REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, the Director of the UN Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by Spokespersons for the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the UN Children's Fund, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.

Horn of Africa

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the international community had yesterday mobilized under the aegis of the Food and Agriculture Organization to assist the populations of the Horn of Africa. In a speech read by Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that a further US$ 1 billion were needed to fund the operations providing humanitarian assistance. The most up-to-date factsheet by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs was at the back of the room, providing the latest funding figures and highlighting that only about 50 per cent of the needs were covered as of yet.

Emilia Casella of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that the WFP hoped that the first in a series of airlifts would begin today. Each plane would carry about 14 – 30 tons of ready-to-use therapeutic food, destined specifically for severely malnourished children. This would be only the beginning, as the WFP hoped that airlifts would be starting up in the coming days to the Gedo region, at the border with Kenya and Ethiopia. The commodities to be airlifted to Gedo would include ready-to-use supplementary food as well as high energy biscuits. The WFP was currently working with local non-governmental organizations in Gedo to begin that operation.

Marixie Mercado of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that UNICEF, the Kenyan Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization had this week launched a vaccination campaign targeting just over 200,000 children who were living in drought-affected host communities around the Dadaab refugee camp. Polio vaccinations and distributions of vitamin A and de-worming tablets were also being integrated into this campaign. In southern Somalia -- where immunization coverage was very low -- an integrated measles, tetanus toxoid, vitamin A and de-worming campaign to reach 86,000 women and children in Mogadishu was wrapping up today. The next region planned was Gedo and the plan was to reach 2.5 million children up to 15, provided UNICEF was given access across the South. The immunization campaigns were part of a regional push to protect children from becoming more vulnerable to potentially fatal diseases due to malnutrition. UNICEF had procured the vaccines, vitamin A and de-worming tablets and was supporting the social and community mobilization required for the campaigns to work.

Ms. Mercado said that UNICEF had yesterday revised its funding appeal for the Horn of Africa from US$ 158 million to just under US$ 300 million for the rest of 2011. This revised appeal incorporated a massive scaling-up of life-saving assistance. As of now, UNICEF was just about 29 per cent funded or over US$ 200 million short of this funding appeal.

Vivian Tan of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that Somalia continued to see massive displacement converging on Mogadishu. UNHCR’s figures showed that almost 40,000 Somalis had been displaced very recently, converging on Mogadishu in search of food, shelter, water and other assistance. A further 30,000 people had arrived in settlements around the capital. UNHCR believed that in total up to 100,000 internally displaced persons were around Mogadishu, and the daily numbers were still around 1,000 in July. When visiting one of the camps for internally displaced persons outside the capital yesterday, the UNHCR representative of the Somalia Office had seen hordes of hungry and desperate people. There had been some aggression around the food distribution, people were jostling and rushing, and there had even been some looting. UNHCR was worried that the weak and vulnerable people were getting missed because they could not push ahead in front of the crowd, thus risking to get nothing. Mothers displaced from southern and central Somalia to Mogadishu told UNHCR that they had to beg, and that elderly people were unable to access assistance because they were not aggressive enough.

Those people who were able to receive assistance could not carry the food as they did not have containers. In response, UNHCR was initially providing assistance kits such as buckets, jerry cans, plates and pots to 24,000 people, while continuing with the distributions. UNHCR was also providing a large tent to build a health center in a camp for internally displaced persons, in addition to shelter materials. UNHCR had distributed supplies to over 100,000 people since January, and it would continue to do so for another about 115,000 people. It would also start to procure high energy biscuits and oral hydration salts for distribution to about 250,000 people in Somalia.

In Kenya, UNHCR yesterday began an operation to move refugees from the outskirts of the Dadaab complex to the Ifo extension, which the Kenyan Government had opened recently.

In Ethiopia, the malnutrition rates continued to be high and UNHCR was concerned about children under 5 who were arriving from Somalia. UNHCR’s partners, such as Save the Children, had started a feeding programme for all children under 5, and UNHCR distributed two hot meals a day to everybody at the transit centre. It was also working to open a fourth camp in the Dollo Ado area of Ethiopia.

In response to several questions on the death toll of the famine so far, the spokespersons said that the situation was very complex and fragmented, and that it would take a while before accurate aggregate numbers could be provided. Speaking on behalf of FAO, Sandra Aviles said that the figure quoted of tens of thousands of victims came from the Food Security and Nutrition Assessment.

Yemen

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that Yemen’s southern governorate of Abyan was experiencing insecurity and fighting between Government forces and Al-Qaeda-linked militants who were battling for the control of the regional capital Zinjibar.

The fighting had caused relatively considerable population movements. IOM was providing assistance to the displaced and had so far registered about 2,400 displaced families (about 13,000 persons) in Abyan’s Khanfir, Serar and Ahwar districts.

According to the Government, there were an estimated 90,000 displaced people in Abyan, Lahj and Aden.

Iraq-Iran Border

Mr. Chauzy said that bombardments by the Iranian army on the border region had caused population displacements in the northern Iraqi governorate of Sulaymaniya. The bombardments were aimed at Iraqi Kurdish separatists.

IOM, in cooperation with the UN Refugee Agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross, was currently attempting to assess the population movements. An operation assisting about 175 families who had been displaced by the bombardment and separated from their belongings was also ongoing, notably establishing a primary health care centre and providing water and food supplies.

The bombardments had reportedly continued over the last 48 hours in the border region, Mr. Chauzy went on to say, adding that IOM staff would re-visit the area to re-assess the population movements.

Libya

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that a joint assessment mission had been conducted last week by several agencies in Tripoli, which had found that the Libyan health sector was under strain after many foreign workers had left the country. Although basic food items were still available in the markets, prices were rising, and fuel shortages and the reduced availability of cash were also a source of concern. A note was at the back of the room.

Mr. Chauzy added that Laurence Hart, who had headed the mission, was available for telephone interviews.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Libya, Mr. Al-Khatib, had held talks in Benghazi yesterday and was expected in Tripoli today as part of his ongoing efforts to find a political solution.

Other

Mr. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, was travelling to New York today to participate in General Assembly plenary meeting tomorrow on the revitalization of the Conference on Disarmament, in which he had been invited to participate as Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament. This meeting followed up on the High-Level Meeting held last September.

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Economic and Social Council would conclude its session at the end of the week and examined questions relating to human rights, the environment, the population and health, as well as the promotion of women and the prevention of crime. The ECOSOC usually adopted resolutions and decisions on each of these subjects.

The Human Rights Committee concluded its current session this week and was expected to make public on Friday the concluding observations on the three countries examined -- Ethiopia, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan.

Fadéla Chaib of the World Health Organization said that the WHO would give a press conference on World Hepatitis Day today at 2 p.m. in Press Room 1. In addition to a briefing by an expert, journalists would receive a briefing note and English and French Questions & Answers on Hepatitis. The World Hepatitis Day had been declared by the World Health Assembly this year.

Ms. Momal-Vanian welcomed Tom Miles, the new chief of the Reuters office at the Palais des Nations.