Summary

As with the previous week, there are few changes in the general humanitarian situation in Eritrea. This week has seen a welcome increase in rainfall in parts of Anseba and Debub. Repatriation from Sudan continues to slow A Mine Awareness campaign is under-way in Tessenei for the returnees from Sudan, whilst anti-malarial actions are being taken in camps around the country..

Population Movements

Repatriation from Sudan

According to UNHCR figures as of August 18th, there have been 22,563 voluntary repatriations of Eritreans (6,712 families) from Sudan since July 25th.

Return has slowed since August 9th. It has thus been decided to limit organized repatriations to every Thursday in order to optimize resources. Spontaneous repatriation is continuing, also in low numbers. As these are not organized repatriations, numbers are not currently available.

ERREC Commissioner Ms. Worku Tesfamichael was in Sudan August 19-20th. She held meetings with UNHCR and Commission of Refugees, and assessed the condition of the refugees and camps. Ms. Worku will return Monday, Aug. 21st.

IDP Movements

Alba camp: ERREC note a number of IDPs from the hosting communities in the Quatit and Tserona sub-regions moving to Alba camp. Alba camp currently has approximately 14,000 residents. It has a capacity for 20,000, however, there are concerns about the provision of shelter and blankets for the new arrivals. Given the number of IDPs living in host communities and the overstretching of host community resources, there is concern that this sort of movement may develop into a trend.

Agraa Camp: Agraa camp is now in the process of being completely relocated. Its previous site is highly prone to both malaria and flooding and camp residents requested a new location. A site has been set up in the Adi Quala sub-zone and is being tentatively identified as Agraa II.

The previous camp is expected to be empty within the week.

There are plans to spray IDP camps in both Debub and Gash-Barka with insecticide to deal with the problem of mosquitoes and malaria. September is expected to have much higher breeding rates of mosquitoes in malarial zones and spraying is being carried out in conjunction with the distribution of bed nets for camp residents. Alba camp has already been sprayed, with others to follow in the coming weeks.

Rain

There was improved rainfall during the past week in most areas of Eritrea. This has positive implications for agricultural activities, the extent of which will depend on continued rainfall. Nonetheless, as mentioned many times before, the rains were late and agricultural means of production (seeds, tools, draught animals) are limited in war-affected zones. It is unknown whether any agricultural production has (or is) taking place in occupied areas (parts of Shambuko, Om Hajer, Lalai Gash, Tserona and Senafe) due to the lack of access. There are efforts to plough and plant in other areas of the country, as mentioned last week, but the outlook is still quite bleak, with forecasts for definite food aid dependency well into autumn of 2001.

Drought

During the week, there were several interagency drought assessments carried out with WFP, USAID, OCHA, ERREC, the Ministry of Local Government and UNICEF focusing on WatSan issues, the MoH on Health and Nutrition and FAO dealing with food security. Reports will be prepared by each assessment mission.In addition, OCHA will prepare a drought update drawing on the findings and recommendations of these reports.

FAO assessed food security in three drought-affected areas (Massawa, Sh'eb and Foro) during the week and returned with positive results. The team noted that people are returning from the mountain areas, repairing houses and preparing for planting (this is a traditional annual practice). The areas are still dry but there was some ground water. People were busy rebuilding seasonal dykes for irrigation and the team reported the first water flowing from the highlands through the spate irrigation systems. Draft animals -- oxen and camels -- were available. =

WFP/USAID visited Asmat (Anseba region) and areas in Gash-Barka August 8-11th. Some of their objectives were to look at the progress of the ongoing food distributions for the month of August, to better understand the transport difficulties and assess how this affects the food beneficiaries. There were a number of recommendations including registration of beneficiary populations and joint monitoring distributions.

New NGOs in Town

International Rescue Committee (IRC) assessed supplying emergency relief, non-food items, WatSan (left 19/08)

Ockenden International: focus on education; contact: Ghebremedhin Haile (tel. 12 31 19)

Cafod will be working through the Catholic Secretariat; contact: Abba Okbagaber Woldegiorgis (tel. 12 05 14, e-mail: <ERC-SEC@ eol.com.er>)

Halo Trust see above for details (contact: Simon Conway, Ambassador Hotel, <halo@eol.com.er>)

Gruppo di Volontariato Civile (GVC) to work in health and WatSan; contact: Giuseppe Solfrini (e-mail: <gvcer@eol.com.er>

Oxfam Canada are due to arrive Aug. 21st and will be carrying out an assessment over the next 10 days; contact: Andrea Lindores (tel. 12 78 67, Sunshine Hotel)
Mine Action Co-ordination Centre

The UN will establish a MACC is due to establish offices in Eritrea in the last week of August. The MACC will be headed by Colonel Wolfgang Hersch (due to arrive Monday, August 21st.) and will coordinate all mine-related issues. There is extensive information on the presence of landmines in Eritrea, although there is no centralization of that information at present. The database will address this issue.

