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Urgent aid needed as Zimbabwe’s humanitarian crisis worsens – UN relief chief

John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator2 October 2008 – The humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe is deteriorating and will continue to worsen into next year, according to the top United Nations humanitarian official, who has called for urgent aid to avert increased human suffering in the Southern African nation.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said that an estimated 3.8 million people would be classed as food insecure between now and the end of the year. During the peak of the hunger season, between January and March 2009, nearly half of the population of 12 million is estimated to be going to require food assistance.
Mr. Holmes, who is also UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said there is a large resource gap and aid is needed now. Although several months of humanitarian service delivery were lost, there is still time to avert increased human suffering.
In June, Zimbabwe suspended all field operations by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private voluntary organisations (PVOs) in the wake of a political crisis, now resolved through a power-sharing agreement.
Since the ban was lifted over a month ago, NGOs and UN agencies have been re-establishing operations to provide life-saving assistance. Mr. Holmes said that current challenges include critical shortages of all basic services, including food, clean water, and health services.
Critically under-funded sectors of the current UN appeal for Zimbabwe include emergency agriculture and education, while funding in health, water and sanitation also remains low.

Zimbabwe: UN rushes in life-saving aid, additional funds needed

John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator18 September 2008 – The United Nations and other organizations are rushing to provide basic life-saving aid to millions of Zimbabweans following the recent political settlement in the southern African country and urgently need additional funds, the top UN humanitarian official said today.
“This is a critical moment, which comes immediately after the peaceful resolution of the political stalemate in Zimbabwe and the lifting of the restrictions on field operations of non-governmental organizations (NGOs),” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said in a statement.
“Already, NGOs and UN agencies are re-establishing operations to provide basic life-saving assistance and expect to reach nearly 3 million people across the country by October.
“During this period when humanitarian needs are particularly acute, we – the United Nations, the Government of Zimbabwe, the humanitarian and development communities and regional countries – must work more closely than ever to ensure that these needs are met,” he added.
In June, Zimbabwe suspended all field operations by NGOs, often the UN’s main implementing partners in delivering aid, in the run-up to presidential elections that led to the political crisis, now resolved through a power-sharing agreement.
The 2008 Consolidated Humanitarian Appeal for Zimbabwe is currently funded at 60 per cent of the $394 million required. Critically under-funded sectors include emergency agriculture and education. Funding in health, water and sanitation also remains low.
“This is worrying at a time when the people of Zimbabwe urgently need food, seeds, fertilizers and essential drugs, among so many other priorities,” Mr. Holmes said. “While the humanitarian community must urgently step up immediate interventions, I call on the donor community to step up its funding in parallel, particularly to priority sectors and projects.”
The Government must also ensure safe, unfettered access by the humanitarian community as it undertakes its critical work. “For our part, we will continue close cooperation with the Government of Zimbabwe, regional countries and organizations as well as development partners to support humanitarian efforts and recovery initiatives,” he added.


Sounding ‘alarm bells,’ Ban calls for more aid to landlocked developing countries

Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon2 October 2008 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the international community to show the same generosity in helping the world’s 31 landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) overcome their trade-hobbling isolation as it did last week when it pledged significant new funding to help poor States in general achieve development goals.
“Today we are sounding alarm bells for the Almaty Programme of Action,” he told a High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly devoted to a mid-term review of the Programme, a 2003 plan setting out specific measures to compensate LLDCs for their geographical handicaps with improved market access and trade facilitation. Today we are sounding alarm bells for the Almaty Programme of Action.
Today we are sounding alarm bells for the Almaty Programme of Action
Although LLDCs represent about 15 per cent of States, their share of world exports has remained well below 1 per cent, according to United Nations figures.
Mr. Ban noted that the “alarm bells” he sounded last week at the Assembly’s High-Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the ambitious targets set by the UN Millennium Summit of 2000 to slash poverty, hunger, preventable illness and a host of other socio-economic ills, all by 2015, sparked an “unprecedented commitment” of as much as $16 billion.
“I hope for a similarly hope-inspiring response,” he said. “Let us use the success of the High-Level Event on the MDGs as inspiration for this review.”
It is vital that landlocked developing countries increase their volume of exports to meet the MDGs, yet the biggest obstacle to this is the very high cost of transport, in some cases exceeding 70 per cent of the export value, Mr. Ban told the opening session of the two-day meeting, calling for more vigorous international cooperation.
Despite some encouraging progress since 2003 in improving transit transport policies, much more needs to be done in infrastructure development as roads and railways remain inadequate, and many ports use obsolete cargo handling equipment, he said. Integrated transport networks must be developed and customs operations modernized.
Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto also said much more needed to be done to help the LLDCs. “Geographical realities coupled with critical infrastructure deficiencies, as well as cumbersome border crossing procedures, continue to pose daunting impediments to the external trade of landlocked developing countries,” he told the plenary.
“Today, high trade transaction costs remain the single most important obstacle to the equitable and competitive access by landlocked countries to global markets.”
Citing tangible progress, Cheick Sidi Diarra, the UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS), told a news conference that official development aid (ODA) to LLDCs grew from $10.1 billion in 2000 to $16.1 billion in 2006. Direct investment more than tripled over the past five years from $3.9 billion to $14 billion.
Regional and sub-regional cooperation was also one of the success stories, he said, citing the inter-Asian highway and the strengthening of airports in Africa. The World Bank reported that in 2007, landlocked countries spent an average of 49 days for their exports to reach a seaport, down from 57 days in 2006. The time spent for importing decreased to 56 from 72.
But, he added: “It is increasingly recognized that high transportation costs constitute a more important barrier than tariffs.”

