Headlines

Malawi: Crisis and emergency-level food insecurity possible in 2012/13

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:19:02 +0000

Source: Famine Early Warning System Network

Country: Malawi

Crisis and Emergency-level food insecurity possible in 2012/13

Key Messages

Scenario analysis conducted by FEWS NET suggests that poor households in southern Malawi could face Crisis and Emergency level food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 and 4) during the 2012/13 consumption year, meaning that roughly one million people could require emergency assistance to meet basic food needs. While it is early in the consumption year conditions could improve, the Government of Malawi and its partners should begin response planning immediately.

Key drivers of food insecurity include:

Erratic performance of main season rainfall, including prolonged dry spells, and poor access to agricultural inputs, has resulted in below-average 2012 cereal and cash crop production in southern Malawi. Reduced crop production will limit household food stocks and labor opportunities. Strict border controls that reduce migration to Mozambique are likely to limit labor income further.
High retail prices for maize, driven in part by the impact of currency devaluation and depreciation on cereal prices and transport costs.

The Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) is in the midst of a detailed assessment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MoAFS) is conducting its third round crop production survey. Both assessments will allow for updated analysis and more definitive planning figures.

Sudan: Malnourished children among the thousands fleeing Nuba Mountains

Thu, 24 May 2012 14:51:01 +0000

Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Country: South Sudan (Republic of), Sudan (the)

YIDA, South Sudan, May 23 (UNHCR) – Truckloads of refugees are arriving in South Sudan's Yida border area from neighbouring Sudan's Nuba Mountains every day, including many malnourished children.

Obama, aged two, looks a fraction of his age. His family walked for two days from Mongolo to reach the border, and were then taken by truck to Yida a few kilometres away in South Sudan's Unity state. Along with luggage, sacks, bed frames and cooking pots, Obama is dangled from the truck and passed into waiting hands at UNHCR's registration centre for new arrivals.

"The Antonovs [war planes] kept coming," says his aunt Madina, 13, as the under-sized baby clings to her. "There is no food in Mongolo. We ate wild fruits."

Forced to flee conflict and hunger, their story is increasingly common among recent arrivals in Yida. "There was rain in the village but the constant fighting prevented us from cultivating maize, sorghum, groundnuts and simsim [sesame]. People picked food from the trees and bushes," says farmer Abdulrahim Kwah, 32, who came a month ago from Shat village.

In the last two weeks, increasing numbers of malnourished children have been arriving in Yida. To address this problem urgently, all new arrivals aged six months to five years are taken to the health screening centre run by the non-governmental organization, Samaritan's Purse. Their weight and height are measured, as well as the length and circumference of their upper arms to screen for malnutrition. They are given high energy biscuits and the severely malnourished are referred to the nutrition centre for treatment.

Staff at the health screening centre offer a snapshot of the malnutrition situation. On a day where 105 children were screened, 16 were moderately malnourished and five were severely malnourished.

Abdulrahim's sister Kaltum, 16, arrived three days ago with her four children. Her youngest baby has a bloated belly and wrinkled bottom. Like all new arrivals, the family was given a sack of emergency food rations which the petite mother carried on her head, walking briskly in flipflops while her children trailed behind.

Fleeing without her husband, Kaltum is lucky to find family support in Yida. Her mother and siblings had been separated in the confusion of fighting, arriving at different times on various routes. Three relatives were killed in an ambush en route and several were abducted. Their fate is unknown.

This underscores the concern of humanitarian agencies that Yida is located too close to the disputed border and should not be hosting refugees. Nonetheless, aid workers continue to provide basic assistance at the transit site while working to relocate refugees who want to move further inland.

Upon a more detailed registration of newcomers in Yida, UNHCR gives them tokens for one-month World Food Programme rations that include oil, maize, salt and sometimes beans. The refugee agency distributes relief supplies such as plastic sheets, blankets and sleeping mats through the refugee leaders, prioritizing vulnerable refugees like female-headed families, unaccompanied children and the disabled.

Water points and latrines are maintained by agencies such as Samaritan's Purse and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) while Médecins Sans Frontières and CARE provide health treatment. UNHCR and the aid group, Non-Violent Peace Force, conduct protection monitoring, especially among vulnerable refugees. Schools are organized by the refugee community.

Yida now hosts some 35,000 refugees from the Nuba Mountains. The pace of arrivals -averaging 430 refugees a day – is expected to remain high before the roads are cut off during the rainy season.

By Vivian Tan in Yida, South Sudan

Uganda: Need to focus on returnees and remaining IDPs in transition to development

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:35:02 +0000

Source: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre

Country: Uganda, Central African Republic (the), Democratic Republic of the Congo (the), South Sudan (Republic of)

Since the 2006 signing of a cease-fire agreement between the government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army there has been significant return of those displaced by conflict in northern Uganda. The overwhelming majority of the 1.8 million internally displaced people (IDPs) who lived in camps at the height of the crisis have returned to their areas of origin or resettled in new locations. Driven by their cultural ties to the land and the region, most have opted for return. The majority of the 30,000 still confined to camps lack financial resources to move home, are aged, disabled or unwell or have no land to return to. Support for recovery and development in areas to which IDPs have returned has been insufficient. Returnees have faced continuing difficulties due to inadequate basic services and limited support to rebuild their livelihoods. The return process has been marred by land conflicts, sometimes leading to violence. (...)

Into unknown territory: The limits to adaptation and reality of loss and damage from climate impacts

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:30:47 +0000

Source: ActionAid, CARE, World Wide Fund For Nature

Country: World

Damage done? NGOs highlight irreversible losses caused by climate change

Joint Report by CARE, Germanwatch, ActionAid and WWF warns against irreparable damage from climate change for ecosystems and vulnerable countries / UN climate conference in Bonn shows that countries still fail to deliver necessary action to prevent worst case scenarios

Bonn, May 24, 2012 - If global warming continues at its current pace, the planet will increasingly suffer irreversible damages to its biodiversity, natural resources and substantial losses of human life and territory according to a joint report published today by CARE International, Germanwatch, ActionAid and WWF at the Climate Change Conference in Bonn.

The joint report called "Into Unknown Territory: The limits to adaptation and reality of loss and damage from climate impacts" concludes that adaptation to climate change alone will no longer suffice. Governments will need to take new measures to deal with extreme impacts and prepare for losses due to climate change. Unless substantial efforts are taken immediately to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and encourage climate resilient development, global warming could exceed 4 and even 6°C. The costs will place a massive burden even on industrialized countries, whilst massively increasing poverty and reversing development gains in poorer regions. The figures are staggering, conservative estimates show that we could risk around 2 trillion USD in economic and non-economic impacts worldwide by the year 2060 combined with potentially irreversible losses to ecosystems and biodiversity.

"The current political commitments do not match the urgent scientific realities", says Kit Vaughan, CARE International's Climate Change Advocacy Coordinator. Since global warming is set to exceed the critical threshold of 2 °C, consequently a range of new measures will have to be taken to reduce the worse impacts where possible. "We need urgent emissions reduction and increased support for climate adaptation. But when these measures fail," adds Vaughan, "we will have to start talking about compensation: How are poor countries going to be compensated for irreparable and irreversible losses caused by rising sea levels, desertification, loss of biodiversity or loss of territory?" Compensation is a matter of fairness and equity in our greenhouse, notes CARE's Vaughan. From its climate adaptation work in those regions most affected by climate change, the poverty-fighting organization finds that communities who have done so little to cause the problem are now faced with the negative effects of carbon-intensive lifestyles of those in wealthy nations.

The joint report was launched this Thursday in Bonn, where an inter-sessional Climate Change Conference preparing for the 18th Conference of the Parties this November in Doha, Qatar will be coming to an end this Friday. The starting round of the negotiations towards a new global climate change pact to be agreed by no later than 2015 demonstrated: "Vulnerable countries are highly threatened by loss and damage from climate change, their demands to immediately step up the ambition in climate protection towards those who have been most polluting must be responded to by the EU and other countries." Sven Harmeling, Germanwatch's Team Leader International Climate Policy, urges, "The UNFCCC work programme to address loss and damage must result in decisive progress of the international community by COP18."

