HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESS CONFERENCE BY UNITED NATIONS UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL VALERIE AMOS ON MID-YEAR REVIEW OF 2011 HUMANITARIAN APPEALS

Valerie Amos, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefed journalists this afternoon in Geneva following a mid-year review conference with Member States on the status of the 2011 consolidated humanitarian appeals. Ms. Amos was joined by Krysztof Stanowski, the Under-Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland; Laurent Thomas, Assistant Director-General for Technical Cooperation, Food and Agriculture Organization; Amir Abdulla, Deputy Executive Director, Operations, World Food Programme; Dermot Carty, Deputy Director, Emergency Operations, United Nations Children’s Fund; Peter Morris, Director of Health and Nutrition Tracking, World Health Organization; and George Okoth-Obbo, Regional Director for Africa, United Nations Refugee Agency.

Ms. Amos said that she had just presented the findings of the mid-year review of the humanitarian appeals to Member States. The mid-year review highlighted the needs and priorities for the second half of 2011 and drew attention to the gaps in funding that required urgent attention.

Underlining the crises that had seen major changes since the beginning of the year, Ms. Amos said that the most worrying development was the intensifying drought in the Horn of Africa, which was the most severe food security emergency in the world today. This morning it had been announced that the situation in parts of Somalia was now classified as a famine. Eleven-and-a-half million people in drought-stricken areas of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia were affected. This was a more than 30 per cent increase since the beginning of 2011, and the number of people needing assistance would continue to increase over the coming months. Emergency levels of acute malnutrition were widespread and in some places, 2011 had been the driest period in 60 years.

The appeals for Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti addressed emergency drought-related needs, Ms. Amos went on to say. Those displaced due to drought must also be helped. Over the past two weeks more than 1,200 Somalis had arrived every day in the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya – 80 per cent of them women and children.

Also needed was increased support for longer-term recovery and disaster risk reduction in areas that were now experiencing increasingly frequent and devastating droughts in order to promote greater resilience and full recovery, said the Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Turning to other areas in the mid-year review, Ms. Amos said that last week South Sudan became an independent state. Accordingly, a separate consolidated appeal for this new country had just been issued, based on projects from the original 2011 Sudan work plan, plus new aid for Abyei and elsewhere.

The appeal for Libya would be updated in the coming weeks.

In Yemen, the humanitarian situation was exacerbated by expanding unrest and political strife in the capital and elsewhere, on top of the older conflict in Sa’ada and a generalized food insecurity crisis. To respond, more resources were needed.

The Côte d’Ivoire appeal also required more funding. The conflict was mostly over, but the humanitarian crisis was not. Establishing conditions for the return home of those displaced were critical to see peace and livelihoods restored.

The target for 2011 had risen to USD 7.9 billion from the USD 7.4 billion appeal launched in November last year. To date, USD 3.6 billion had been received, covering 45 per cent of requirements, with USD 4.3 billion still needed.

The key concern was that there were persistent imbalances in funding among crises. The funding percentages of different appeals ranged from 29 per cent to 60 per cent. The least-funded appeals were the regional appeal for West Africa and the appeals for Zimbabwe, Djibouti and Niger. Funding from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund had overcome some gaps, but more and better distributed funding from donors was needed.

Humanitarian needs in the second half of 2011 and in 2012 were expected to continue at least at current levels as the effects of high commodity prices, adverse weather conditions, disasters and conflicts persisted.

Ms. Amos said that, as she had told donors during the mid-year review launch, she hoped that they would close the funding gaps. It would make a big difference to the millions of people that needed help.

Questions and Answers

Asked whether the appeal for Somalia and the Horn of Africa had to be adjusted since November 2010 or whether the numbers had already been incorporated in the first Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP), Ms. Amos said that the numbers had only increased modestly regarding the countries in the Horn of Africa precisely because the November appeal had anticipated drought in this region. A longer-term plan of action for the Horn of Africa had also been launched in addition to the appeals included in the November CAP in order to address some of the underlying structural problems. As well as dealing with people’s immediate needs, the people, communities and national Governments must be supported in building resilience. This was difficult in Somalia, a country in conflict, but progress had been made in Ethiopia and Kenya. Overall, the 2011 figures were lower than those for 2010 and 2009, Ms. Amos noted, adding that she very much hoped that donors would step up to the plate and meet these needs.

