly cattle, which are the main livelihood of the agro-pastoral community, are expected to be at greater risk during the coming dry Jilal season up to March. D. ANGOLA 1. UPDATE - information as of 23 February 1.1 Security update: among other security incidents reported recently, in Lunda Norte constant attacks against traffic on the Lucapa-Dundo corridor were reported last week. The most serious of these occurred in the zone of Caxia- xia, 35 km north of Lucapa, in which 14 people were killed. The week before it was reported that the security situation within the limits of Malange and immediate surroundings remains stable, and safe circulation of traffic is possible up to 40 km from the city, towards the municipalities of Kangandala, Kalandula and Cacuso. In Huila, IDPs continue to arrive in Matala area because of unrest in the area. 1.2 Bie: Due to the heavy rains and the slow progress of repairs to Kuito airport, food flights into the city are still restricted and stocks are lower then required to cover needed distributions. WFP plans to make use of an L-100 Hercules to augment food deliveries, as it can land in rougher airstrip conditions. The operating cost of an L-100 is substantially higher than the B- 727 aircraft currently under contract, but which is having problems because of the condition of the airstrip. Due to the deterioration of the runway, the Civil Aviation Authority is restricting traffic by closing the airstrip each weekend, from Friday noon until Monday morning. 1.3 Huambo: Joint registration teams consisting of representatives of WFP, SCF-UK and MINARS were forced to temporarily suspend the registration of more 22,000 IDPs living in Casseque III camp, the largest in Huambo, as many IDPs have been attempting to receive more than one ration card per family. 1.4 Uige: Negage airport reopened last week after several week of closure which threatened the operation of humanitarian agencies in Uige Province. WFP had been forced to prioritize food transport and distributions to beneficiaries to only the most vulnerable during the period of closure. 1.5 Kuando Kubango: During the week ending 16 February, WFP began sending an L-100 Hercules cargo aircraft to Kuito Kuanavale as the airstrip had deteriorated too much to continue using Boeing 727 aircraft. The L-100 is based in Luanda, and carries food to Kuito Kuanavale both from that base and from the Menongue sub-office. E. SIERRA LEONE 1. UPDATE - information as of 23 February 1.1 WFP in collaboration with CARE, SHARE and Future in Our Hands (FIOH), FHADA distributed a one-off vulnerable group feeding (VGF) ration amounting to a total of 270 tons of assorted food aid commodities to 17,522 beneficiaries, the most vulnerable population in 114 villages in Lower Yoni Chiefdom, Tonkolili district on the 22 and 23 of February. Lower Yoni was severely affected by last year's fighting and remained inaccessible to humanitarian agencies for most of 1999. Due to low level harvests and mass looting of already scarce food supplies, Tonkolili district chiefdoms populations are exposed to a high risk of food shortages. Recent assessments showed that more than half of the 34,000 people living in Lower Yoni had little or no access to food, as most farmers were prevented from planting last year. 1.2 The WFP emergency school-feeding programme is expanding rapidly up- country. During the period 16-23 February WFP-Kenema fed a total of 15, 324 school children in 27 schools in Kenema district. WFP also fed 5,777 students in 22 schools in five chiefdoms in Moyamba. Additional schools are currently being assessed by WFP. 1.3 On 18 February WFP co-led a mission with HACU to Makeni to finalise discussions with the Revolutionary United Front Party (RUFP) military command on humanitarian access to the Masingbi-Magburaka-Matatoka axis. The mission also included the RUFP Humanitarian Co-ordinator. The mission team confirmed that the security situation in the Makeni area is adequate for the cautious resumption of humanitarian programmes. Earlier, from 9-11 February, the WFP Country Office had led a multi-sectoral, UN/INGO assessment mission to Makeni, Magburaka and Matotoka. WFP in collaboration with CARE and CARITAS assessed the resident and IDP population in Makeni township and surrounding villages. WFP also assessed 15 schools in Makeni township in collaboration with COOPI, UNICEF and EC/SLRRP. The general recommendations include follow-up of food security, identifying vulnerable groups for targeted feeding programmes such as selective feeding, food for work, food for agriculture and vulnerable group feeding. 1.4 The WFP logistics unit continues to collaborate with UNAMSIL on the rehabilitation of the Freetown Port shed, and road rehabilitation projects. Further co-operation on logistics issues is planned. 1.5 Last year, WFP delivered over 14,000 metric tons of food aid to Sierra Leone. Every month on average 105,000 people were fed through vulnerable group feeding, school feeding, training, agriculture, nutrition and road rehabilitation programmes. Note: all tonnage figures in report above refer to metric tons (End WFP Emergency Report No. 08 of 2000 - February 25, 2000) Distributed via Africa News Online.

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