The report launched by the four organizations stresses the irreversibility of a changing climate: "Once the loss and damage happens, there is no turning back the clock", says Sandeep Chamling Rai, Senior Advisor- Adaptation Policy, WWF International. "We cannot pay our way out of losses in biodiversity and the overall ecosystem and its services. When it's gone - it's gone." The four organizations equally warn that the fast pace of climate change is increasingly exacerbating natural disasters, food crises and even migration issues. "Again, it is smallholder farmers and other vulnerable communities that carry the largest burden without being responsible for the crisis", adds Harjeet Singh, the International Climate Adaptation Coordinator for ActionAid International. "They are on the frontline of increasing climate impacts and their land and livelihoods are already getting damaged. Delay in action due to endless discussions and politics will only make it worse when they need urgent support to reduce their risks."

The report concludes with a series of recommendations to policy makers to prepare for and manage losses and damages caused by climate change, amongst others:

Decision-makers need to refocus their approaches, towards addressing vulnerabilities and building resilience and adaptive capacity, especially of the poorest and most vulnerable people, communities and ecosystems, recognising the need to prioritise women and girls who will be most severely impacted.
Nations and whole regions need to better understand the potential scale of losses and damages and ways to address them. Developing countries need assistance for such assessments, e.g. regional risk management facilities, insurance and practical measures to reduce climate impacts.
Building on existing architecture, such as the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) and the Cancun Adaptation Framework, climate-proofed disaster risk reduction needs to be massively scaled up through infusion of financial resources. It is crucial that the framework creates incentives for risk reduction through both mitigation and adaptation.
In some cases the limits of adaptation are going to be surpassed. The international community, recognising the precautionary principle and the role of the UNFCCC, needs to discuss proposals for mechanisms which can address rehabilitation and compensation for damage and losses from climate impacts.
The drivers of loss and damage must be tackled head on by shifting to low carbon development pathways globally. Developed countries must increase their ambition level to more than 40% emission reduction below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 80-95% by 2050.
Developed countries must take the lead in providing finance, technology and capacity building to assist developing countries to invest in adaptation and disaster risk reduction and to transition their development onto low carbon and climate resilient pathways.

Resources: The full report is available as a downloadable PDF here

Media contact: Sabine Wilke,Director Media, CARE Deutschland-Luxemburg wilke@care.de, +49 (0) 228 975 63 46 (office)

About CARE: Founded in 1945, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. CARE places special focus on working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty. Women are at the heart of CARE's community-based efforts to improve education, health and economic opportunity.

Polio eradication shifts into emergency mode

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:08:26 +0000

Source: Global Polio Eradication Initiative

Country: World, Afghanistan, Chad, China, India, Nigeria, Pakistan

New cases at lowest levels ever, but funding gap threatens progress

Geneva, Switzerland 24 May 2012 – Despite the dramatic drop in polio cases in the last year, the threat of continued transmission due to funding and immunization gaps has driven the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)to launch an Emergency Action Plan.

The plan aims to boost vaccination coverage in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the three remaining polio endemic countries, to levels needed to stop polio transmission. In parallel, health ministers meeting at the World Health Assembly this week are considering a resolution to declare “the completion of polio eradication to be a programmatic emergency for global public health,” in an acknowledgement of the urgency of the situation.

Polio eradication activities resulted in several landmark successes in 2010-2012. India, long-regarded as the nation facing the greatest challenges to eradication, was removed from the list of polio-endemic countries in February 2012. Outbreaks in previously polio-free countries were nearly all stopped.

Although the number of polio cases was lower in the first four months of this year than during the same period in any other year, cases continue to occur in Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Chad. Outbreaks in recent years in China and West Africa due to importations from Pakistan and Nigeria, respectively, highlight the continued threat of resurgence. By some estimates, failure to eradicate polio could lead within a decade to as many as 200,000 paralyzed children a year worldwide.

“Polio eradication is at a tipping point between success and failure,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization. “We are in emergency mode to tip it towards success - working faster and better, focusing on the areas where children are most vulnerable.”

Once achieved, polio eradication would generate net benefits of US $40-50 billion globally by 2035, with the bulk of savings in the poorest countries, calculated based on investments made since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was formed and savings from reduced treatment costs and gains in productivity.

“We know polio can be eradicated, and our success in India proves it,” said Kalyan Banerjee, president of Rotary International, a global humanitarian service organization. “It is now a question of political and societal will. Do we choose to deliver a polio-free world to future generations, or do we choose to allow 55 cases this year to turn into 200,000 children paralyzed for life, every single year? ”

Full funding of new plan critical

Already, funding shortages have forced the GPEI to cancel or scale-back critical vaccination activities in 24 high-risk countries. This leaves more children vulnerable to contracting the disease, and exposes polio-free countries to the risk of re-emergence.

“All our efforts are at risk until all children are fully immunized against polio – and that means fully funding the global eradication effort and reaching the children we have not yet reached,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “We have come so far in the battle against this crippling disease. We can now make history – or later be condemned by history for failing.”

Full implementation of the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) is currently hindered by a critical funding gap of nearly US$1 billion through 2013.

“We are all responsible for creating a polio-free world while we still can,” said Chris Elias, president of global development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “Achieving this goal is a critical step in protecting all children from vaccine-preventable diseases.”

The Global Emergency Action Plan

Intensified focus on worst-performing areas of Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan to increase vaccination coverage by end of 2012 to levels needed to stop transmission;

New approaches tailored to each country to tackle persistent challenges and improve polio vaccination campaign performance;

Heightened accountability, coordination and oversight to ensure success at every level of government and within every partner agency and organization.

Surge of technical assistance and social mobilization capacity.

Working in emergency mode

We need everyone’s commitment and hard work to eradicate polio and cross the finish line,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “It won’t be easy, but together we can eradicate polio forever and for everyone.”

Already since the start of the year, the GPEI has moved its operations into emergency mode. CDC has activated its Emergency Operations Center; UNICEF has officially activated an Interdivisional Emergency Coordinating Committee operating directly under the Deputy Executive Director; and WHO has moved its polio operations to its Strategic Health Operations Centre (SHOC). Such measures are reserved for responding to global health emergencies -- such as the H1N1 pandemic or the 2004 Southeast Asia tsunami -- and will enable a massive surge in technical capacity, real-time tracking of program performance and the immediate implementation of corrective action plans as necessary. Also this year, the Trustees of the Rotary Foundation reaffirmed polio eradication as the organization’s most urgent priority. In addition, Rotary senior leaders have launched a series of one-on-one meetings with the heads of state of the polio endemic countries.

Kenya: Survivors of post-election violence seek more than resettlement

Thu, 24 May 2012 09:12:45 +0000

Source: Integrated Regional Information Networks

Country: Kenya

LAIKIPIA, 23 May 2012 (IRIN) - Most of those displaced by post-election violence mainly in Kenya's Rift Valley Province five years ago [ http://www.irinnews.org/indepthmain.aspx?indepthid=68&reportid=76116 ] have been resettled, but those whose relatives were killed or who lost their property are seeking justice and further compensation.

With few perpetrators of the violence having been bought to book, "the compensation they need is not only in monetary terms, but also in accessing justice for lost lives," said Collins Omondi, an official with the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).

"Even though most of the IDPs [internally displaced persons] may have gotten some financial support from the government, the money was so little, considered by not only [the] average losses, but [also] the time wasted in displacement."

Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced at the height of the 2007- early 2008 post-polls violence [ http://www.irinnews.org/IndepthMain.aspx?InDepthID=68&ReportID=78007 ] into squalid camps.

The government provided 10,000 shillings (US$120) in family assistance to 157,908 of the displaced households, with a further 37,843 households receiving 25,000 shillings ($300) to help them rebuild houses burnt down in the violence, Special Programmes Minister Esther Murugi told IRIN.

"But we discovered most of them would not spend the money on reconstructing their houses so we stopped giving the 25,000 shillings," added Murugi.

Instead, the ministry started constructing houses for those who were ready to return to the areas they had been displaced from, building 17,916 homes. A further 3,000 houses have also been built for IDP families that have been resettled elsewhere, with 1,300 more units under construction.

"If I buy you land and build for you, what else would you want from me? That itself is more than justice enough," said Murugi.

Appropriate compensation?

For IDPs who previously ran businesses, the land alone is inadequate.

