Updated : 24th May 2000
IOM staff on the ground have reported an estimated daily arrival of 40 to 60 new Angolan refugees in Sinjembela. These new arrivals could be attributed to reports of intermittent clashes between Angolan Government forces and UNITA on the Angolan side of the Cuando Cubango River. IOM will continue providing transport away from the border areas to those already there and to any new refugees arriving in Sinjembela. Since the 1st of March, when IOM began transporting the refugees, until 25 March, 5,088 people had been moved from the border area of Sinjembela to a new camp located inland at Nangweshi. (IOM 28 Mar 2000).
Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said at the weekend that his country's armed forces (FAA) had temporarily suspended operations against Jonas Savimbi's UNITA rebels following what he called the destruction of the rebel movement's conventional capabilities. "We are adapting our forces and methods to correspond with the new type of guerrilla warfare which is being exercised all over Angola. I am convinced that once this adaptation process is over, the area in which guerrilla warfare is practised will be limited and we will gain control of all the frontiers." Dos Santos said. (UNOCHA 27 Mar 2000).
WFP in Angola has warned that without substantial new donor pledges, the UN food agency's relief programme could face serious difficulties from July. "Serious pipeline breaks are foreseen from July for most commodities if large contributions are not confirmed. As per the present pipeline forecast, the total shortfalls from March to August are expected to amount to 8,036 mt," a WFP report released on Wednesday said. A WFP staffer Benjamin Liberdale was critically injured in a landmine accident last week in Cuvelai, Cunene Province. The demining agency MAG is to begin operations in Cuvelai and Chamutete municipalities, and humanitarian assistance in the two areas has been halted until demining has been completed (UN OCHA 30 Mar 2000).
The spilling over of the Angolan civil war into Namibia has led to a marked escalation of human rights abuses in the volatile border areas, Amnesty International said in a report published on the 22nd March. "The spread of the Angolan conflict into Namibia and the consequent escalation of human rights abuses represents yet another blow to a continent already ravaged by conflict," Amnesty International said. "Angolan and Namibian troops have committed widespread human rights violations following the Namibian government's decision to allow Angolan troops to operate from Nambia against UNITA* forces. In turn this has prompted brutal reprisal raids by UNITA aimed at spreading terror and panic among the population," the human rights organization added (Amnesty International 22 Mar 2000).
Political tension is rising in Zimbabwe following an attack on an opposition march at the weekend by government supporters. As a result, analysts warn that escalating tit-for-tat political violence could jeopardise legislative elections due in the next few months.
Zimbabwe's legislative polls are scheduled for May. But "already there is a clear indication we are not going to have a free, fair or peaceful election," said Dongo, one of only three opposition members in the current parliament. "We have a situation in which ZANU-PF is in control of the law enforcement agencies ... At the end of the day, people standing up for peace and justice were attacked." (UN OCHA 3 April)
Since February, war veterans have led landless peasants in a government-backed campaign to occupy white-owned farms in violation of a court order. The veterans have organised which farms to target, helped distribute food and money allegedly supplied by the government to the squatters, and reportedly attacked and intimidated farmers who attempted to resist.
Opponents allege it is an irresponsible move by a worried government to take political advantage of land hunger in the impoverished countryside, while using the small but economically influential white population as the scapegoats of Zimbabwe's current problems. The issue of land ownership and redistribution was central to Zimbabwe's liberation war (UN OCHA 4 April).
South Africa will not intervene in the growing crisis in Zimbabwe but will leave the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to deal with the situation, Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin has said. He was replying to opposition demands in a parliamentary debate on developments in the 14-nation SADC region that South Africa take the lead in dealing with Zimbabwe, now facing it worst economic crisis since independence in 1980 (AFP 6 Apr 2000).
Britain was ready to support a programme of genuine land reform and to provide aid to Zimbabwe. Media reports quoted Peter Hain, Britain's Minister of African Affairs, as saying: "President Mugabe needs to sit down with donor countries like Britain, with our European colleagues, with the United States, and discuss in a practical, sensible fashion how we can take this and other matters forward," Hain said. "We don't want to hand over the money and allow the Zimbabwean government to spend it as it chooses, because unfortunately that money has not been spent wisely in the past," Hain said. He added that Britain agreed that the historic injustice in the colonial period and racist rule of white-governed Rhodesia had left whites with much of the best land in Zimbabwe. Hain also said Britain was ready to support an economic reform programme in Zimbabwe with institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that would enable development aid to be increased.