Amir Abdulla, Deputy Executive Director, Operations, World Food Programme, confirmed that a famine had been declared this morning for two regions in southern Somalia. These were the regions to which humanitarian workers had had least access for quite some time and where certain activities had not been conducted. These activities, taking place under the plan of action for the Horn of Africa, included mitigating measures, resilience measures and preparedness measures such as land reclamation, water management and better crop diversification. While people benefitting from such programmes in Ethiopia and Kenya were suffering the terrible consequences of the drought, they had not been pushed into famine. Less livelihoods would have been lost if more could have been done, Mr. Abdulla underscored.

Ms. Amos added that awareness about the potential for the drought in the Horn of Africa, including Somalia, had existed since last year. That was why this had been included in the consolidated appeal last year and why stocks had been pre-positioned in the region to support a speedier response.

Laurent Thomas, Assistant Director-General for Technical Cooperation, Food and Agriculture Organization, said there was a concern that the whole of Southern Somalia would be at risk of widespread famine if immediate action was not taken. Such action was needed to provide food assistance to farmers and pastoralists and help them survive where they were, rather than moving them to overcrowded camps.

Ms. Amos said that malnutrition rates in parts of Bakool and Lower Shabelle were at 50 per cent, with the highest death rates exceeding six deaths in 10,000 per day. More than 100,000 malnourished children had been treated in 800 nutrition centers throughout Somalia between January and May 2011. Also, 554,000 children were malnourished in the south – an increase from 476,000 – meaning that 1 in 3 children was malnourished.

Mr. Thomas said that the criteria to define a famine had been agreed by the community of organizations involved in the integrated food security phase classification system. Several criteria must be taken into account for a famine to be pronounced: acute malnutrition in more than 30 per cent of children; 2 deaths per 10,000 people every day; access to less than 4 litres of water a day and 2,100 kilocalories of food; a pandemic illness; large-scale displacement of people; and civil strife and complete loss of assets and sources of income. These outcomes must affect 20 per cent of an area’s population. For a famine to be declared, evidence of the first three reference outcomes -- acute malnutrition in more than 30 per cent of children, 2 deaths per 10,000 people every day, access to less than 4 litres of water a day and 2,100 kilocalories of food -- was a minimum requirement.

Mr. Thomas said that while food assistance was needed immediately, farmers’ crop production ability must also be restored ahead of the next rainy season in October. Farmers could plant if they were given the input, preventing them from relying on food support. To that end, animals must be saved and vaccinated, and it must ensured that drought-affected people had cash available.

Asked whether talks with Al-Shabaab militia had started regarding access for humanitarian organizations to southern Somalia, and if so, what the state of those talks were, Ms. Amos confirmed that negotiations had started. For example, UNICEF had been able to make an emergency drop into south Somalia for the first time last week and partner non-governmental organizations reported that the operating environment seemed to be somewhat easier. However, this must be tested from a United Nations perspective over the coming days as a matter of urgency given the announcements today.

Dermot Carty, Deputy Director, Emergency Operations, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), added that UNICEF had consistently been in Somalia for the better part of the last 40 years and was reaching the people in partnership with more than 100 partners. Last week’s aircraft had notably provided emergency nutrition and water and sanitation supplies.

Responding to another question as to how the restrictions of the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control impacted the current situation, Ms. Amos said that the issue was security and the constraints Al-Shabaab imposed on humanitarian operations - the United States had not stopped its support for Somalia. Until last week the United States had been the largest donor to operations in Somalia, and the United Kingdom and the European Union had then made additional announcements regarding their support to appeals. What had been stopping the United Nations and its partners from operating in southern and central Somalia was the insecurity and restrictions imposed by Al-Shabaab.


Asked about the options if humanitarian access was in fact refused, Ms. Amos said that several things had been done so far. Refugees had been supported in Kenya and Ethiopia and the World Food Programme had significantly scaled up its operations in the border region - providing emergency relief inside Somalia, using Kenya as a route. However, it was urgent to help people if they were to improve their chances of surviving.

Amir Abdulla, Deputy Executive Director, Operations, World Food Programme, added that they were reaching out to partners with at least preliminary indications that they could work in some areas to start providing food. But a few test cases were probably needed to further the negotiations and it was becoming clear that Al-Shabaab was not a monolithic structure and that command and control structures were loose at best. Conditions were granted to humanitarian workers to different degrees and caution was needed to ensure that permission to work in one area was not suddenly revoked by somebody else who took control of that area.