"I am happy that I will get a piece of land, not necessarily for my own, but [as] an inheritance for my grandson. But I wish the government gave me money to restart my business which was burnt down during [the violence]," 80-year-old Elishiba Muthoni, told IRIN, in the Wiyumiririe area of the central Laikipia County.

Muthoni, whose daughter was killed in the turmoil, was a second-hand clothes seller in the Rift Valley town of Kericho. She received 10,000 shillings ($120) from the government yet her business stock was worth at least 150,000 shillings ($1,807).

"The single-track approach of buying agricultural land and resettling IDPs, and sometimes assisting them to build houses is not feasible," noted a September 2011 report by the UN Development Programme and the UN Office of The High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). [ http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CG... ]

"The diversity in terms of socioeconomic occupation within the IDP population needs to be acknowledged. Some of these IDPs ran businesses, and have no farming skills whatsoever," said the report.

According to KNCHR's Omondi, the government should have evaluated the financial losses incurred by the displaced during the post-election violence and repaid them in full.

Justice

The prosecution of the perpetrators of the violence is also key.

"If people who are responsible for the evictions and displacement of persons are not held to account or punished for atrocities they committed such as arson, murder, rape, among other criminal acts, there will be no closure of the issue," he said.

While four suspects who are said to bear the greatest responsibility for the 2007-2008 poll violence are to be tried by the International Criminal Court, [ http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/Home ] thousands of other perpetrators remain free, making it impossible for some IDPs to return to their areas of displacement.

HRW concerns

Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a December 2011 report [ http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/kenya1211webwcover_0.pdf ] called for a special judicial mechanism to deal with this issue. It noted that in most cases the police arrested suspects hurriedly, without adequate investigations.

In the Kiambaa church attack at the peak of the violence in which at least 28 people were killed, HRW said that while the court had been told 4,000 people had attacked the church, only four were arrested and charged. "For Kiambaa survivors, the fact that no one has been convicted of the crime is an emblem of injustice," it said.

HRW also reported on a case in which a suspected rapist was acquitted by a court in the Rift Valley capital, Eldoret, because when the victim first reported the crime she did not give the suspect's name (she could only recognize him).

"We cannot go back to Nandi [in Rift Valley] because there is no justice. How can we live with people who did this?" asked the father of the rape victim quoted in the HRW report.

IDP resettlement has also been resisted by local communities in some areas, making it difficult for former IDPs to re-establish livelihoods.

Land and reconciliation

Meanwhile, human rights officials are calling for more government action, with civil society groups, such as the Internal Displacement Policy and Advocacy Centre (IDPAC), [ http://www.idpacafrica.org/ ] educating IDPs on the need to seek justice.

They are also urging the government to help IDPs still affected by political violence in 1992, 1997 and 2002, and those displaced in fights over water and pasture in northern Kenya, as well as by foreign militia incursions.

Kenya still has an estimated 250,000 IDPs, according to Nuur Sheekh of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.

Reconciliation, as well as addressing the land issue, is also vital.

"The competition for control of land, particularly in the Rift Valley, has been protracted, resulting from mutually exclusive claims based on property rights by migrant groups and assertion of cultural heritage rights by indigenous groups. This has made the Rift Valley the theatre of the most vicious episodes of violence and displacement, particularly since the transition to democracy in the early 1990s," notes a case study on internal displacement in Kenya. [ http://www.knchr-idp.org/news.aspx?id=51 ]

"The relationship between political affiliation, ethnic identity and land ownership form the basis for contestation, whereby members of ethnic groups associated with rival political opinions are labelled `outsiders' and violently ejected from their farms," it said.

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Chad: MSF fights unusually high malnutrition rates, prepares for worse

Thu, 24 May 2012 03:12:53 +0000

Source: MSF

Country: Chad

As a food crisis continues to spread and levels of severe acute malnutrition continue to rise in Chad, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is expanding the number of emergency malnutrition treatment programs it is operating in the country. Even in a normal year, Chad has one of the highest rates of chronic malnutrition in the world. This year is showing signs of being worse than usual. In early 2012, in some areas of the country, rates of global acute malnutrition as high as 24 percent have already been reported among children under the age of five.

Several factors including erratic rainfall, failed harvests, soaring food and fuel prices, early depletion of food stocks, and poor access to health care have contributed to the heightened malnutrition rates. In addition, tens of thousands of Chadians working in Libya fled the violence there and returned home, losing a crucial source of income.

In April, MSF opened an inpatient therapeutic feeding center (ITFC) in the town of Biltine and five outpatient therapeutic feeding centers in outlying areas. To date, 282 children have been admitted to the outpatient centers and 42 critically ill and malnourished children have been treated on an inpatient basis.

As challenging as current conditions are, the peak of malnutrition season usually doesn’t arrive until July. MSF therefore plans to open seven more outpatient therapeutic feeding centers in Biltine before mid-Summer. Here, Marcus Bachmann, MSF’s project coordinator in Biltine, discusses the situation.

Why are there such alarming rates of malnutrition in Biltine?

February is the beginning of the hunger gap in Chad, when families traditionally begin to run out of their food stocks. This year MSF found high rates of severe acute malnutrition rates among children under five, because only 46 percent of the harvest required to feed the population was harvested, which is well below the average. Many Chadians who worked in Libya also lost their jobs and returned home. Those men have moved to other parts of Chad to find work, but the salaries are much lower, so they are sending home less money.

What has been your biggest challenge so far?

When the “lean season” began earlier in the year, women told us they would walk 15 to 25 kilometers [9 to 15 miles] to a health center and did not receive meaningful health attention for their malnourished children. Many health centers in this district are poorly equipped with poorly qualified staff. As a result, we are now making a huge effort to reach those mothers again and reassure them there is medical treatment for their child, that they will see a doctor or a nurse, and that they will get help. We need to regain the trust of the mothers in this area, and it is a huge job.

Sahel Patient Story: Biltine Hospital

16-month-old Mahamat Sahel Souleyman is suffering from severe malnutrition for the second time in six months. His parents have brought him to the hospital in Biltine, where an MSF doctor has just weighed him and diagnosed him as underweight. He is also suffering from swollen feet, legs, and cheeks, a condition linked to malnutrition. He also has malaria, diarrhea, and a cough. Mahamat weighs only 5.5 kilograms, well below what a boy his age should weigh.

His mother, Nousra, says her son fell ill with malnutrition just six months ago. “I took him to a hospital in another town and he was given milk and enriched peanut paste and made a full recovery.” But now, he is back on a consulting table, in Biltine hospital, being stabilized with oxygen and treated with antibiotics for his cough.

Mahamat is one of three children. His family lives in Biltine and is more financially secure than most, as his father has a job with the local government. But his relatives are nomads who are now staying with the family, as they, like so many others, are in need of food and water because of the failed harvest. Nousra says that means less food for everyone.

Mahamat will stay in hospital for a month where he’ll be fed therapeutic milk and ready-to-use therapeutic food. Then he’ll probably be released and receive weekly check-ups at an ambulatory treatment feeding center in an effort to prevent him from making another trip to hospital any time soon.

How does an outpatient feeding center work?

Our mobile team, made up of one MSF supervisor and nine medical workers, drives out to a local health clinic and sets up their equipment. They spend the day registering children and screening them for malnutrition by weighing them and measuring their arms [taking a mid-upper arm circumference, or MUAC, reading]. The children also undergo an appetite test and a malaria test. They receive a week’s work of therapeutic food and a blanket and malaria net. The mothers are expected to return on a weekly basis until their child is healthy again.

Children who are very sick are referred to our pediatric ward at the hospital in Biltine town, where we have an intensive care unit to treat severe conditions. These are usually children who, due to the immunodeficiency caused by malnutrition, suffer from additional illnesses such as respiratory tract infections, diarrhea, or even tuberculosis. There can also be kids who are too weak to eat and have to be fed through a gastric tube.

Sahel Patient Story: Ambulatory Treatment Feeding Center, Dougine

Ten-month-old Kadidya Oumer got sick when she was only six days old, and has been struggling to stay healthy ever since. Her grandmother, Halama, brought her to an ambulatory treatment feeding center in eastern Chad, saying the child had ongoing stomach problems, no appetite, and was very weak.

Kadidya is an only child, but her mother is pregnant again, and has not been breast-feeding her. Her family has been suffering from the drought that has plagued their region for the past few months; the crops they harvested last season have run out and there is little drinking water due to the lack of rain. Halama says the family is barely surviving on millet and animal milk, and they are too poor to buy food at the market.

