ICC Humanitarian
Update
23
October 2001
Information Co-ordination
Centre, a joint ERREC/UN venture to facilitate humanitarian interventions in
Eritrea
Tel. 18 51 54/18 29 23, Fax. 18 29 70, E-mail: icc@gemel.com.er
·
The UN
Country Team in Eritrea has submitted the field draft of the Consolidated
Appeal for 2002 to OCHA Geneva for finalization.
·
The Government of
the state of Eritrea in coordination with the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) repatriated 24 Ethiopian prisoners of war and 290 civilian
Ethiopians to Ethiopia.
·
On Saturday 20 October, 433 refugees repatriated from
Sudan, marking the resumption of the Eritrean voluntary repatriation operation.
·
Ministry of
Agriculture stated on 19 October that the crop production of this year is
expected to be twice that of last year's produce.
Members of the Security
Council in their recent meeting called on Eritrea and Ethiopia to further
engage in constructive dialogue within the framework of the Military
Coordination Commission (MCC) to facilitate UNMEE’s work. They also noted with
concern that the parties have not yet resolved the issues of the air corridor
between Asmara and Addis Ababa and freedom of movement for peacekeepers and called
on the parties to resolve these issues as a matter of urgency. Members of the
Security Council expressed their determination to monitor closely political
developments in the region with the view to assessing impacts on the peace
process and will remain actively seized of the matter.
UNMEE officials
are working with the parties to select a time and venue for the ninth session
of the MCC. The meeting could not take place, as originally scheduled on 3
October, because the discussion with the parties on the venue could not be
completed in time.
CONSOLIDATED.APPEALPROCESS (CAP)
Donor response
to the CAP-2001 has now reached 54.56%. The UN Country Team in
Eritrea
has submitted the field draft of the Consolidated Appeal on 8 October 2001 to
Geneva. The Appeal
will be officially launched at the end of November this year. The appeal will
cover both food and Non-food needs for the year 2002 for IDPs, returned
Refugees and drought affected population in Eritrea.
Voluntary repatriation of
Eritrean refugees from the Sudan resumed on 20 October 2001 bringing 433
Eritrean refugees home. Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission (ERREC) is
registering the returnees and providing them basic assistance. Some of the
refugees, who have lived in exile for decades, have no homes to return to.
Local authorities will give families arable land to aid their re-integration.
In addition, every family will receive a cash grant as well as a two-month food
package, household items, tools and one shelter structure. The operation, which
started in May this year, was suspended in early July when heavy rains rendered
access difficult. By the time the operation was suspended in early July nearly
21,000 refugees returned home.
Nearly 17,000 refugees have so far signed up for repatriation,
including 1,900 refugees in the Port Sudan area. The repatriation of these long-term exiles is planned
to continue until December next year with the aim of bringing home a total of
160,000 refugees.
ICRC in Eritrea has supervised
the repatriation of 24 Ethiopian prisoners of war on 10 October 2001and 290
civilian Ethiopians to Ethiopia on 19 October.
Since the general peace agreement was signed between both countries in
December 2000 ICRC has organised the repatriation of 856 POWs and 2,659
civilian Eritreans, and 653 POWs and 21,886 civilian Ethiopians to their
respective countries.
There
has been no significant IDPs return operations carried out recently. It was
reported that movement of IDPs in Camps as stable.
Despite the efforts being made to combat landmine and
UXO problems, there are still landmine and UXO incidents. UNMACC reported on 8
October that in the last three months there have been five reported vehicle related
mine incidents (refer previous ICC update publications also) along well used
and in some cases proven roads. On analysis of the current information the
UNMACC said that it would appear that generally the mines are not recently laid
and that the mines are generally laid deeper than is normal. UNMACC advices the
following procedures are useful as safety measures:
·
Ensure that
all the field staff have had a Mine Safety Briefing
·
Ensure that
all drivers have had a driver focused Mine Safety Briefing
·
Before
travelling inside and adjacent to the TSZ all travellers are advised to check
in with the UNMO or UNMEE Force Head Quarters or Team Site.
·
Ensure you
have a means of communication with you when travelling and try to travel in
batches of more than one vehicle at a spacing of 50 metres or greater.
·
Ensure your
Head Quarters knows your route, schedule and return time prior to your
departure.
·
Constantly
ask the local people whether it is safe to travel on the road.
·
Always ensure
you have a medical kit and fire extinguisher in the vehicle.
The Sectoral
Working Groups (SWGs) have been busy preparing their respective sector input
for the CAP 2002. Excluding the WatSan SWG, in the past few weeks there were no
regular SWG meetings. It is expected that they will be back to business as soon
as the compilation of CAP-2002 draft has been finalized.
