REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Corinne Momal-Vanian, the Director of the United Nations Information Service, chaired the briefing, which was also attended by Spokespersons for and Representatives of the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Programme, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Meteorological Organization, the UN Children’s Fund and the UN Environment Programme.

Sudan/Ethiopia

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said that IOM had deployed staff in Western Ethiopia to provide emergency relocation assistance to an estimated 20,000 Sudanese who had fled recent fighting in Blue Nile State. IOM had started its relocation operation from the crowded border region towards several other sites, notably a camp in Sherkole, some 50 kilometers inland from the border. The organization was working with partners, including the UN Refugee Agency and Ethiopian authorities, to envisage the relocalization of these people to other sites which were further away and had been identified by Ethiopian authorities as appropriate camp sites to construct camps. Persons who were unable to be relocated would be referred to IOM’s medical partners, and particular attention would be paid to the most vulnerable people, including women, children, the elderly and the sick. IOM and UNHCR had released $250,000 from their joint Rapid Response Transportation Fund to cover some of the immediate transportation costs.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said that WFP had on Sunday started to move food to the Sherkole refugee camp in Ethiopia for Sudanese fleeing the conflict in the Blue Nile State in Sudan. It also joined other UN agencies in requesting full access to Blue Nile State to evaluate the humanitarian situation and provide assistance. WFP had made its latest aid provision six weeks ago, and had prepared an operation to respond to the needs of 100,000 conflict-affected people. WFP was now looking into all possibilities to distribute the food it had stocked at three sites - WFP had been running programmes to assist 182,750 people in the region since the beginning of the year.

WFP was also very concerned about a lack of access to South Kordofan, Ms. Berthiaume went on to say. While the organization had managed to access 135,000 people to date, it estimated that the number of displaced or conflict-affected persons stood at 200,000. NGOs on the ground had now been authorized to use WFP stocks positioned in the region - put in place earlier for school and food for work programmes for about 400,000 people - in order to respond to the current emergency situation.

Adrian Edwards of the UN Refugee Agency said that a UNHCR assessment team had returned yesterday from the Assosa region of western Ethiopia, where refugees had been arriving since late last week amid fighting across the border in Sudan’s Blue Nile State. The refugee population had swollen to around 20,000 people. As UNHCR’s team had been there more people had been arriving.

Horn of Africa

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that according to the latest data released yesterday by the Food and Agriculture Organization, famine had spread to the Bay region, one of Somalia's most productive areas. Bay region produced 80 per cent of Somalia's sorghum harvest and was considered the country's breadbasket. Record levels of acute malnutrition had been registered there, with 58 per cent of children under the age of five acutely malnourished and a crude mortality rate of more than two deaths per 10,000 per day. Despite ongoing response to the humanitarian crisis, projections indicated that famine would become widespread throughout southern Somalia by the end of this year.

Mr. Edwards said that Somali children were the biggest victims of the refugee crisis in the Horn of Africa, according to the latest profiling data collected by UNHCR in Ethiopia. The most recent demographic breakdown of the Somali influx into Ethiopia showed that children under the age of 18 were the largest age group among refugees. Overall, they accounted for some 80 per cent of the 121,000 refugees sheltered in four camps in south-eastern Ethiopia’s Dollo Ado region. The situation among these camps was most extreme in the Kobe camp, where children comprised 88.6 per cent of the camp’s over-25,000 population. Most families were female-headed households with large numbers of children, including young relatives or orphans.

UNHCR remained concerned about the high mortality rates due to severe acute malnutrition and diseases. Also worrying was the number of separated or unaccompanied children. Initial estimates indicated this number could be as high as 2,500 children in the four camps. UNHCR was carrying out a screening this week in refugee camps in Dollo Ado to better understand the scope of the problem and determine what may be in the best interest of these children.

Many refugee women told UNHCR’s teams in Ethiopia that it was not safe for Somali men to travel. They feared forced recruitment by armed groups and local militias. In many cases men stayed behind in Somalia to protect whatever property the family might have, to care for those too sick to travel and to tend to any remaining livestock. Some families simply had no means for everyone to travel together, so women and children were sent first. However, over the past few weeks, UNHCR staff had observed that there were more single men arriving from Somalia to join their families.