When Kadidya arrived at the feeding center last week she weighed 6.5 kilograms [about 14 pounds], a half a kilogram less than normal for a child her age. An MSF nurse did a health assessment, treated her with an antibiotic, and checked her for malaria. She was diagnosed as severely malnourished and given a week’s supply of enriched peanut paste and a bed net to protect her from malaria.

Kadidya’s grandmother has a weekly appointment at the feeding center in Dougine, so MSF nurses can monitor the girl’s condition and continue to supply her with the ready-to-use supplementary food.

At her last visit Kadidya has lost more weight and her battle to get healthy is not over yet. The feeding center will remain open until next autumn and MSF will continue to care for Kadidya and provide her with every opportunity to survive and, hopefully, thrive.

Are we making a difference?

There are several things that touch me when I see the mothers coming to the feeding centers with their children. They have walked a long distance with a child on their back, in the harshest of conditions and in the hottest temperatures. They tell me they were doubtful that MSF would come back to help them week after week, and they are so delighted their children are finally getting treatment and getting better. We are gaining the trust of the mothers and they are spreading the word about us to other mothers.

What are our plans and, what is MSF calling for?

Our emergency intervention in Biltine will run until mid-December. We hope another organization, such as the World Food Program, will begin general food distribution to the population of Biltine as soon as possible.

At MSF’s long-term project in Am Timan, located in Salamat region, in the southeast of the country, malnutrition rates are also escalating at an alarming rate. Between January and April, 2,478 children were admitted to ambulatory therapeutic feeding centers—almost twice as many as at the same time last year.

In Yao, in Batha Region, MSF opened a nutrition program in April. Thus far, 420 children have been admitted.

MSF runs a 200-bed pediatric hospital in the town of Massakory in western Chad's Hadjer Lamis region. Currently, 160 children are hospitalized, and cases are both pediatric and nutrition-related.

This week, MSF opened a nutrition intervention in Abou Deia, where we expect to treat 1,000 children.

Middle East/North Africa: Minorities face attack as revolutions sour, says new Peoples Under Threat survey

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:01:00 +0000

Source: Minority Rights Group

Country: World, Egypt, Libya, South Sudan (Republic of), Sudan (the), Syrian Arab Republic (the), Yemen

Minorities face attack as revolutions sour in Middle East and North Africa, says new global Peoples Under Threat survey

Syria, Libya, Egypt and Yemen are among the most significant risers in this year’s internationally acclaimed global ranking Peoples Under Threat, which lists countries where communities are most at threat of mass killing, Minority Rights Group International (MRG) says.

According to authoritative indicators factored into the Peoples Under Threat analysis, states in the Middle East and North Africa have risen notably in the table, with minorities at particular risk. As political space opens up, ethnic or sectarian grievances have been exacerbated and minorities scapegoated, the international human rights organisation says.

‘If 2011 will be remembered as the year of the Arab Spring, then 2012 could become the year the revolutions soured,’ says Mark Lattimer, MRG’s Executive Director. ‘The huge changes taking place across the Middle East and North Africa, while increasing hopes for democratisation, represent for both religious and ethnic minorities perhaps the most dangerous episode since the violent break-up of the Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia.’

In Libya, former rebels still hold up to 6,000 people arrested during or after the armed conflict. Detained without charge or trial, up to half are believed to be sub-Saharan migrants or black Libyans, of whom a number have been tortured to death. Systematic repression continues against the former inhabitants of Tawergha, a town with a mainly black Libyan population of 30,000 who were accused of being Gaddafi loyalists and forcibly displaced in their entirety by the Misrata brigade.

In Egypt, activists’ euphoria at the downfall of the Mubarak government has been replaced by increasing anger at the arbitrary detention and torture practiced by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Egypt’s Copts total 7 million or more, but the number leaving the country is reported to have increased following attacks on churches and intimidation. The political success of the Muslim Brotherhood and of Salafist parties is also viewed with concern by other religious minorities, including the Shi’a and the Baha’i.

In Syria, the fact that the government is dominated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiism, places Alawite and other Shi’a communities at risk if the conflict intensifies, says MRG. Syriac Christians are also deeply concerned about the possibility of attacks from Sunni militants.

In Yemen, clashes in the north between Sunni tribes and al-Houthis have added to the growing threats from sectarianism in a country where conflict with al-Qaeda-linked militants has again intensified. In recent weeks the capital Sana’a has also seen thousands of protestors from the marginalized ‘Akhdam’ community, angry at the racism they face on a daily basis.

‘Differences between Sunni and Shi’a, Muslims and non-Muslims, Arabs and non-Arabs, are all expressions of an internal diversity in the Arab world that is often under-estimated and which depends on mutual respect. These differences must not become fault-lines for mass killing,’ says Mark Lattimer.

States on the borders of the Arab world are also major risers in the table this year. International attention on Iran has focused in recent months on the issue of nuclear facilities, but the systematic campaign of repression of opposition activists continues, and reached a new level in the country’s north-west, where the conflict with Kurdish militias intensified. Baluchis, Ahwazi Arabs and Azerbaijanis also accuse the government of long-standing oppression and denial of political participation.

The highest riser in the Peoples under Threat table this year is South Sudan, a country which acquired its independence from Sudan in July and which comes straight in at number eight. A history of cattle raiding between the Lou Nuer and the Murle, as well as other groups, has developed into inter-communal violence on a highly organised scale in Jonglei state, affecting some 120,000 people. Tens of thousands of refugees have also fled across the border into South Sudan in recent months, escaping Sudanese government shelling of communities in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile state.

This is the seventh successive year that the Peoples under Threat index has been published. Almost all the significant episodes of civilian killing around the world that occurred in 2011 took place in countries which were near the top of, or major risers in, last year’s Peoples under Threat table.

Avec les migrations, les traumatismes voyagent aussi

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:48:02 +0000

Source: Integrated Regional Information Networks

Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo (the), South Africa

JOHANNESBOURG, 23 mai 2012 (IRIN) - Georgette* est déjà nerveuse et au bord des larmes avant même de commencer à raconter la longue et douloureuse histoire des violences et des pertes qu'elle a subies en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), sa fuite désespérée vers l'Afrique du Sud et les difficultés et les revers qu'elle a rencontrés depuis son arrivée à Johannesburg il y a un an.

Les soldats rebelles qui ont entouré son village, situé dans la province du Sud-Kivu, dans l'est de la RDC, ont rassemblé les hommes, incluant son mari, et les ont enfermés dans un bâtiment avant d'y mettre le feu. Ils ont amené Georgette et les autres femmes dans leur repaire dans les montagnes, où elles ont été violées et utilisées comme esclaves pendant un mois. Certaines d'entre elles ont ensuite réussi à s'échapper et ont fui dans la forêt pour tenter de sauver leur vie.

Avec l'aide d'un prêtre et de quelques sours, les femmes ont réussi à se rendre à Lubumbashi, une ville située près de la frontière zambienne. Des chauffeurs de camion ont ensuite amené Georgette jusqu'en Afrique du Sud, où elle croyait avoir de meilleures chances de commencer une nouvelle vie.

Elle ignore ce qui est advenu de ses quatre enfants, qui étaient chez leur grand-mère dans un village voisin au moment de son enlèvement. « Je ne me sens pas bien quand je pense à eux », a-t-elle dit à IRIN. « Je pleure tout le temps. »

Besoins oubliés

Les migrations sont toujours des expériences stressantes et, bien souvent, traumatisantes, en particulier lorsqu'elles sont forcées. L'arrivée dans un endroit relativement sûr n'entraîne pas la disparition immédiate des traumatismes liés au viol, à la torture ou à la perte d'êtres chers. Des études ont montré que les migrants étaient beaucoup plus susceptibles de souffrir d'anxiété chronique, de dépression et de syndrome de stress post-traumatique (SSPT) que les non-migrants.

Or, les besoins psychosociaux des migrants et des réfugiés sont généralement négligés. Les gouvernements et les organisations non gouvernementales (ONG) se concentrent en effet sur la satisfaction des besoins plus évidents en leur fournissant des abris, des vivres et des papiers d'identité.