Food Security
A report from
the section of Planning and Statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)
stated this week that the crop production of this year is expected to be twice
that of last year's produce. This summer 342,442 ha of farmland was tilled but
since the rain has discontinued by the end of August the harvest would be less
than what had been forecasted earlier. Due to uneven distribution of rainfall
and delay of IDPs return to their home villages the Ministry has managed to
till 87,800ha out of planned 93,000ha using integrated package. The report
further stated that in the highland of Eritrea most of the dams have
accumulated enough water, which would enrich the underground water reserve and
would be helpful for farmers to run small irrigation farming. In addition, the
report said the condition of livestock would improve as the grazing land has
received enough rain.
The
report further said one of the prioritised plans of the Ministry is to
intensify extension programme to provide farmers with the best seeds and build
up their awareness. In line with this UN Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) is working to boost potato production in Eritrea through the
rehabilitation of potato seed supply. The traditional seed source has been cut
off as a result of the war and farmers have been experiencing serious seed
shortages. Based on a list of recommended varieties drawn up by MoA, FAO will
procure elite and certified seeds from reputable overseas potato seed suppliers
for distribution to selected farmers. The first of many likely projects in this
context is being funded by Sweden to the tune of US $ 97,183. The current
project is located at Emni-Haili and Senafe sub zones in Debub Region where
advantage will be taken of existing irrigation infrastructure. Under the
project, farmers will be trained in on-farm seed multiplication in order to
generate high quality seeds to serve as planting material in successive
plantings on their own fields or for supply to other farmers.
At
a cost of US$100,000 under Swedish funding, FAO is also assisting in the
rehabilitation of agro-pastoralists through the repair and restocking of
veterinary centers in Haikota and Golij sub zones in Gash Barka Region, as well
as assisting in restoring crop protection preparedness through the provision of
crop protection equipment.
FAO
is working with other partners such as the Netherlands and USAID to extend
these project activities to other beneficiaries and locations.
Shelter
and NFI
It
was reported that UN Development Programme (UNDP) under the Post War Emergency
Rehabilitation (PoWER) program is rehabilitating 3000 houses in Tsorona and
Senafe sub-zones of Debub region. So far 1900 out of planned 2000 houses in
Tsorona and over 500 out of planned 1000 houses in Senafe have been completed.
The Dutch Government under the UNDP/PoWER programme funds the project. Further the project plans to
upgrade 1000 Hidmos (mud roofed traditional
houses) to modern houses as the roofs are looted or damaged. Similarly, UNDP/PoWER is under final preparation to
start rehabilitation of 2400 houses in Gash Barka Region. In addition,
UNDP/PoWER with an implementing partner INGO Cesvi has started rehabilitation
of 400 houses and a market place in Omhajer, Gash Barka region and reached an
agreement with INGO Movimondo to rehabilitate the health center. UNDP/PoWER is
also under final preparation to construct 60 new houses (30 in Goluj and 30 in
Tesseney). It is to be recalled that during the month of August UNDP/PoWER
distributed 1,200 Ronda structures in Laelay-Gash zone of Gsh Barka Region to
IDPs returning home.
The water and sanitation
situation in the war-affected area is still in need of improvement.
Furthermore, it is anticipated that the situation in the drought-affected areas
may begin to deteriorate in the dry season. The repatriation of the returnees
from Sudan is also expected to put increased pressure on the existing water
sources.
Recent
meetings have focused on the need for training of water and sanitation
committees and pump mechanics. The functioning of such committees and mechanics
is seen crucial for the sustainability of water and sanitation interventions. It is anticipated that training manuals
as well as training of trainers will be ready by the beginning of next year.
Rehabilitation of water and sanitation facilities by UN agencies, NGOs and
International Organisations are still on going although still far from meeting
the demand. New water sources are also being constructed. In Southern Red Sea
the population affected by both war and drought is also receiving increased
attention and many projects are either being planned or under implementation.
The Water and
Sanitation Emergency Sector group has initiated the process of establishing a
small database with information on the on-going water and sanitation
interventions. Hard copies and electronic versions of the
database will soon be available from Erik Toft, UNICEF, Tel: 15 11 99, e-mail:
etoft@unicef.org.
War Child, a Dutch humanitarian Non-governmental
Organisation has been officially registered as an INGO in Eritrea as from last
week. War Child has expertise in psychological well being of children living in
war affected areas.
War Child officially established in 1993 by British
filmmakers Bill Leeson and David Wilson who had made a BBC documentary in a war
torn Bosnia-Herzegovina.
NB: The dates of the meetings for the Sectoral Working Groups (SWGs) and
the General Humanitarian Coordination will be communicated to all as soon as
ICC gets confirmation from chairs of the SWGs.and.ERREC.