Zimbabwe's Attorney-General Patrick Chinamasa has warned that any attempt to evict squatters from white-owned farms could spark a civil war, news reports said. Chinamasa told the High Court that Zimbabwe was a powder keg which would explode if police attempted to enforce a court order to remove thousands of government supporters from white-owned farms. A lawyer representing commercial farmers responded by accusing Chinamasa and the police commissioner of tearing up Zimbabwe's constitution and denying white people the protection of the law (UN OCHA 10 April).
The Government of Mozambique will ask donor governments for $450 million at the International Reconstruction Conference to be held in Rome on the 3 - 4 May. The funding is intended to help restore and improve education, health care, infrastructure and agriculture as well as revitalize the private sector.
As of 30 April, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) had sufficient stocks to provide emergency food aid to thousands of flood victims in southern and central Mozambique until mid-June, the daily Noticias newspaper reported.
As of the 29th April, flood waters in southern Mozambique were residing and the populations of the accommodation centers were returning to their villages. The organizations distributing relief aid will continue to do so in the villages. ADPP Emergency, in collaboration with the Red Cross, will start to distribute family packages of clothing, tents, blankets, soap, and hygiene and sanitation kits, in the villages this week. As the people return to their homes the Mozambican government, the UN organizations, the INGC (the National Institue for Disaster Management), national and international NGO's, and Civil Society have begun to coordinate Reconstruction Programs (RP) to stabilize the peoples lives and rebuild the infrastructure of the country. News From Mozambique 29 April 2000.
Agence France-Presse reported 28 April that South African troops sent to Mozambique in February to help with the flood rescue and relief operations will be withdrawn over the next few days, according to the South African National Defence Force.
The BBC reported on 18 April that the replanting of some crops had begun in some parts of Mozambique. On 3 May the BBC published an article detailing Mozambique's difficult recovery.
Mozambican Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi on Monday called for "redoubled efforts" to rebuild homes and ensure a return to normality in the areas of southern and central Mozambique hit by catastrophic flooding in February and March. XINHUA May 1
On 21 April the Mozambican agriculture and rural development ministry appealed for 64 million US dollars in order to minimise the effects of the February/March floods on the country's agricultural sector. The ministry told the national news agency that some 10 percent to 15 percent of the country's agricultural production had been affected, and it would take around two years to recover fully from the effects of the floods.
Reported by PANA 0n 1 May, Mozambique's women affairs and social welfare minister, Virgilia Matabele, launched a new fishing project at Corumana, in Maputo province. This project, to exploit the fisheries potential of the lake formed behind the Corumana dam on the Sabie river, was initially to have been launched in February. But the massive flooding of that month, which cut the entire Corumana area off from the capital, forced a postponement. The project involves creating and funding a local association of fishermen, who will sell the fish they catch from the lake in Moamba and Boane districts, and Maputo and Matola cities. It is also hoped that some of the fish can be exported to Swaziland and South Africa. The government says that the project seeks "to create income generating activities through artisanal fisheries, to build a school with the income earned, to provide social assistance to unsupported elderly people in the village, and, at a later stage, to promote the agricultural development of the community".
US orders the evacuation of non-essential embassy staff &endash; British Foreign Office advises British citizens to leave - hundreds of thousands of Eritreans, displaced by Ethiopia's advance are in dire need of assistance.(Guardian May 22nd)
After three years of low rainfall, crop failure, food shortages and pockets of acute malnutrition are occurring. (MSF May 16th)
Ethiopia's Prime Minister declares that the war needed to end "now and quickly", as Ethiopia rejects the UN Security Council demand for an immediate halt to the war. (BBC 15th May)
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has called for an early end to his country's renewed border war with Eritrea, while Ethiopia has reportedy refused to accept a UN deadline for both sides to stop fighting; Eritrea has criticised the United Nations Security Council for not condemning the Ethiopian assault which initiated the new fighting after almost a year of uneasy peace. (BBC 13th May)
Ethiopia and Eritrea have agreed an outline peace plan, but talks on implementing it broke down in Algiers last week. (BBC 8th May)
Sudden heavy rains in Ethiopia are hampering relief efforts in one of the regions worst hit by drought and famine, according to ICRC and UNDP (BBC 5th May)
7.8 Million affected by drought, as 350,000 IDPs result from clashes in Ethiopia. War exacerbates two-year drought in Eritrea, with 367000 affected by drought. Drought has worsensed food insecurity in Djibouti, where 100000 are affected by drought. WFP concerned at poor resourcing withi Ethiopia for emergency operation for IDPs where only 54 percent of cereal requirements received. WFP plans to provide 19,390 tons of food aid for a total of 211,750 drought-affected persons in Red Sea regions in Eritrea, and planning to assist 333,230 war affected (WFP 4th May (a),
WFP 4th May (b), WFP 4th May (c), WFP 3rd May, WFP 28th April)
Successive years of drought and extended dry spells from April-July 1999 have led to crop failure, and the conflict has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis by burdening Eritrea with an ever larger population of internally displaced persons.
