REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Alessandra Vellucci, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by Spokespersons for and Representatives of the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.

Situation in the Horn of Africa

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that insecurity remained a concern for humanitarian actors in Somalia, notably in the capital, despite Al-Shabaab’s announced withdrawal from Mogadishu. Somalia had also seen an uptick in cases of acute watery diarrhoea, which had led to the deaths of 11 people - including 4 children - in Mogadishu. The International Committee of the Red Cross was scaling up its operations in Central and Southern Somalia from 162,000 food beneficiaries to an additional 1.1 million people – roughly half of those currently cut off from food distribution.

In Ethiopia, vaccine supplies were low following the child measles vaccination campaign, making stock replenishments a humanitarian priority. Also, about half of the food aid beneficiaries in Ethiopia would get an incomplete ration due to a lack of funding.

Djibouti faced serious water shortages in the Northern regions of Obock and Tadjourah, with many wells in those regions being dry and people using contaminated water. Increasing levels of malnutrition among children under 5 were also reported.

The $ 2.4 billion appeal for the Horn of Africa was 48 per cent funded, with $ 1.2 billion received, Ms. Byrs went on to say. She added that United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos was in Kenya from 12 to 14 August to meet humanitarian organizations and visit the Dadaab refugee camp complex.

Tarek Jasarevic of the World Health Organization said that, as part of its routine monitoring activities, WHO periodically collected samples from cases of acute watery diarrhea and other suspected outbreak-prone diseases. As mentioned on Tuesday, WHO had collected 30 stool samples from patients seeking treatment at hospitals for acute watery diarrhea last week. Eighteen samples, or 60 per cent, had tested positive for the Vibrio cholera serotype “inaba”, which had been the predominant serotype in Somalia for the past three years. Internally displaced persons had accounted for 39 per cent of the positive cases while the remaining were residents of Mogadishu districts.

These results were an alarming reminder of the critical situation in Mogadishu and other parts of the South Central Zone which were still experiencing drought, population displacement and conflict. Since March 2011, when cholera had been declared, various outbreaks had been reported in the Mudug, Galgaduud, Bay, Lower Shabelle and Banadir regions. Most had been declared under control, but alarming rates of confirmed cholera cases among internally displaced people had been reported in Mogadishu. In June and July alone, 1,633 acute watery diarrhea cases had been reported in Banadir Hospital, Mogadishu, representing 38 per cent of all reported cases this year. Compared to the same period in 2010, the number of acute watery diarrhea cases had increased significantly. Since January 2011, 4,272 acute watery diarrhea cases had been reported in Banadir Hospital, of whom 75 per cent were children under the age of five.

This sudden increase had various reasons. First, the numerous informal settlements of internally displaced persons with makeshift shelters, poor sanitation and limited access to safe water. Second, the limited capacity of existing health partners to access those informal settlements and provide essential health services. And third, the high number of malnourished children due to the ongoing famine increased the susceptibility to waterborne diseases such as acute watery diarrhea.

As response to the confirmed cholera outbreaks, WHO had sent 19 diarrheal disease kits to various regions in Somalia. Each kit could treat 100 severe or 400 mild cases. It was important for health partners to step up all water, sanitation and hygiene promotion activities and to conduct population-based active surveillance for diarrhea. WHO had shared with health and water and sanitation partners contacts of field-based surveillance officers.

Marixie Mercado of the United Nations Children's Fund said that, with the massive influx of people into Mogadishu and a rising number of reported cases of acute watery diarrhea in crowded urban areas, malnourished children - especially those living in overcrowded camps for the displaced - were at grave threat from the deadly and highly contagious disease. To prevent and mitigate the risk of cholera, UNICEF was notably sending pre-positioned cholera kits to areas with rising numbers of reported cases of acute watery diarrhea. It was also massively scaling up access to water, sanitation and hygiene for those areas of Mogadishu with a high concentration of newly arrived displaced families. Activities in this regard included chlorinating 217 water sources and 58 water point outlets, which benefitted almost half a million people; constructing almost 600 latrines and repairing existing sewerage; and providing household water treatment supplies, such as water purification tablets, soap, and buckets, for tens of thousands of families through feeding centres for malnourished children. UNICEF further scaled up treatment of acute malnutrition through these centres, raising community awareness of how to prevent and treat malaria through health partners and mass media, as well as supporting large scale vaccination campaigns for maximum coverage. UNICEF-supported maternal and child healthcare facilities were now also effectively doubling as routine immunization centres.