Selon le Dr Manuel Carballo, directeur du Centre international pour la migration, la santé et le développement (International Centre for Migration, Health and Development, ICMHD), basé à Genève, on commet une grave erreur en négligeant le bien-être mental et émotionnel des migrants. Cette attitude peut non seulement compromettre leurs chances de survivre et de prospérer dans un nouveau pays, mais aussi accroître l'intensité et la durée de leur dépendance envers les gouvernements hôtes.

L'organisation du Dr Carballo travaille en collaboration avec les autorités locales pour évaluer les besoins psychosociaux des réfugiés qui vivent dans leur communauté et former le personnel afin qu'il soit plus sensible à ces besoins. « Nous devons professionnaliser l'ensemble du processus de soutien post-traumatique, car [les réfugiés] peuvent très rapidement passer entre les mailles du filet et être laissés pour compte. On voit ça tout le temps », a-t-il dit à IRIN.

Le Dr Carballo a admis qu'il n'était pas facile de convaincre les gouvernements et les bailleurs de fonds de financer ces programmes, en particulier dans le contexte économique actuel. « Mais il ne peut y avoir un nombre illimité de gens qui souffrent dans les camps et dans les refuges sans que l'ensemble de la société en soit affecté. Ultimement, la souffrance collective doit être partagée. »

Obstacles à la guérison

Georgette peut exprimer une partie de sa douleur à l'occasion des séances hebdomadaires de soutien post-traumatique organisées par la clinique spécialisée du Centre pour l'étude de la violence et la réconciliation (Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, CSVR), à Johannesburg.

En 2012, la clinique traitera environ 150 victimes de torture dans le cadre du Refugee Project. Les besoins sont pressants et le financement est incertain d'une année à l'autre, a dit Marivic Garcia, spécialiste des troubles post-traumatiques au CSVR. Par ailleurs, de nombreux réfugiés qui sont déjà aux prises avec des traumatismes liés à des événements du passé subissent de nouveaux traumatismes qui peuvent retarder leur guérison.

S'ils échappent à l'indignité et aux conséquences psychologiques associées au confinement dans les camps de réfugiés, les migrants des zones urbaines vivent souvent dans des conditions extrêmement précaires. Les démarches pour obtenir les documents nécessaires à la demande d'asile peuvent être une source importante de stress. Par ailleurs, plusieurs migrants ont de la difficulté à trouver un emploi et vivent dans une pauvreté abjecte. Ils sont également victimes d'actes criminels et xénophobes.

« Depuis que j'ai quitté Kinshasa, je n'ai jamais retrouvé la tranquillité d'esprit », a dit Céleste*, une réfugiée qui a été chassée de son appartement au Cap pendant la vague d'attaques contre des étrangers qui a balayé le pays en 2008. [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report/78386/SOUTH-AFRICA-Xenophobic-attacks-spr... ] « Il n'y a peut-être pas de guerre ici, mais on ne s'y sent pas comme des êtres humains à cause de la façon dont les gens nous parlent et nous regardent. »

Céleste et sa famille ont décidé de partir pour Johannesburg après les attaques, mais le stress de tout recommencer a mis son couple à rude épreuve. Son mari est parti il y a neuf mois et il n'est jamais revenu. Sans son maigre salaire de gardien de sécurité, Céleste était incapable de payer le loyer. Elle et son fils se sont retrouvés à dormir dans la rue tandis que sa fille restait chez un voisin.

Céleste et Georgette ont toutes deux trouvé un refuge temporaire au Bienvenu Shelter, à Johannesburg. Le centre accueille environ 20 femmes et 20 enfants réfugiés et offre des repas et des services de crèche pendant environ trois mois pour permettre aux réfugiées démunies ou nouvellement arrivées de se remettre sur pied et de chercher du travail. De nombreuses femmes restent plus longtemps, a admis la directrice du refuge, Adilia de Sousa.

« Elles ont l'impression de se noyer sans que personne leur tende la main pour les aider à se sortir de là », a-t-elle dit. « Plusieurs d'entre elles sont incapables de garder un emploi à cause de leurs problèmes de santé mentale, mais le principal problème demeure la réticence des employeurs à embaucher des demandeurs d'asile. »

Georgette est d'abord restée pendant 10 mois au refuge avant d'obtenir un modeste prêt du Service jésuite des réfugiés (Jesuite Refugee Service, JRS) pour vendre des chaussures dans le centre de la ville et emménager dans une chambre louée. À cause du coût élevé des loyers, elle a été forcée de partager sa chambre avec plusieurs autres personnes. Une nuit, l'un de ses colocataires a tenté de la violer.

Ses cris ont alerté les voisins et l'homme a été arrêté, mais il a rapidement été relâché et il a recommencé à la harceler, la forçant à retourner au refuge et à abandonner son entreprise. « Je me sentais mieux jusqu'à ce que tout ça arrive. Maintenant, je pense que je serais mieux morte parce que je ne me sens pas en sécurité quand je sors d'ici », a-t-elle dit. « Si le refuge n'existait pas, je serais peut-être déjà morte. »

Sources de soutien

Georgette est traitée pour le SSPT à la clinique du CSVR et fréquente également un groupe de prière mis en place par des compatriotes de la RDC. Pour de nombreux réfugiés traumatisés qui n'ont pas accès aux services de santé mentale limités fournis par les ONG et le secteur public, les églises et les groupes de prière sont parfois la seule source de soutien.

« Quand les gens perdent leur identité, ils ont souvent tendance à se tourner vers la religion », a dit Mme Garcia. « Elle les aide à trouver un sens à ce qui leur est arrivé. Leur réflexion passe souvent de 'Pourquoi Dieu a-t-il permis cela ?' à 'Dieu a voulu que je vive et il a sûrement ses raisons'. »

Le Dr Carballo, de l'ICMHD, croit qu'en aidant davantage les réfugiés à trouver du travail ou à démarrer des entreprises, on pourrait contribuer à renforcer leur motivation et leur estime d'eux-mêmes tout en allégeant le fardeau qui pèse sur les communautés d'accueil.

Il insiste cependant sur le fait que les personnes qui se remettent d'un traumatisme sont souvent vulnérables. « Certaines d'entre elles sont capables de sourire et de travailler, mais cela ne veut pas dire qu'elles sont guéries. Sous la surface, il y a tout un contexte qui peut très facilement émerger. »

Regarder les bulletins de nouvelles de la RDC suffit à raviver des souvenirs douloureux de Céleste. Les prières et les séances de soutien post-traumatique l'aident à passer au travers, dit-elle, « mais la douleur est toujours là ».

*Noms d'emprunt

ks/he -gd/amz [FIN]

Cet article en ligne: http://www.irinnews.org/reportfrench.aspx?reportID=95513

Nouveau film sur la Côte d'Ivoire: A la recherche de la stabilité http://www.irinnews.org/film/?id=4711

Afghan girls poisoned in second anti-school attack

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:23:41 +0000

Source: Reuters - AlertNet

Country: Afghanistan

TALIQAN, Afghanistan, May 23 (Reuters) - More than 120 schoolgirls and three teachers have been poisoned in the second attack in as many months blamed on conservative radicals in the country's north, Afghan police and education officials said on Wednesday.

The attack occurred in Takhar province where police said that radicals opposed to education of women and girls had used an unidentified toxic powder to contaminate the air in classrooms. Scores of students were left unconscious.

Read the full article on AlertNet.

Yemen: On the brink of hunger catastrophe, aid agencies warn

Wed, 23 May 2012 09:27:12 +0000

Source: CARE, International Medical Corps, Islamic Relief, Mercy Corps, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children

Country: Yemen

Yemen is on the brink of a catastrophic food crisis, seven aid agencies said today (23 May 2012) with 10 million people – 44 percent of the population – without enough food to eat. The aid agencies warned that malnutrition rates recorded by the UN in some parts of the country were alarming, with one in three children severely malnourished.

Ministers from the UK, Saudi Arabia and other countries are set to meet at the Friends of Yemen conference in Riyadh today. The agencies - CARE, International Medical Corps, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Mercy Corps, Oxfam and Save the Children – called on those attending the meeting to scale up efforts to tackle the crisis. The UN humanitarian appeal for the country is just 43 percent funded – a $262 million shortfall.

