REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Corinne Momal-Vanian, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Economic Commission for Europe, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, the World Trade Organization and the International Organization for Migration.
Somalia
Marie-Servane Desjonqueres, Media Officer for for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said her organization had decided to temporarily suspend its food and seed relief distributions intended for 1.1 million people in urgent need after supplies to two regions of central and southern Somalia were blocked without clear explanation.
The decision had been taken after 140 lorries carrying aid for 240,000 people in the Middle Shabelle and Galgaduud regions were denied permission to travel since mid-December, she said. The explanation given by the local authorities was that quality control checks were needed, and although this was quite normal, it was decided the excessive and unclear delay NOW required action, she explained.
Discussions remained ongoing and as soon as appropriate guarantees were given services would resume. In the meantime the Red Cross programme of medical and food aid for malnourished women and children in the rest of the country continued.
Benjamin Wahren, ICRC’s Head of Operations for East Africa, added that the delay in distribution could affect the quality of the aid being held back, as had happened in previous cases. He also gave more detail on the terms of the blockage saying there was no use of force, just a request for a quality check which they had agreed to. The ICRC sought clarification on this case to ensure that similar blockages did not occur in other areas. The consequences of this delay could touch as many as 1.1 million people though it was hoped the situation could be resolved before there was any major impact.
Elisabeth Byrs for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recalled that on 19 January in Room III at 12:00 the humanitarian team from Somalia, including the humanitarian coordinator, would brief the press, as he had done in New York yesterday (12 January).
On that occasion, he underlined that Somalia was still in need of assistance, as at the six-month marker since declaration of famine in July 2010, as many as 250,000 still lived in famine conditions. In addition, four million people remained in need of humanitarian aid throughout the country, with most living in southern regions where access was still an issue.
She also gave details of a meeting of the Inter-Cluster Working Group (ICWG) on 5 January in Nairobi to review the implications of the Al Shabaab ban on humanitarian organizations in parts of Somalia.
The ICWG was to produce an updated analysis document covering the impact of the ban on humanitarian operations and alternative strategies for delivery of assistance.
The 2012 Appeal for Somalia was five per cent funded, with $82 million received out of the $1.5billion requested, she said.
South Sudan
Gaëlle Sévenier for the World Food Programme (WFP) said the WFP yesterday transported 44.5 tonnes of food to Pibor to feed 2,500 people for a month. And as people continued to arrive back in the town, the programme would continue to provide nutrition for those most affected. In the town the WFP had now registered 19,000 people for food assistance and was responding as quickly as possible, she said.
Meanwhile, the programme was also distributing food to those in the areas surrounding the town, as well as those in Bor, the capital of Jonglei state. The delivery of these supplies was however limited by the state of the roads, she noted, and the WFP needed $5 million to be able to reach those in accessible areas. The rainy season, which was to begin in March, would make this situation worse, she added.
Also on Pibor, Jean Philippe Chauzy for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said a convoy of four trucks packed with life-saving non-food items (NFIs) such as kitchen utensils, soap, jerry cans, blankets, plastic sheeting and mosquito nets had arrived, which would benefit around 7,500 people. This consignment would supplement items already prepositioned by the Organization in key locations close to the affected areas around Jonglei state, he said.
A helicopter carrying an extra consignment of NFIs, organized with the support of the government of South Sudan, was also expected to arrive in Pibor town on Saturday (14 January).
Mr. Chauzy also answered a question saying that road delivery was generally very difficult in the area, hence the use of helicopters, but the overarching need was to provide aid to those who most needed it and so the difficult transport was being undertaken.
Tarik Jasarevic for the World Health Organization (WHO) said that a number of health facilities in northern Jonglei had been destroyed and subsequently closed as a result of fighting, including Pibor Health Care Centers and Lekuangole and Gumruk Health Care Units, which were run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). Equipment and supplies were also vandalised.
He further explained that national health staff working in the affected areas fled along with the population, while the international staff were evacuated. This had led to a disruption of routine health services including immunization for eligible children, antenatal and delivery services for women and access to medicines for those with chronic illnesses. In the wake of these developments, a total of 208 people had been airlifted from 25 December to 11 January and almost all evacuated have been taken to Juba Teaching Hospital, with the exception of three taken to Malakal and one to Bor. Most of these had gunshot wounds.
This medical evacuation had severely constrained the capacity of health facilities in terms of care for evacuees including food, medical supplies, space and facilities, and human resources, he said, though the Ministry of Health deployed additional health personnel and ambulances to transport the evacuated patients from the airport. WHO South Sudan had also provided medical and non-medical supplies to Juba Teaching Hospital.
The main objective for the Health Cluster (led by WHO) was to restore basic health services, scale up surgical capacity, implement the minimum initial service package and control and prevent communicable disease outbreaks in the affected communities in Jonglei state as there was a likelihood of increased medical needs as people returned from hiding in the bush, he said. In addition MSF had started the reconstruction of the Health Care Center facility, equipping and restocking in Pibor town and planning for mobile health services in the other affected areas.
Horn of Africa
Andrej Mahecic for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said UNHCR was increasingly concerned about insecurity in and around camps hosting hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees in the Horn of Africa.
The situation was particularly worrying in the Dadaab refugee camps in northern Kenya, he said, where the threat of improvised explosive devices, kidnappings, vehicle hijackings and banditry remains high. In addition to killings of police officers and kidnappings of aid workers, there had also been targeting of refugees, such as the murder of two refugee leaders who had volunteered to help maintain peace and safety in the camps. The Kenyan authorities were investigating these killings along with other threats and abuses against refugees, he said.
Despite these challenges, basic services such as health, food, water, sanitation, education and protection, were being maintained, thanks to planning and the close cooperation of partners and the refugee communities in Dadaab, he said, and alternative ways of delivering services were being looked at.