Ms. Mercado said that 26 planes had brought in 531 metric tons of emergency supplies to the Horn of Africa between 1 and 12 August, most importantly therapeutic food for the most severely malnourished children and corn soya blend for supplementary feeding. Nearly half of the tonnage airlifted in August had been made available to free by Virgin, Cargolux, and British Airways. Every $ 50 saved on air freight allowed to purchase 15 kilos of therapeutic food, enough to save one child’s life.

Adrian Edwards of the United Nations Refugee Agency said that, amid continuing high numbers of arrivals of people fleeing drought, famine and conflict in Somalia, the UNHCR hoped to start to move Somali refugee families into a new area of the Dadaab refugee complex this weekend. The new site, known as Kambioos, was situated close to the Hagadera camp and had a planned capacity of 90,000 people. Tents and infrastructure were being put in place and would provide much-needed shelter and services.

More than 70,000 Somali refugees had arrived at Dadaab during June and July, pushing the overall population there to 440,000 people. Some 1,500 people continued to arrive every day, and many had been settling spontaneously on the outskirts of Ifo, Dagahaley and Hagadera - the three camps that made up the Dadaab complex. As well as needing food and water, these new arrivals urgently needed proper shelter, medical help and other basic aid.

Meanwhile, the relocation of people into the new Ifo Extension, which began on 25 July, was continuing. So far, UNHCR and its partners had moved more than 15,000 refugees into the part of Ifo Extension formerly referred to as Ifo 3. Regarding the area formerly known as Ifo 2, this had been undergoing emergency expansion work to increase the accommodation capacity. Tents were already being pitched and UNHCR expected the first families to move in soon, with priority given to the extremely vulnerable.

The United Nations Refugee Agency had moved thousands of tents to Dadaab over the course of the current crisis, but these were still not sufficient for the growing refugee population. UNHCR urgently needed 45,000 more tents. UNHCR has so far appealed for $ 145 million to cover anticipated protection and emergency needs for the crisis until the end of the year. To date UNHCR had received or been given firm commitments amounting $ 88 million. This equated to 61 per cent of the identified needs for Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

In Ethiopia, immunization of some 18,000 refugee children in the Kobe camp in the Dollo Ado area had kicked off Thursday, in response to the recent outbreak of suspected measles in the refugee camps. The four-day immunization exercise by MSF-Spain, with support from Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health and ARRA, UNHCR’s government counterpart, was expected to be completed on Sunday and would be extended to the other three refugee camps in the Dollo Ado area, where other NGO health partners were also working. Responding to a question, Mr. Edwards said that an average 4,500 children were expected to be vaccinated per day over the next four days, bringing the total to 18,000.

Vigorous community surveillance through a door-to-door screening exercise had enabled the identification of new suspected measles cases. Ninety-three cases had been identified in the Dollo Ado camps, which currently hosted nearly 120,000 refugees. Three measles-related deaths had been recorded officially. Health workers continued to emphasize the need to address, in parallel, the other causes of mortality in the camps, which were mainly acute malnutrition, diarrhoea and respiratory tract infections.

In Somalia, the second of three planned UNHCR humanitarian flights had landed at Mogadishu international airport at 9 a.m. yesterday local time. The plane unloaded a 32-ton consignment of shelter and other aid items.

An estimated 100,000 Somalis, driven by drought, famine and conflict, had fled to Mogadishu over the past two months. They had joined more than 370,000 internally displaced people in Mogadishu who had been forced to leave their homes before the current wave of displacement. UNHCR was making preparations to deliver assistance to up to 180,000 people in Mogadishu and South Central Somalia by the month's end. The United Nations Refugee Agency was expecting to see another flight into Mogadishu tomorrow.

Jumbe Omari Jumbe of the International Organization for Migration said that 5,200 people have been assisted since the beginning of an operation to relocate about 15,000 Somalis from the transit centre at Dollo Ado, Ethiopia, to a new displacement camp at Halewyin last week. This number was likely to be even higher as about 1,000 people a day had been transported for the last three days. Close to 1,000 Somalis stranded at the Kenyan-Somali border, mostly women and children in an extremely weakened state and in urgent need of transport assistance to the Dadaab refugee camp, have been similarly assisted. In total, more than 7,000 drought-affected Somalis at the overcrowded centres in the Ethiopian towns of Dollo Ado and Liboi, on the Kenyan-Somali border, had been provided with vital transportation and assistance.

In the weeks to come IOM would transport a further 30,000 displaced Somalis currently seeking shelter on the outskirts of Dagahaley at Dadaab to an extension currently being prepared at the site at Ifo. IOM staff had already begun clearing bush for pitching 7,500 tents there. So far 2,000 tents had been provided by UNHCR, and IOM was currently training four men for the work, which it anticipated finishing by the end of September.