Penny Lawrence, Oxfam’s International Director, who is visiting Yemen, said:

“Yemeni families are at the brink and have exhausted their ways of coping with this crisis. A quarter of the population has fallen into debt trying to feed their families. Mothers are taking their children out of school to beg on the streets to get money to survive. Donors are focused on politics and security, but failure to respond adequately to the humanitarian needs now will put more lives at risk, further entrench poverty and could undermine political transition in the country.”

Yemen’s political crisis last year increased hunger in the country as food and fuel prices surged. Hunger has doubled since 2009. A quarter of the hungry – some 5 million people – are in need of urgent emergency aid. In Hodeidah and Hajjah, child malnutrition rates are double the emergency level. The UN estimates that 267,000 Yemeni children are facing life threatening levels of malnutrition.

Conflict in the north and south the country is also exacerbating the crisis. Over the last two months, nearly 95,000 people have been forced to leave their homes as a result of conflicts, bringing the number of people displaced in the country to close to half a million.

Women are particularly at risk, as they generally eat last and least. Oxfam partners have reported an increase in early marriage as families marry off their daughters young in order to ease the burden of the crisis.

Jerry Farrell, Save the Children's country Director in Yemen said:"Almost half of Yemen's population now does not have enough to eat. Political instability, conflict and high prices have left families across the country going hungry. We know that children always suffer the most when food is in short supply, and unless urgent humanitarian action is taken, Yemen will be plunged into a hunger crisis of catastrophic proportions."

Some donors have justified their reluctance to respond swiftly and at the scale required by pointing to the security situation and the continued political instability in the country. However, the work of the aid agencies shows that assistance can be delivered at scale and in a manner that is transparent and accountable, despite the difficult context.

Hashem Awnallah, Islamic Relief Yemen (IRY) Country Director, said:

“The hungry of Yemen cannot wait. The aid community is ready and willing to scale up in Yemen. Donors need to heed the lessons of the Horn of Africa and respond now before the crisis further deepens.”

There is food in local markets in most parts of Yemen, but millions of people cannot afford to buy enough food for their families. Oxfam gave cash payments to 100,000 people in Al Hodeidah helping them to purchase food, with Save the Children running a similar programme in Sa’ada. Mercy Corps has implemented cash-for-work projects in Taiz City providing a fair wage to local people with little other means to earn income and buy food. CARE’s recent livelihoods project in Haradh reached 4373 people including 1794 internally displaced persons. In addition, government programmes like the Social Welfare Fund, which provides cash payments to millions of Yemenis, could be further supported and scaled up.

CARE has been working in Yemen for the past 20 years with current short and long term-projects in Sana’a, Aden, and Hajjah and with assessments on-going and planned for further expansion and scale-up. It has implemented projects with those internally displaced by the conflict in the north and south, as well as with the host communities in efforts to mitigate conflict. CARE has provided water, sanitation, hygiene, livelihoods, and protection support.

How private sector can help with capacity challenges - learning from Horn of Africa crisis

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:50:29 +0000

Source: Humanitarian Futures Programme

Country: Somalia, Kenya

A scoping study of the response in Kenya and Somalia

Summary

This scoping study provides a snapshot of the engagement of the commercial sector in the humanitarian response to the Horn of Africa crisis of 2011-2012 through two case studies - Somalia and Kenya. Much has already been written on the systemic failings of humanitarian assistance in relation to the crisis, both in terms of the failure to adequately reduce the risk of and prepare for such recurring crises in the region, and the failure to enact early response in relation to early warning alerts. This scoping study, however, focuses instead on the capacity challenge of responding to a crisis of such enormity and complexity. Specifically, it examines how new forms and models of engagement and collaboration with the commercial sector can help “traditional humanitarian actors” address this capacity challenge.

Healthcare in the crossfire

Wed, 23 May 2012 02:37:52 +0000

Source: Integrated Regional Information Networks

Country: World, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia

BANGKOK, 23 May 2012 (IRIN) - As Mohammed Mohammedi lay trapped in the car with his co-worker, pinned down by heavy gunfire, they promised each other that whoever made it out alive would tell the other’s family. Now, 12 years after he was captured and beaten by militias in Somalia while carrying out a polio vaccination campaign, he realizes this was a “futile promise”.

“If you ask someone at WHO [World Health Organization], ‘What is the extent of the problem?’ [of attacks on health facilities and workers],” said Rudi Coninx, with the Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response team at WHO. “If they were honest they would say, ‘I don’t know.' as nobody collects these data in a systematic way."

Mohammedi said he was released after clans who knew the polio vaccination health staff paid the militias. If he or his co-worker had died, there was no international mechanism, then or now, to record that he had been hurt while doing his job as a health worker.

“One of the first victims of war is the healthcare system itself,” wrote Marco Baldan, the chief war surgeon at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in an August 2011 agency report, which noted that violence against healthcare is “one of the most crucial yet overlooked humanitarian issues of today".

Less than one year after launching this report, and a campaign to document and rein in violence against healthcare facilities and workers, the agency suspended its work in Pakistan after one of its programme managers was kidnapped and killed while travelling home in an ICRC vehicle.

Mohammedi, a WHO polio operation and technical officer now working in Pakistan, told IRIN that regardless of the precautions, humanitarians always face danger. “An agreement with the war-lords, clan, [or] military leader is the best valid agreement, though even that is not a 100 percent guarantee of a person’s safety.”

Fighting often hampers access for health workers in two of the four countries where polio is still endemic - Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Despite international conventions in place to protect health facilities, workers and marked vehicles, as long as they maintain a “neutral function and treat all patients equally, irrespective of political, religious or ethnic affiliation”, the Geneva Convention carries little authority with militias, said Mohammedi.

“Free access is not and will never be possible if the agreements are made by people sitting around a table outside of conflict areas. The militias have a different way of thinking - the only agreement for a militia at war is to kill… For the militia, a prisoner of war is still the enemy.”

The Geneva Convention forms a major part of negotiating access for the medical humanitarian NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), but it is difficult when “non-state actors” never agreed to it in the first place, said Michiel Hoffman, a Brussels-based operational advisor to MSF.

Somalia is the only country where MSF is forced to use private guards to protect its health facilities, which is not ideal, but necessary, Hoffman told IRIN. “It is hard to provide healthcare when there is a general disregard for everyone’s lives,” he said. “To have any weapons near a health structure makes them the target of conflict.”

Health facilities have become even more vulnerable as soldiers increasingly enter hospitals to “settle scores”, said Robin Coupland, an ICRC medical advisor, in a January 2012 WHO bulletin.

From a review of internal and public sources, ICRC documented 655 violent events affecting healthcare in 16 countries in conflict from 1 July 2008 to December 2010, of which 41 percent were reported only in internal agency reports.

Documenting the extent of the problem is the first step to start doing something about it, said Coninx.

The “compounded cost” of violence on healthcare, such as healthcare staff fleeing, inventory stock-outs and curtailed vaccination campaigns are also hard to measure, ICRC noted.

On 21 January 2012, WHO’s executive board passed a resolution committing the agency to collecting and distributing data on attacks on health workers, facilities, vehicles and patients in the next two years.

UN member states will vote on this proposal on 25 May 2012 at the ongoing World Health Assembly in Geneva.

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DR Congo: UN steps up civilian protection after outbreak of violence

Wed, 23 May 2012 00:18:13 +0000

Source: UN Department of Public Information

Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo (the), Rwanda, Uganda

The security situation in North and South Kivu remained generally volatile and with several armed groups operating in the region, continued fighting had resulted in significant displacement of civilians, both within Congo and across the border into Rwanda and Uganda, Roger Meece, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo said.

Addressing a Headquarters press conference via video link from Kinshasa today, Mr. Meece said the fighting had produced an opportunity for armed groups operating in the Kivus — Mai-Mai Cheka, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a group known as “Raia Mutomboki” in South Kivu province and others — to capitalize on the prevailing state of insecurity in pursuit of their own interests.

Reviewing the general security situation in the east, particularly in north Kivu province, Mr. Meece said the present situation had its genesis in early April with a mutiny of troops by fugitive Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda. The troops were ostensibly integrated into the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, FARDC, although many, including Mr. Ntaganda himself, had never fully accepted central government authority. The mutiny was believed to have been provoked by fear that the net was closing in on Mr. Ntaganda.

(Mr. Ntaganda was indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2006 in connection with war crimes committed in the country in 2002 and 2003).