WFP blame drought in the south and east of Ethiopia for humanitarian disaster, though the border war with Eritrea has displaced some 350,000 people and there are border clashes with Somali warlords. (WFP 25th April)
Reports of famine increasing in a country at war. as Ethiopia soon will have to deal with two major problems simultaneously, that of war and food shortages (MSF April 6th)
Famine threatens 13 million in Horn of Africa, with worsening drought conditions in the Horn of Africa set to cause a famine greater than that of 1984-85, with the ongoing border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia set to hamper aid efforts in the coming months by denying the use of vital ports along, and roads from, Eritrea's Red Seacoast, the aid agency World Vision warned today, saying that the reality of the news media was that an actual famine will be news while a potential famine is not. (World Vision reported in ReliefWeb 5th April)
Ethiopia says there should be no more delays in aid and that the international community of not responding quickly enough to calls for food supplies to head off famine.
Ethiopia's foreign minister said that access was absolutely not the problem. (BBC 5th April 2000)
The world is failing the people of Ethiopia as drought threatens millions of lives, with the worst conditions in south east Ethiopia where 1.3 million are affected and almost 600,000 people are in particular need with people are already dying.(OXFAM 4th April)
Rumours of famine increasing in a country at war, but faminies of 1984/85 are unlikely to be repeated because of a heightened awareness of the conditions in the country, more NGOs and a far better central administration for the delivery of food aid.(MSF 3rd April)
Ethiopia dismisses 'bizarre' Eritrean idea as a gimmick which would provide Asmara with an opportunity for looting.(BBC 1st April)
Ethiopian Prime Minister denies that funds are being used to support the war effort, aid organisations say funds have not been diverted, but they fear the war could hamper relief efforts.(BBC 1st April).
Ethiopia rejects US aid corridor proposal as absurd, while BBC eyewitness report says that five children a day are dying of starvation and disease in some parts of Ethiopia. (AfricaNews (VisAfric) Mar 31st)
SCF say up to 10 million will require food aid after failed rains. Advanced emergencies reported in some areas, while the opportunity to avert a massive human disaster now rests even more precariously on the government's and donor's ability to expand existing efforts. Less that a month's food left in reserves, while most shipments are not due until June. Eritrea impacting hugely on aid access. Over 100,000 hectares hit by fire in Southern Ethiopia. (IRIN 30th Mar)
Proximity talks between Ethiopia and Eritrea postponed. Eritrean President agrees to routing of food through Assab. US renews food aid to Eritrea for drought-affected and war-displaced people. IRIN 30th March GET LINK
Proxy talks fail to take place, as Eritrea demands clarification of nature and structure of meetings; OAU announces indefinite postponement. (AfricaNews (Seven Days Update) 30th Mar)
Many refugees are fleeing from southern Sudan into neighbouring countries in fear of government air raids, factional fighting and general lawlessness. 5,500 refugees fled into Ethiopia to escape fighting between rival rebel groups in Sudan's Blue Nile province. (UNHCR 27th Mar)
Eritrea agrees aid corridor to enemy. 22-month conflict has caused over half a million displaced civilians. Eritrea has agreed to proxy talks, but wants the mediators to declare that they went back on a plan which was supposed to be non-amendable. (BBC 25TH March)
Relief Workers Warn of Another Ethiopia Famine with 8 million likely to face hunger or starvation this year. UNWFP appeal for 250,000 tons of food for 2.3 million people, and SCF has opened an Ethiopian famine fund. Relief workers in the region have said that the present Ethiopian Government is more proactive than the one that ruled in 1984, and may prevent this drought from transforming into a widespread famine. Jon Walter, spokesman for the environmental group Greenpeace, told Reuters that millions of people will be left homeless and thousands will die in the coming decades unless we reduce fossil fuel usage."