Halo Trust

Halo Trust will be carrying out a survey of the temporary security zone on behalf of UNMEE. Information will feed into the MACC database outlined above. Halo Trust will not be conducting demining activities -- these will remain the responsibility of Eritrean De-Mining Program. However, Halo Trust will be responsible for the identification and disposal of UXO. International staff (to take the team to 5 members) and equipment are due to arrive August 25th.

Sadly, there was a landmine incident in Halhal subregion (Anseba region) on August 16th. The incident, in which there was one fatality and two people wounded, is being investigated.

A landmine awareness campaign sponsored by UNICEF and implemented by EDP will start in Tessenei on Wednesday, August 23rd for returnees arriving from Sudan.

Other News

Representatives of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation was in Eritrea recently to meet with various agencies and looked into both medium- and long-term interventions.

UNMEE last week carried out familiarization trips to three of the four key cities (Barentu, Adi Keih and Mendefera) along the planned security zone. The mission will be visiting Assab this week. Staff and equipment are scheduled to arrive early this week.

The Government of Eritrea established a Commission for Coordination with the UN Peacekeeping Force this past Tuesday, which will have full responsibility for assisting and coordinating with the mission of the UN peacekeeping force in the security zone within Eritrea and facilitating the implementation of the OAU peace plan. The commission is broken down into five main sections: Military/Security, De-Mining; Administration/Logistics; Humanitarian; and Miscellaneous. The main office will be in Asmara and will be headed by former Ambassador to the EU Commissioner Andeberhan Woldegiorgis.

The Italian government recently donated USD 5 million for food. USD 3 million will go to ERREC, with the remaining USD 2 million going to WFP.

FAO will reviewagricultural production and food security in Gash-Barka and Debub start Wednesday, August 23rd.
Sectoral Working Groups

Education: The SWG meets fortnightly and thus had no minutes for this week. Their next meeting will be Thursday, August 24th, 10:30 a.m. in the Ministry of Education.

Food: ERREC remain concerned about the lack of food reserves and reiterated at the SWG meeting their appeal to donors to build a 3-month food stock. Availability of accurate and detailed information relating to beneficiary numbers and items distributed continues to remain a concern of the group.

Wheat grain has arrived at Massawa port. WFP received 17,500 MT of wheat grain donated by USAID. Dispatch from the ship commenced Friday, August 18th. Wheat grain will be milled centrally in Asmara for IDPs in camps (most IDPs have few household items due to displacement). Remaining beneficiaries with access to milling facilities will receive wheat grain.

Health and Nutrition: The SWG cancelled their weekly meeting to attend a policy seminar entitled Health Section Strategies. Topics discussed at the seminar included prevalence of malnutrition, community involvement, decentralization, quality assurance, human resource development and health management information systems.

Shelter: ERREC and UNHCR are planning the allocation and distribution of shelter items to Debub based on the Director of Logistics' survey (for further details, see last week's update). Other members of the SWG were invited to participate in the program.

The Director of Logistics left August 18th to Gash-Barka for a similar survey shelter and non-food items.

WatSan: The SWG remarked on a welcome increase in the number of NGOs in this sector over the past 3-4 months. There are currently 19 members in the group, including 12 NGOs.

The SWG have noticed a decrease in the number of diarrheal diseases since the last report, which have been linked to improved hygiene (such as in Adi Keshi) and the quantity of water available per person per day.

However, in several camps trench latrines are reaching capacity. New latrine site assessments will need to be identified which may require either latrines to be dug farther away from the camps or for camps to be relocated.

The MoH and UNICEF will be conducting hygiene education and promotion training on-site as soon as all participating NGOs submit their lists of IDPs to be trained.

Information Co-ordination Centre ICC

Contact People:
Yemane Tekleyohannes, ERREC
Tanya Power-Stevens, OCHA
tel. 18 51 54/18 20 84 fax. 18 26 44
e-mail: icc@gemel.com.er