Meanwhile in Somalia, UNHCR was supplementing food aid delivered by other agencies in famine-stricken areas in the South. UNHCR was preparing to distribute 7,500 emergency assistance packages for nearly 50,000 people in the Bay region, where famine had just been declared. A further 70,000 people were to be assisted in Lower Shabelle, also in famine. Over 50,000 people would be reached through distributions in Mogadishu, and 30,000 in the Gedo and Lower Juba border areas. All in all, by the end of August, UNHCR had reached almost 220,000 people and aimed to reach an additional 180,000 by the end of September.

Clare Nullis of the World Meteorological Organization said that the Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum met at the end of last week in Uganda to consider the coming season (September-December). It indicated there would be an increased likelihood of above normal to near normal rainfall over the eastern equatorial parts covering southern Somalia, coastal, eastern and central Kenya, as well as north-eastern Tanzania. There was an increased likelihood of near-normal to above-normal rainfall over parts of Tanzania, northern Burundi, Rwanda, southern and central Uganda, western Kenya, much of South Sudan, and West, Central and northern Ethiopia. Northern Somalia, eastern and southern Ethiopia, north-western Kenya, northern Uganda and south-western Rwanda had increased likelihood of near normal to below normal rainfall. The September-December season was not typically a period of high rainfall for northern Somalia. WMO would issue a press release this afternoon.

Marixie Mercado of the UN Children’s Fund said that 1.5 million children in South Somalia were in need of immediate humanitarian assistance, out of a total of 3 million people in the South of the country. As of August, 450,000 children between six months and five years old were estimated to be acutely malnourished, of which 190,000 were estimated to have the most severe levels of malnutrition, meaning they were up to 9 times more likely to die than a healthy child. The majority of the most severely acutely malnourished children – 75 per cent – were in the South. In most regions of southern Somalia, one in six children was severely malnourished. The global acute malnutrition rate in the Bay region was the highest, standing at 58 per cent, nearly four times the WHO emergency threshold. Without urgent help, these children could die in a matter of weeks. However, once treated, these children could recover quickly.

Between January and July, 63,400 severely acutely malnourished children had been admitted to UNICEF-supported outpatient therapeutic programmes – of which 547 died (1.2 per cent) – and 90,080 moderately acutely malnourished children had been admitted in supplementary feeding programmes, of which 186 died (0.7 per cent). In riverine and agropastoral areas of Lower Shabelle and Afgoye, and among internally displaced persons in Mogadishu, the under-five death rates met or exceeded 13 per 10,000/day. Under-five death rates were higher than 4 per 10,000/day in all areas of the South, except in Juba pastoral.

UNICEF supported 800 feeding centres across Somalia, about 500 of them in the South, where UNICEF was planning to more than double the number of severely malnourished children that it reached from 7,500 to 17,000 per month. UNICEF’s main area of scale up was in blanket supplementary feeding, meaning it would reach every child and its family in the target areas to cover the gap of food aid. The aim was to reach blanket feeding for 200,000 families per month over the next six months.

UNICEF also planned to reach over two million children and provide health services through 300 maternal and child health clinics. It was expanding access to safe water and sanitation to people through nutrition facilities, and provided emergency water, sanitation and health support to internally displaced persons in Mogadishu and at transit points.

Libya

Mr. Chauzy said that the Libyan town of Sebha was still in the hands of the Government forces but surrounded by opposition forces. In July this year, IOM had airlifted about 1,500 stranded migrants from Sebha, mostly women and children from Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to information received this morning from IOM staff on the ground and the Chadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1,200 stranded migrants, who were terrified at the idea of being caught in the crossfire, were currently in the transit centre set up by IOM earlier this year. IOM was once again asking conflict parties to ensure the necessary protection for the migrants who were currently stranded in Sebha.

Ideally, IOM would wish to evacuate the Sub-Saharan migrants from Sebha, but this seemed to be quite difficult. While IOM had previously airlifted people from Sebha, this might be impossible for the time being as the airport would probably be of strategic importance if there was a fight for the control of Sebha. An alternative was land evacuation, but that option would require protection guarantees for the convoy. IOM would update journalists on the situation in Sebha later today.

Ms. Mercado said that distribution of water through mosques and local communities had increased to around 200,000 liters per day, which was enough to cover the needs of 70,000 people for one day, or 23,000 persons during three days for drinking and cooking. UNICEF was currently procuring 11 million liters of water from neighboring countries to cover the needs of approximately half a million people in the coming two weeks.