Ethiopian authorities struggle to cope with huge fires (BBC 10th March )
An estimated 1.7 million people, mainly in southern Sudan, will require food aid in the year 2000. (WFP 4th May)
Sudan has extended a temporary ceasefire in the southern Bahr el-Ghazal region until 15 July. (WFP 28th April)
Vicious fighting between rival groups has left some 1.2 to 1.5 million people in Somalia at risk of serious food insecurity.(WFP 4th May)
2,800 tons of WFP food pre-positioned in southern Somali ports in anticipation of monsoon rains which render ports inaccessible in summer months.(WFP 28th April)
2.7 Million affected by drought - sporadic and poorly distributed rainfall during the 1999 long rains season have led to crop failures in marginal agricultural districts. (WFP 4th May)
The United Nations Word Food Programme says more than seventy five thousand tonnes of food is urgently needed to feed drought victims in northern Kenya. (BBC 17th April)
250,000 at risk in northwestern Kenya (WFP 25th April)
The Kenyan government on Tuesday denied there had been any starvation-related deaths in the northeast Kenya, while news organisations last week reported at least 85 deaths resulting from starvation - President Moi announces firearms amnesty (IRIN 22nd March)
Experts attending Nairobi conference note that the proliferation of arms in the region was directly connected to the high rate of crime. One expert said that the recent phenomenon of dumping of unwanted, unused stocks by eastern European countries had compounded the problem.
In an Interview with the Head of UNHCR, Kakuma, in northwest Kenya, Dr Saber Azam Said that safe repatriation is the most appropriate solution, and that the security situation is precarious. (IRIN 6th April)
Sudanese refugees escaping fighting and hunger are crossing into neighbouring Kenya and Uganda in higher numbers, with more than 500 arriving in northwest Kenya, during a single day, with already 200,000 Sudanese refugees in Uganda and 65,000 in Kenya.
The Kenyan vice-president George Saitoti has appealed to Canada for assistance in dealing with Kenya's refugee situation, (UNHCR 9th March)
Sierra Leone gained independence from Britain on April 27 1961. From 1978 until 1992, the All People's congress was in power under a one party system. In 1991, the APC under the leadership of Major Joseph Momoh held a referendum for the multi party system which was approved by 60% of voters.
However, before this system could be introduced a military coup overthrew Momoh's government installing Captain Valentine Strasser as leader of the country. In response to international pressure, Strasser announced a two year transition programme for the registration of political parties and presidential and legislative elections. Multi-party elections were held in 1996 with the Sierra Leone People's Party winning the legislative elections and it's leader Ahmed Tejan Kabbah winning the presidential elections.
Kabbah was deposed by Major Johnny Paul Koroma in May 1997, Koroma announced the suspension of the constitution, the banning of all demonstrations and the abolition of political parties. Kabbah fled to Guinea to mobilise international support. In February 1998, the Nigerian led West African intervention force, ECOMOG stormed and occupied Freetown until Kabbah's return in March. In January 1999 RUF (Revolutionary United Front) rebels backed by Foday Sankoh took control of parts of the city from ECOMOG. Fierce fighting ensued until the Lome peace agreement in July 1999, which brought an end to 8 years of civil war. However, rebel troops did not comply with the disarmament plans in the treaty which granted the rebels a blanket amnesty for crimes committed during the war. Human rights groups and many governments expressed their concern at the granting of such an amnesty but the Government of Sierra Leone urged human rights groups not to challenge the July 7 peace accord.
ECOMOG troops departed in the last week of April 2000 raising the security temperature. The UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) do not possess ECOMOG's understanding of the rebel's arm twisting tactics and by 7th May the UN put the number of its troops captured by the rebels at 500.
One opinion put forth is that although ECOMOG had its own faults, it would have been better to equip the sub-regional force and allow them to finish the job they were on the verge of completing. The reported negative response from Western governments to the UN's request for more troops is further testimony to the wisdom in making available to the Sub-regional force, the huge resources being squandered by the better equipped but apparently ineffective UNAMSIL.