Meanwhile in Ethiopia, on Wednesday morning, three armed men in civilian clothing attempted to stop a vehicle belonging to an international NGO on the main access road between Dollo Ado town and Sur Amino camp, and when it did not stop, opened fire. Although this was an isolated incident, aid agencies had restricted all but essential activities and movements in all five camps, which today host some 140,000 people. These were temporary measures while the Ethiopian authorities conducted their investigation and additional steps were taken to increase security for humanitarian staff.
Answering questions as to who was responsible for the problems, he said he was unable to speculate on who they were or their motive. He further explained that some security clearance was done on registration, though it was not possible to effectively control all those leaving or joining the large camp.
On the programmes available to refugees he said the services usually offered to refugees in addition to basic services included vocational training, psychosocial support and programmes for women.
Kenya
Marixie Mercado for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said recent nutrition surveys in the drought-affected areas of Kenya had underlined the impact of security on humanitarian assistance programmes. For example, the most recent results showed that in Turcana global acute malnutrition rates dropped from 37.4 per cent to 13.7 per cent over a six month period. This improvement was attributed to supplementary feeding, nutrition and health outreach as well as general food distribution, but in areas where access had been more limited, notably due to insecurity and rain, malnutrition rates had remained about the same or deteriorated. In Wajir East, along the border, global malnutrition rates were at 30 per cent, up from 22.8 per cent in May.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Elisabeth Byrs for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said abuses by armed groups against civilians in the border region of Shabunda, Kalehe and Kabare continued last week. According to local sources an attack took place on 4 January on the village of Luyuyu, and was accompanied by serious abuses against civilians with people killed, houses burnt, looting of property and abductions. Locally, it was reported that the Nzovu Health Centre hosted forty injured people and 21 were evacuated to Bukavu for treatment.
Some IDPs were now accommodated in host families, she said, others occupied public buildings including churches and schools, while another group had taken refuge in the forest. These groups needed food and non-food items (NFI), however the local road was in a state of disrepair and humanitarian aid had to be unloaded from vehicles and carried on foot, which hindered operations considerably.
Meanwhile, nearly 370 cases of diarrhea and 32 deaths were reported in the area of Mulungu, the home to many people displaced by the insecurity affecting the border region, which made the situation all the more critical.
Ethiopia
Jean Philippe Chauzy for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the IOM together with its partner agency the UNHCR was strengthening its transport infrastructure in anticipation of a new wave of displaced Sudanese into Ethiopia fleeing the fighting in and around Blue Nile and Jonglei States in South Sudan.
To support this work the Organization had opened a sub-office in Assosa, the capital of Benishangul Gutnuz region of Ethiopia on the border with Sudan, and had contracted local service providers to shuttle the refugees crossing the border to camps in Ethiopia.
He added that the number that had crossed into Ethiopia currently stood at 35,000 with the majority being accommodated in three camps. However, with the newly-displaced continuing to arrive, these were reaching capacity and two new camps were planned near Bambasi, south of Assosa.
Timor-Leste
Andrej Mahecic for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said yesterday saw a ceremony in Dili, Timor-Leste, marking the closure of UNHCR's office there, after 12 years of operations in assisting refugees and other displaced people.
UNHCR's regional office in Bangkok would now take on the job of working with the government and civil society in Timor-Leste to protect refugees and asylum seekers in the country.
Geneva activities
Ms. Momal-Vanian said the first session in 2012 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child opened Monday (16 January) for three weeks to consider the reports of Azerbaijan, Cook Islands, Madagascar, Myanmar, Niue Islands, Thailand, Togo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
She also added that the Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG), Mr. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, yesterday met the new president of the Swiss Confederation to discuss cooperation with the host country. She also mentioned that details of all his activities and meetings were posted on the UNOG website.
Jean Rodriguez for the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) said that the ECE Executive Secretary Ján Kubiš would next week leave for Kabul to take up a new post as Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Afghanistan.
He also mentioned a press conference to launch the report on the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2012 planned for Tuesday (17 January) at midday in Room III. The report was available under embargo at the back of the room and there was an accompanying press release which focused on European issues, he added. Also on Tuesday (17 January) was a meeting of the Working Party on Pollution and Energy which would look at norms for combustibles and confirm a decision of the working group to adopt a recommendation to transpose a European directive for pollutants from lorries.
Ankai Xu for the World Trade Organization (WTO) said that next Friday (20 January) a meeting of the Trade and Development Committee Subcommittee on less developed countries was held at 10:00 and a session of the Dispute Settlement Body was scheduled for 15:00.
Fadéla Chaib for the World Health Organization said the 131st Session of the WHO Executive Committee would start on Monday (16 January) and ran for seven days from 09:30 until 17:30, until 26 January, including on Saturday 21 January.
Journalists with Palais des Nations accreditation would not need further access credentials, she added.
The agenda included an opening address from WHO Director-General Margaret Chan on questions of public health and work to be done in years to come and her statement would be distributed to those attending on Monday. Full details of the schedule were available on the WHO website.
Other interesting points included the announcement of the Board nominations for the Director-General post as the end of Ms. Chan’s term neared, the outcome of which would be decided by the General Assembly in May. The nomination for the new Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean would also be announced, with the incumbent retiring at the end of January. Finally, Ms. Chaib mentioned other points of discussion such as early pregnancy and marriage of young girls, mental health, follow up on the summit in New York on non-transmittable disease and the future role of WHO in health crises.
Clare Nullis for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said the International Telecommunications Union had organized a large World Radiocommunication Conference from 23 Jan-17 February 2012 and the WMO was to issue a press release on the importance of radio communications in meteorology.