Mr. Meece explained the mutiny started by Mr. Ntaganda did not get the kind of numbers he was looking for to support his aims. Also, his capacity had been reduced by swift and firm Congolese reaction, both by the imposition of military pressure on him and his forces, and the effective action taken to induce a large number of troops that had defected with him back to their positions in FARDC.

Nonetheless, Mr. Ntaganda did have significant support and, thus, posed a threat to the region, Mr. Meece said. However, FARDC successfully moved his forces out of their base area in North Kivu, pushing him and his troops to the northeast of the Runga Park and the area south of Rutshuru.

At about the same time, said Mr. Meece, an apparently rival mutinous group — the “M23” — was established under the leadership of Sultani Makenga, another senior officer and rival of Mr. Ntaganda, who might have been making a bid to replace him as the de facto head of the faction that he had been leading for some time. The result was concentrated fighting with mutinous forces now centred in a pocket adjacent to the town of Bunagana, overlapping with the northern part of Virunga Park and on the Ugandan-Rwandan border with Congo.

He said the principle force concentrated there was under Mr. Makenga’s command, likely in affiliation with some other senior commanders who had deserted their posts with Mr. Ntaganda. Although there were conflicting reports of Mr. Ntaganda’s present location and the size of his forces, he was believed to be within a 100 square kilometre pocket of confinement. “The total size of the mutinous forces in that region is now difficult to estimate, but it is safe to say that they are in the hundreds,” Mr. Meece said, adding that a substantially larger FARDC force had basically encircled that area and, thus, put military pressure on the rebel forces. With their heavier weapons, the Congolese armed forces were continuing to apply pressure.

Mr. Meece noted that, throughout, forces of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) had been actively engaged, including in the protection of vulnerable areas. “We are working to protect civilians throughout the region where there is fighting going on,” he added. Further, the Mission was working to facilitate as much humanitarian access to those in need as possible, which was problematic with fighting going on.

The Mission was also maintaining close contacts with FARDC and Congolese authorities regarding the immediate area of the fighting, he said. It had also had taken measures to protect the town of Bunagana, following concern that the mutinous forces might attempt a strike to gain control of that town. MONUSCO had now established a presence there and was confident that, barring an unforeseen event, the mutinous forces would be unable to seize full control of the town.

In answer to a question, he said he did not believe any of the mutinous forces posed a direct security threat to neighbouring countries — Uganda or Rwanda, and that none of the current fighting was taking place in the vicinity of Burundi. However, there was always a concern in the area of fighting, including because that caused displacement of civilians, some of whom had crossed the borders and, thus, had the status of refugees in Uganda and Rwanda. That posed a concern for those Governments, as well as United Nations agencies. At the same time, he noted that armed groups from Uganda and Rwanda continued to operate in the Kivus.

To another question, Mr. Meece said he did not believe there was any link between the hunt for Uganda’s Joseph Kony of the Lord’s Resistance Army and the hunt for Mr. Ntaganda, or the impact of one on the other. Collaboration with the African Union in that effort was still awaited. There was currently a full sharing of information and coordination between MONUSCO, other United Nations missions, and authorities in the region, including in Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

For information media • not an official record

Somalia bans antipersonnel landmines despite ongoing conflict; last country in sub-Saharan Africa to join Mine Ban Treaty

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:42:05 +0000

Source: International Campaign to Ban Landmines

Country: Somalia

All sub-Saharan African nations now on board the Mine Ban Treaty

(Geneva, 22 May 2012): Somalia has become the 160th State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty, the United Nations confirmed today.

This morning the news was announced to delegates from more than 95 countries, assembled in Geneva for a global conference to discuss progress on the landmine ban.

By joining the Mine Ban Treaty, Somalia has recognised the humanitarian impact of landmines far outweighs their military use. It has taken this step despite the fact that conflict still plagues much of the country. It should serve as an example to other conflict-affected states who say they cannot join the treaty for security reasons,” said Kasia Derlicka, Director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).

Somalia’s accession to the 15-year-old treaty means all countries in sub-Saharan Africa, one of the world’s most heavily mined regions and home to thousands of landmine survivors, have now banned antipersonnel mines.

Landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW), the legacy of the ongoing conflict in Somalia, devastate hundreds of Somali lives every year.

ICBL national campaigner Dahir Abdirahman, from the Somalia Coalition to Ban Landmines (SOCBAL) said: “We hope that our government will now take steps to establish a national programme to recognise the rights of survivors to lead fulfilling lives, and that being part of this treaty will pave the way for my people to cultivate the land without fearing landmines.”

The ICBL’s Landmine Monitor recorded at least 159 casualties of landmines and explosive remnants of war in Somalia (excluding Somaliland) in 2010, including 19 children killed and 86 children injured. The true casualty figure is likely to be much higher, however. The number of survivors in Somalia is not known, but there were at least 1,619 people with injuries caused by landmines or ERW recorded by the end of 2010.

Somalia has never been known to produce antipersonnel landmines but the weapon has been widely available in the country during the years of conflict, and a survey conducted in 2008 before escalation of the conflict showed that nearly 200 communities in 300 different areas are living under the deadly shadow of landmines.

There is no information yet about whether government forces have a stockpile of antipersonnel landmines, but most factions involved in armed conflict in Somalia are believed to possess mines.

The Mine Ban Treaty requires States Parties to ban all use, production, and trade of antipersonnel mines, to destroy all stockpiles within four years, to clear all contaminated land within 10 years, and to provide assistance to victims of the weapon.

Somalia will become legally obliged to comply with these terms once it becomes a full State Party on 1 October 2012, after the waiting period mandated by the treaty.

Sahel: Larger than expected April price increases compound food crisis

Tue, 22 May 2012 18:44:42 +0000

Source: Famine Early Warning System Network

Country: Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Niger (the)

Larger than expected April price increases compound food Crisis in the Sahel

Adequate access to food remains a primary concern across the Sahel given localized 2011 production deficits and higher than average 2011/12 price levels. Larger than expected April increases in local cereal prices have further compounded existing acute food insecurity. Likely humanitarian assistance remains insufficient to fully mitigate food insecurity in northern Mali, parts of Burkina Faso, and western Niger, particularly in areas hosting IDPs and refugees. Very poor and poor households in these areas will require additional, targeted emergency assistance through the peak of the agricultural lean season (Jul‐Sep) to meet minimum food needs and prevent increases in already high background levels of acute malnutrition.

Ghana: Struggling to find solutions for Liberian refugees

Tue, 22 May 2012 15:08:06 +0000

Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Country: Ghana, Liberia

Introduction

This paper investigates the challenges of resolving the protracted Liberian refugee situation in Ghana. Despite the restored stability in Liberia and the unfavourable living conditions in exile, as of 2011, there were still about 11,000 Liberian refugees in the Buduburam refugee settlement in Ghana. For the last several years, the volume of humanitarian aid for this refugee population has been sharply dwindling whereas refugees’ livelihoods have been constrained due to various impediments. Given the few benefits of remaining in Ghana as refugees, it is a conundrum for the UN refugee agency to understand why a considerable number of Liberian refugees have not returned to their country of origin.

In January 2012, however, UNHCR announced the imminent invocation of the cessation clause for remaining Liberian refugees and has started urging refugees to return to Liberia.
Drawing from previous fieldwork and from recent interviews with residual Liberians, the paper explores refugees’ decisions over whether to return or stay in Ghana under the tense repatriation pressure. It also draws implications to enable a better understanding of the intractable nature of prolonged refugee situations and highlights the potential future risks for those who may continue to remain in Ghana.

Yemen's struggle is bread, not bombs

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:38:53 +0000

Source: Integrated Regional Information Networks

Country: Yemen

SANA'A, 22 May 2012 (IRIN) - A devastating suicide bomb in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, may have grabbed international media headlines and highlighted known security problems, but ordinary people are quietly fighting more mundane battles to make ends meet.

Three months after Yemen's new government took office, frustration is growing, with people in Sana'a saying the pace of economic reform is not fast enough.

"Eighty percent of my income goes on education, food, and medicine for my family," said Adel Aklan, an unemployed resident of Sana'a. "The government should subsidize basics like wheat, sugar, rice, medicine."