Currently, Sierra Leoneans are not starving, and nearly 30,000 tons of relief food remain stockpiled in Freetown and government-held towns of Bo and Kenema. But the current conflict could trigger significant food shortages later if insecurity prevents farmers from planting new crops during the country's main agricultural planting season, which usually begins during May-June. The crisis has forced cancellation of scheduled distributions of seeds and tools.
The current crisis has temporarily halted food deliveries to more than 200,000 beneficiaries.
Even before the current security crisis, humanitarian aid organizations reported that they lacked reliable access to seven of the country's 12 administrative districts. In northern and eastern regions devastated by years of war, "food security in most communities [is] fragile and vulnerable," the UN reported prior to recent events.
Sources: (WFP News Release, May 8, 2000).(Christian Science Monitor 12 May 2000)(AFP 10 May 2000)(UNDPI 10 May 2000).(AFP 10 May 2000).(Norwegian Refugee Council 10 May 2000) (BBC 7 May) (PANA 7 May 2000).(Christian Aid 8 May 2000 ).(PANA 8 May 2000).(Mail and Guardian 8 May 2000)(Christian Science Monitor 8 May 2000).(Reuters 8 May 2000).(Reuters 9 May 2000).
The Burmese veteran aid worker, Tun Myat, has taken up his new post as the United Nations humanitarian co-ordinator for Iraq. Mr Tun Myat will be running the programme that allows Baghdad to sell a limited amount of oil to buy food and medicine, to alleviate the effects of the UN economic embargo. Mr Tun Myat replaces Hans von Sponeck, who resigned in protest at the effects of sanctions on the Iraqi people (BBC 1 April).
The humanitarian crisis in sanctions-hit Iraq - where hundreds of children have been dying of ill-health and malnutrition - poses a serious moral dilemma for the United Nations, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at a meeting of the UN Security council on March 24. "The UN has always been on the side of the vulnerable and the weak, and has always sought to relieve suffering," he told the Security Council, "Yet we are accused of causing suffering to an entire population." Annan said the United Nations was in danger of losing the argument or the propaganda war - "if we haven't already lost it" - about who is responsible for this situation. "Is it (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein or the United Nations?" he asked.
The Secretary-General said he was particularly concerned about the situation of Iraqi children whose suffering and, in all too many cases, untimely deaths were documented in a report prepared by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Iraqi Health Ministry last year. "We cannot in all conscience ignore such reports, and assume that they are wrong," he told delegates. (IPS Mar 24).
A UN Security Council resolution passed on the 24th March has doubled the allocation for purchases of spare parts for Iraq's oil industry. The British MP and anti-sanctions campaigner George Galloway has welcomed this decision saying that public opinion in the West is turning against the decade-old UN embargo on Iraq. He dismissed arms control and UN efforts to eliminate any remaining banned weaponry as justification for keeping Iraq's 22 million population under indefinite sanctions. "It is time to end sanctions and find a new way," he said, calling for a simultaneous lifting of the embargo with the entry of a new UN arms inspectorate or in exchange for the return of weapons inspectors. (AFP 2 Apr 2000).
A small plane has broken the air sanctions on Iraq by flying from Jordan to Baghdad without permission from the United Nations. A French Catholic priest and three Italians, including a member of the European parliament, said there aim was to defy the ten-year old embargo. They said they felt compelled to act because the embargo was killing children and destroying Iraq's infrastructure. Flights to and from Iraq are banned by economic sanctions that were imposed to punish Baghdad for invading Kuwait. The United Nations Security Council has taken steps to ease the sanctions, but says they can't be lifted until Iraq dismantles its weapons of mass destruction (BBC 4 April).
North and South Korea have announced they are to hold their first summit since the peninsula was divided in 1945. South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung will travel to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, to meet his counterpart, Kim Jong-Il, on 12-14 June, the two nations said in a rare simultaneous announcement. The Cold War rivals are technically still at war after their bitter three-year conflict in the 1950s ended in a truce. Their last high-level talks took place nine years ago. The announcement comes just days before general elections are due to be held in South Korea. (BBC, 10 April, 2000).
Confronted with the impossible access to the most vulnerable groups of the North-Korean population suffering from malnutrition, Action Against Hunger has decided to stop its programs and withdraw from North Korea. The attitude of the international community has been cynical. Most of the western powers see the humanitarian aid to DPRK as a tool for foreign policy and national security.