IOM health staff were continuing to assist Somali drought and famine victims in Ethiopia and Kenya, particularly through medical checks. In coordination with the Government and humanitarian partners, IOM doctors at Melkadida and Kobe camps in Ethiopia were treating inpatients and would support the ongoing immunization campaign following the outbreak of the suspected measles at Kobe. In Dadaab, Kenya, IOM preparations to help pastoralist host communities suffering from severe drought were being finalized. The Organization was mapping out both pastoralist and livestock migratory routes in the area to help provide effective water solutions.

IOM reminded donors of the $ 26.6 million appeal the Organization had made last week. IOM urgently needed this money to enhance its work, given the urgency of the situation. IOM and UNHCR were activating the release of up to $ 1 million from their joint Rapid Response Transportation Fund (RRTF) to cover some of the immediate transportation needs.

Asked whether the cholera situation in Somalia could be labeled an epidemic, Dr. Michel Yao of the World Health Organization said for cholera even one confirmed case was sufficient to speak of an epidemic. In Somalia there had been recurrent cases of cholera for several years. There had been laboratory confirmation of cholera cases and the number of cases was two to three times higher than last year.

Asked about his concerns regarding the current cholera situation, Mr. Yao said that the key concern was the root cause of cholera, which was related to water and sanitation. The current movements of internally displaced persons and other populations increased the risk of a further spread of the disease. While population movements could not be controlled, there needed to be an integrated intervention with water and sanitation and shelter partners so as to provide services to minimize the risk of a spread. Otherwise, this risk would remain high.

Alessandra Vellucci, responding to a question asked in an earlier press briefing, said that the Ministerial Meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organization to address the emergency situation in the Horn of Africa had been called for the 18 August in Rome.

Situation of Stranded South Sudanese

Jumbe Omari Jumbe, providing an update on the situation of the thousands of South Sudanese who had been camping near the border between North and South Sudan for several months, said that IOM had hitherto been assisting these people with transport to their final destinations on a small scale due to a lack of means. However, this Sunday a first group of around 2,000 returnees would leave Renk way station in Upper Nile State in a convoy of four barges carrying both people and luggage. The barges would travel upstream the River Nile to Malakal further to the South. The journey was expected to take one week.

The barges would be stopping at Kaka and Melut to allow returnees, whose final destinations were near to those towns, to disembark. Prior to their departure, IOM had carried out the registration, verification and medical screening of the returnees to assess whether they were fit to travel. IOM and its partners had also distributed basic non-food items, including mosquito nets, blankets and plastic sheeting. All returnees being assisted by IOM had also been immunized against communicable diseases such as typhoid and measles.

Sixty-first session of the Standing Committee of the CITES Convention

Juan Vasquez, of the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), said that the CITES Standing Committee would hold its sixty-first session from 15 to 19 August at the CICG.

During the session the Committee would discuss several important topics, such as elephants and the ivory trade, illegal trading in rhinoceroses, and commerce in sturgeons.

The provisional programme was at the back of the room and a press release would be issued on Monday, 15 August. On the last day of the session, on Friday 19 August, there would also be a press conference at the CICG.

World Humanitarian Day ceremony on 19 August

Ms. Vellucci said that, as in the past, this year’s World Humanitarian Day would be marked on Friday, 19 August with local activities in Geneva. Participants would gather from 5 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. at the Avenue du Mail/Avenue Henri-Dunant crossroads at Plainpalais, from where they would march, at 5.30 p.m., towards the Parc des Bastions, where the commemoration would be held at 6 p.m. This commemoration included a keynote address by the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, a panel discussion with humanitarian workers facilitated by TSR journalist Darius Rochebin, and a visit to the humanitarian village set up in the park, as well as food and drinks. The World Humanitarian Day 2011 t-shirts worn by participants on that occasion would be on sale at SAFI from Tuesday and on Wednesday and Thursday in front of the Cafeteria. Journalists were cordially invited to participate.

Ms. Byrs added that the relevant documents were available from the website of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, including the message of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Day (under embargo until 19 August) which would be read out at the ceremony. The humanitarian panel discussion would focus on the Horn of Africa crisis.

Other

Ms. Vellucci said that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was concluding its review of the Maldives’ report this morning. On Monday morning the Committee would hold an informal meeting with non-governmental organizations on the situation in the countries who would present their reports to the Committee next week (Kenya, Georgia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic).

Ms. Vellucci said that the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee was concluding its seventh session today, which had run from 8 to 12 August, by adopting recommendations to be conveyed to the Human Rights Council and pertaining to the studies the Committee was conducting, notably on the right to food, the right to peace and traditional values. A roundup release would be issued later today.

She said that the Conference on Disarmament would reconvene in public on Thursday, 18 August.

At the back of the room was the message of the United Nations Secretary-General on today’s International Youth Day.