UNICEF was working with a wide network of NGOs that complemented the work of the National Transitional Council’s water crisis management committee. The group, which was working to identify and meet the gaps as quickly as possible, had identified several groups for water distribution. This included communities of foreign workers, families and people living in institutions such as hospitals, detention or retention centres, orphanages, and people living in certain neighbourhoods that were linked to the Gaddafi regime, as well as the poorest people among the general population.

Information about the situation at the Jebel Hassouna well field continued to be uncertain, Ms. Mercado went on to say. But positive indications from reliable sources had been received, suggesting that some of the plants might be operational again. This would mean that some water could be reaching the reservoirs in Tripoli in the coming 3-5 days. It was uncertain whether engineers had been able to access the area to assess the situation, as security concerns remained. As of today, the tap water supply through the great man-made river had still not reached Tripoli and its surroundings, and the population continued to rely on well water for domestic use.

In response to a question, Tarek Jasarevic of the World Health Organization said that WHO had shipped 13 tons of medial supply from Malta to Tripoli last Thursday. This included seven Trauma A and B kits that could treat up to 700 injured persons for three months. As of today, WHO would also have a presence in Tripoli, and it would attempt to establish contact with the areas that needed help most. For the time being WHO had neither access to Sirte nor precise information about the health situation there.

Responding to another question on reported attacks on Sub-Saharan Africans, Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Secretary-General had stressed since the beginning of the conflict the need for all parties to protect civilians and uphold international humanitarian law. He had also referred to the need to restore the rule of law and avoid retribution. The Secretary-General’s envoy, Mr. Ian Martin, was in Tripoli discussing with the authorities the assistance which the United Nations could provide, in this and other fields.

Kenya

Ms. Berthiaume said that the situation in Kenya would deteriorate before it would improve as the latest study on the impact of the long rains had shown that the number of drought-affected people was more significant that initially assumed. WFP had initially decided to assist 2.7 million people in Kenya, including more than half a million refugees, and it had so far assisted 1.86 million people, adding to 800,000 people reached by the Kenyan Government. However, the new study underscored that a total of 3.8 million people in Kenya would be in need of assistance. WFP was currently discussing with the Government how to respond to the needs of the affected people.

The situation was all the more a source of concern because WFP had already been lacking funds for its operations in Kenya before these revised figure had been reached. WFP had requested $500 million as part of the UN’s appeal for the Horn of Africa, and it was short of $225 million, including $63 million for Kenya.

The situation was difficult both for Kenyans and refugees, Ms. Berthiaume went on to say. At the Dadaab refugee camp complex, WFP provided additional food support to 90,000 children under the age of five. The organization was also putting in place programmes to help children in Ethiopian refugee camps, and campaigns were currently being launched in partnership with refugee communities to encourage refugees to seek medical assistance.

General Assembly meeting on non-communicable diseases

Gregory Härtl of the World Health Organization said that the UN General Assembly would hold a high-level meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases on 19 and 20 September. This was only the second time in the history of the UN that the General Assembly met on a health issue.

WHO's Assistant Director-General for Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health would brief journalists on the subject on Monday, 12 September at 10 a.m. in Room III. Accompanying the briefing would be the launch of the complete non-communicable disease profiles for all 193 WHO Member States, providing new information regarding the trends of the four major non-communicable diseases over the last 30 years for each Member State.

Finance Initiative report ahead of Climate Change Conference in Durban

Paul Clements-Hunt, Head of the Finance Initiative Branch, UN Environment Programme, said that an embargoed summary of a report to be launched on 13 September was at the back of the room, and an embargoed press release would follow tomorrow.

As a collaborative effort between UNEP and private financial institutions and investors, the report looked at how financing could bring about forestry protection in the context of climate change, and it came ahead of the Climate Change Conference to be held in Durban in November (COP 17).

The Finance Initiative was a partnership between UNEP and some 200 financial institutions worldwide - banks, insurers and asset managers.

Other

Ms. Momal-Vanian said that the Conference on Disarmament, which was to close its 2011 session next week, was holding a plenary session this morning during which it continued to examine a draft of its annual report, to be submitted to the General Assembly later on.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies would give a press conference on the cholera epidemic in Chad and the wider West Africa region tomorrow, 7 September at 3 p.m. in Room III.