The humanitarian organizations have been used as an instrument in this political game which sacrifices hundred of thousands of North-Koreans to the altar of realpolitik. The basic principles of humanitarian action are flouted daily. Action Against Hunger has finally decided to withdraw its teams from North-Korea and to stop all its assistance programs. Action Against Hunger recommends that the international community exercise maximum pressure on the DPRK Government in order that the basic principles of humanitarian aid be fully respected, namely, the direct access to beneficiaries, direct supervision and monitoring as well as free and unhindered evaluation of the impact of aid. All programs should benefit directly the most vulnerable populations, especially malnourished children (ACF - Action Contre la Faim 10 Mar 2000)
Israel is ready to join in a US-led initiative to aid starved North Korea if it freezes its nuclear weapons program and arms deliveries to the Middle East. Israel is the only country in Europe and Asia to have responded favourably to a request by the United States to take part in an international assistance scheme for Pyongyangd. As part of the plan Israel would send baby food and agricultural produce to North Korea to help ease starving there if it stopped providing Middle East nations with ballistic missiles-related technology, the newspaper said. Israel has no diplomatic ties with North Korea, which it accuses of selling missiles and ballistic technology to Iran and Syria, its arch-rivals in the Middle East. (AFP 22 Mar 2000)
Japan endorsed a 36.6 million dollar grant to the UN World Food Program to provide 100,000 tonnes of rice to North Korea. The World Food Program will use the money to purchase rice stocked by the Japanese government and shipping is expected to start in May. (AFP 17 Mar 2000)
The United Nations in Afghanistan have asked donors for 1.8 million dollars to provide immediate assistance for drought victims in Afghanistan. This is the worst drought to strike Afghanistan since 1971. According to the United Nations, the most severely hit region is the Registan Desert in southern Afghanistan, followed by southwest Afghanistan in general. Much of the rest of the country may face a moderate drought. Water levels in the dams and rivers are much lower than usual, as are levels of irrigation water. The drought is the result of reduced rain and snow for the last two to three years. Since it does not rain in Afghanistan in the summer, no rain is expected until late 2000.
The drought has hit agriculturists the hardest, including both livestock owners, especially nomadic Kochis, and farmers. City dwellers are also feeling the effects of the drought as the water table in Kandahar City continues to drop, causing 90% of the shallow wells to run dry. As early as February, a survey by the World Health Organization found that water in Kandahar City was unfit for human consumption.
The drought is also taking a high toll among livestock, particularly those of the nomads in the Registan. In March, FAO found livestock mortality rates of 50% and 60% in Maruf District of Kandahar, where animals were dying due to lack of fodder. The prices of livestock feed are rising, while the market price of livestock is falling. Loss of livelihoods is inextricably bound up with the livestock situation.
The UN in Afghanistan is concentrating immediate and short-term drought alleviation efforts in the areas of food security--especially for kochi families--through an increase in World Food Programme distributions to the area. In addition, areas of concern are livelihoods, provision of drinking water through deepening existing wells, and information collection. The assistance community will also focus on monitoring dams and watercourses, which will provide useful information on the impact of the drought on crops (UNOCHA 2 May).
The WFP plans to feed more than 400,000 people, who are the poorest and most needy, for the coming 12 months until the first harvest begins in June 2001. This effort will require the distribution of some 30,000 tonnes of food. "We will be able to help only the most needy and poor hungry people with food, but WFP can only do so much. There is a clear need for drinking water, health services and other technical support for the worst hit communities to help them support themselves over the coming months," a spokesperson said. The rain season in Afghanistan is over and with many of the wells either dry or their waters having declined to an extremely deep level, these provinces are unlikely to receive any more rain before November. The next harvest will be in the summer of 2001 (WFP 2 May ).
A total of 5,592 Afghan refugees have returned home since the start of the voluntary repatriation program for Afghan refugees from Iran on 9 April (UNHCR 25 Apr).
The warring sides in Afghanistan appealed for international aid to save lives in three drought-hit southern provinces and a locust attack in a northern province. The ruling Taleban movement said thousands of people in the southern provinces of Helmand, Uruzgan and Kandahar were in a "life and death struggle" because of drought and famine. A formal request for aid was made y to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan at Kandahar town, said a Taleban spokesman quoted by a Pakistan-based Afghan news service (Reuters 22 Apr).