Nuha El Arashi, a college student, told IRIN: "We can barely afford our necessities. Before, it was easy to afford things like milk, bread, water, and vegetables. Nowadays we can hardly afford these, and we avoid all the luxuries. Before, it was cheap and easy to get around in a taxi, but fares have now doubled because the cost of fuel is so high."

For the last two decades Yemen's economy was largely driven by oil, but this is quickly running out, according to an April report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. But with 70-80 percent of government revenue still coming from oil, Yemenis are vulnerable to shifts in international commodity prices and domestic oil output, according to think-tank Chatham House.

It said the 2011 political crisis created high levels of inflation and disrupted supplies of basic goods. "There is a need to reinforce existing social protection mechanisms and bolster humanitarian aid to ensure the availability of, and access to, basic commodities for the country's most vulnerable people," it said in a recent brief.

Walking around Sana'a it is easy to find disgruntled people: Fawzia, an Ethiopian-born woman working in a khat market, told IRIN: "Tribes are closing roads. Electricity is always out. Even if you stayed in Yemen 100 years, you wouldn't see a change."

Unemployment

"Structural unemployment is a very real problem in Yemen, because we can't send our workers to the Gulf states, because we don't have the right kind of workers, even for our own businesses," said Ali El Waafi, an economist and former member of parliament.

"There are jobs [in Yemen], but those who are not working cannot do these jobs because they lack training and education. We need two to three years of training in the short term so that we can have competent workers for our own businesses, then we can send them to the Gulf states."

Wilfried Engelke, a senior economist at the World Bank, said the exact level of unemployment was difficult to gauge. Some estimates put it at around 20 percent, and up to 50 percent among the youth. Other studies indicate higher figures, he said.

Mostafa Nasr, an economist at the Studies and Economic Media Centre in Sana'a, suggested that the only jobs being created were ministerial jobs.

Food insecurity

A survey conducted in November and December by aid agencies found that 44 percent of Yemeni households could not buy enough food to feed their families. Since 2009, food insecurity has doubled., according to the European Commission. Furthermore, one in three Yemenis has gone into debt to buy food for their family, according to an April report.

A food security specialist in Sana'a, who preferred anonymity, said the price of staple foods rose 50 percent between January and April 2011 and remained at record highs throughout much of the year. Fuel price rises also hiked food prices.

"Even without increasing food and fuel prices, the depreciating rial would still make the daily household budget stretch less far," said the specialist. A year of high food prices and a depreciated currency would adversely affect food security for the most vulnerable, he added.

A restaurant worker in Sana'a's historic old city, Saeed El Usheri, said increasing fuel prices had reduced profits and many former clients had lost their jobs and could no longer afford to eat out.

"We used to have 30-40 clients here daily. Now we've got 12-15 a day, maybe. It's a drop of 60 percent at least. Customers used to come and buy a whole lunch. Now they just buy a sandwich or something small and go, because that's all they can afford."

El Usheri said his salary of 30,000 rials a month (US$140 dollars) was not enough to cover all his expenses.

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Sudan: MSF forced to suspend lifesaving activities after restrictions imposed in North Darfur

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:14:56 +0000

Source: MSF

Country: Sudan (the)

MSF forced to suspend lifesaving medical activities after restrictions imposed on its work

Khartoum 22 May 2012. As a result of increasing restrictions imposed by Sudanese authorities, the medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has been forced to suspend most of its medical activities in the conflict area of Jebel Si, in Sudan’s North Darfur State. MSF is the sole health provider in the region.

“With the reduction of our activities in Jebel Si, more than 100,000 people in the region are left entirely without healthcare,” says Alberto Cristina, MSF’s operational manager for Sudan.

Over the past year, increasing obstacles have put MSF’s work under threat. No shipments of drugs or medical supplies have been authorised since September 2011, while MSF has encountered growing difficulties obtaining work and travel permits for its staff. Meanwhile, transport options to and from Jebel Si have been slashed.

Without medical supplies or sufficient staff, MSF can no longer provide either outpatient or inpatient consultations, and its vaccination programme has had to close. For women with complicated deliveries, lifesaving caesarean sections are no longer possible. Stocks of mosquito nets and delivery kits for pregnant women have run out, as have nutritional supplies.

With MSF staff no longer able to stabilise critically ill patients, they have no choice but to refer patients to the hospital in El Fasher, eight hours’ drive away. This is particularly hazardous for women with emergency obstetric complications, who have a poor chance of surviving the journey.

MSF is currently only able to provide limited nutritional healthcare, antenatal consultations and health education.

“If we are not allowed to deliver medicines and supplies to our hospital and health posts soon, disease outbreaks are likely to occur, and maternal and perinatal deaths are likely to increase and may even reach emergency levels,” says Cristina.

In the region, levels of maternal mortality are critical, and outbreaks of preventable and treatable diseases such as meningitis and measles are common as well as malnutrition. Over the past two years, MSF treated 1,805 children under the age of five for malnutrition in Kaguro.

MSF began providing medical assistance in the Jebel Si region in 2005, through a single health post, and by 2008 was running a rural hospital in Kaguro and five health posts throughout the region. These are the only health facilities in this area, and serve a permanent population of approximately 100,000 people, as well as about 10,000 seasonal nomads, all of whom are entirely dependent on MSF for healthcare and emergency assistance.

There are no local health services in the region, and no other international organisations providing medical assistance. The nearest Ministry of Health facilities are several hours’ drive away, but insecurity in the area, as well as mountainous terrain and poor roads, makes access extremely difficult.

“MSF is hopeful that the situation can be resolved,” says Alberto Cristina. “The organisation is ready to resume activities once the restrictions to its work are lifted. When medical supplies, logistical equipment and international staff are once again able to reach the region, MSF medical teams are ready to provide lifesaving medical care to the people in Jebel Si.”

MSF calls on the Government of Sudan to grant the necessary support so that it can resume its work and provide vital medical aid to the people of the region.

Uganda: Surge in Congolese influx as fighting worsens in North Kivu

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:13:56 +0000

Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Country: Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo (the), Rwanda

This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today’s Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva. Further information can be found on the UNHCR websites, www.unhcr.org and www.unhcr.fr, which should also be checked for regular media updates on non-briefing days.

Fighting late last week between Congolese government forces and renegade troops has forced a new influx of displaced people into southwest Uganda. According to Ugandan district officials a further 13,000-15,000 people have crossed the border over the past few days.

Our staff, accompanied by government officials handling refugees, visited the border town of Bunagana on Friday and found some 6,000-7,000 Congolese camping in the area, using local shelter and open space. They come from villages in North Kivu’s Rutshuru territory. Many had already been displaced by earlier clashes in May.

UNHCR on Friday started to transport people from the border to a transit centre at Nyakabande. We took about 1,000 people on Friday and Saturday, while others made their own way. As of Sunday night, there were 6,163 at Nyakabande where capacity is increasingly stretched. We are providing basic aid.

To ease the congestion at Nyakabande UNHCR is stepping up transportation of those who are willing to go to the Rwamwanja settlement, about 370 kilometres, or an eight hour’s drive, to the north.

On Monday morning, we moved 1,471 people by convoy to Rwamwanja and we plan more convoys on Thursday and Sunday, with each one taking 1,000-1,500 people. But many people wish to stay near the border in the hope that the on-off fighting will end and they can return home.

The recent fighting has also caused displacement inside North Kivu province, with at least 12,000 people registered as internally displaced in Jomba and Bwesa in Rutshuru territory between May 10 and May 15. Most of the displaced are staying with host families or living in school buildings.

In Rwanda, smaller numbers of Congolese continue to cross and make their way to the overstretched Nkamira transit camp, which currently hosts 9,006 people. 107 people went back to Congo over the weekend and we’re keeping an eye on this trend.

Since April 27, when the current wave of clashes between Congolese armed forces and supporters of former rebel commander Bosco Ntaganda broke out, tens of thousands of people have been displaced within North Kivu or to Uganda and Rwanda. Ntaganda joined the armed forces under the 2009 peace deal, but he is sought for war crimes by the International Criminal Court. UNHCR fears further mass displacement unless the rival sides are able to agree on peace.

Amid all this, UNHCR suffered the loss of a cherished colleague, Rocky Makabuza who was shot by assailants at his home in Goma late on Friday and died later. The motives for his killing have not been established. In a statement yesterday High Commissioner Guterres expressed his hope that the matter will be properly investigated and that those responsible will be brought to account.