Afghanistan's Taliban government has pressed helicopters into supplying food and water to famine-hit areas in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, the Afghan islamic Press (AIP) agency reported (Deutsche Presse Agentur 18 Apr).
The FAO/WFP annual crop assessment mission for Afghanistan will be held from late April to mid-May this year. (OCHA 18 Apr)
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban has laid off thousands of civil servants including all female employees and teachers, officials and workers. The ruling militia had already stopped paying female civil servants their monthly wages before the layoff. There was no sign the Taliban had any immediate plans to help the laid-off staff find substitute means of livelihood. (AFP 13 Apr ).
India, a union of states, is a Sovereign, Secular, Democratic Republic with a Parliamentary system of Government. There are 25 States and seven centrally administered Union Territories.
Five States in India have been affected by drought - Rajasthan in the North-West, Gujarat in the West, Madhya Pradesh in the Centre, Andhra Pradesh in the West and Orissa in the East. At least 50 million people are said to be affected. So far hundreds and thousands of cattle and goats have died but no human deaths have been attributed to the drought.
Agency Response: A WFP spokesperson, Christine van Nieuwenhuyse criticised the Government of India (GOI) for failing to anticipate the situation. She said that the WFP were aware of the situation in November 1999 and that although India has enough food to feed it's population the really needy do not have access to it.
Government Response: The GOI addressed the nation on April the 24th and appealed to people to contribute to the National Relief Fund. According to the Prime Minister the GOI implemented the following relief measures to tackle the drought
There has been much criticism of the food for work schemes with participants claiming that they have not received full payment. The GOI set the daily wage at 60 rupees (apx STG £1 ) but some people claimed that they received as little as 10 rupees. State governments hire contractors to chose the workers and oversee the work, it is alleged that some contractors make extra money by inflating the number of labourers in the log book.
There was an outbreak of diarrhoea in Orissa district following consumption of water specially delivered to the area. So far two deaths have been reported.
State governments have claimed that media reports are exaggerated while the GOI is blaming state governments for inaction and failure to to divert resources from other parts of the states to drought hit areas.
Devinder Sharma, food and agriculture policy analyst in India cites misplaced priorities and a collapse of planning policy as contributing factors to the drought. He points out that although the GOI has food grain reserves of 26m tonnes - 11m tonnes more than distribution requirements - they may still be unable to reach the areas where assistance is most needed.
Sources: BBC 1 May, 2000 , WFP EMERGENCY REPORT 5 May 2000 , BBC 2 May, 2000 , BBC 2 May, 2000., BBC 1 May, 2000 , BBC 28 April, 2000, DisasterRelief.org 26 Apr 2000 , The Indian Embassy, The Week May 14, 2000 , Outlook India May 15th 2000 , Deccan Herlald May 9 ,
A study by National AIDS Control Program has shown that more than 520,000 Tanzanians have AIDS, and about 1.5 million Tanzanians have HIV. (AfricaNews 24th April)
Thousands of residents in the flood-prone areas of Dar es Salaam's lowlands have defied a government call that they evacuate their homes following the start of the long rains. The Regional Commissioner Yusuf Makamba said the government may have to "forcibly" remove the residents for their own safety.(IRIN 22nd March)
FAO says that the overall food supply situation in Tanzania is stable as a result of large maize imports in the second half of 1999 and the government's ban of maize exports; while poor rains during the growing season were expected to reduce yields substantially and food assistance was required for almost 800,000 people
Refugee arrivals into western Tanzania have "significantly dwindled", according to (UNHCR IRIN 24th March)
European Commission promises to sustain its share of refugee costs and would continue its involvement in the peace processes of Burundi and DRC, from which most of the refugees in Tanzania originated, (IRIN 13th March)
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have announced a debt relief package worth two-billion dollars for Tanzania.
The Tanzanian Guardian reports a total of 521,110 Burundian refugees are in Tanzania after fleeing military clashes in their country for over two decades. (UNHCR 7th April)
Burundian refugees arriving in Tanzania report that the border area is mined, which could explain why the number of new arrivals has significantly dropped.
Sources in Kigoma said that between March 9 and 19 few refugees were registered at the major reception in eastern Tanzania; local officials attributed the drop of refugee arrivals to what they described as a "restoration of stability" in Burundi and DR Congo.
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