Hundreds of Congolese flee attacks by notorious rebels – UN refugee agency

October 2008 – About 1,200 Congolese have sought shelter in southern Sudan in recent days to escape brutal attacks by members of the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) that have included the abduction of children and the torching of homes, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.
The Congolese arrived on foot in the Sudanese villages of Gangura and Sakure after a four-day journey, telling local authorities and aid agencies about savage attacks on six separate villages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The refugees said they fled to Sudan because the LRA, which has waged war against Ugandan Government forces for two decades, sometimes from bases in remote areas of the north-eastern DRC, had blocked all other routes out of the region.
“From what we have learned in speaking to the refugees, the attacks were ferocious and unremitting,” said Geoff Wordley, the assistant representative for UNHCR operations in southern Sudan, adding there are unconfirmed reports of bodies seen floating in local rivers.
“Many refugees being treated in the MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières] clinic showed wounds from machetes and bullets.”
An emergency assessment team from UNHCR visited Gangura on Saturday, where MSF (Spain) runs a village clinic and has been treating some of the wounded refugees. Most of the arrivals are sleeping in the open at a derelict school, without bedding, cooking utensils or other basic household items, and subsisting on forest fruit.
UNHCR, which is sending a team to the area to support relief efforts, said in a statement that it feared the humanitarian situation cold soon worsen, given the poor living conditions, the diminishing stocks of food and the proximity of the refugees to the volatile border.
The agency said it was working closely with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide emergency aid to the beleaguered local population.
UNICEF reported last month that LRA fighters had conducted a series of attacks on villages in DRC’s Orientale province and kidnapped an estimated 90 children from their schools.
Today, in a joint statement with Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, UNICEF urged the immediate and unconditional release of the abducted pupils.
“There are documented cases where children kidnapped by groups in this region have been forced to fight as child soldiers, and where young girls have been raped and used as sex slaves,” according to the statement.
Since the mid-1980s, the LRA has waged war in northern Uganda against Government forces in that country and became notorious for its abduction and use of child soldiers during the conflict. Its fighters have often been based in neighbouring southern Sudan or in north-eastern DRC.
The LRA and Uganda have signed several peace agreements, raising hopes of a comprehensive accord to formally end the entire conflict being signed eventually.

Angry protesters attack UN post, wound two peacekeepers in DR Congo

26 September 2008 – Hundreds of Congolese civilians, enraged by violent incursions by Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Ugandan rebels, attacked United Nations posts in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) yesterday, wounding two UN peacekeepers.
The violence erupted during protests in Dungu, Orientale province, against LRA attacks which have uprooted thousands from their homes in many areas within a 90 kilometre radius of Dungu, the UN mission in the DRC (MONUC) said in a news release today.
Hundreds of demonstrators encircled the MONUC observation post, wounding two Blue Helmets from the Moroccan contingent and destroying equipment and material, it added. The crowd also destroyed and plundered the liaison office of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and tried to raid the residence and offices of the territory’s civilian administrator.
MONUC was sending a multidisciplinary team to Dungu today to evaluate the security and humanitarian situation following the displacement of thousands of people by the LRA attacks, as aid agencies fear more serious and massive human rights violations.
“The priority is to carry out fast preliminary investigations on the various violations, to identify the victims and to determine their number, and to collect testimonies of displaced persons around Dungu,” MONUC said in a statement.
MONUC and the DRC army jointly deployed troops to Ituri and Orientale in August to protect civilians after LRA attacks. Since the mid-1980s, the LRA has waged war in northern Uganda against that country’s government and became notorious for its abduction and use of child soldiers during the conflict.
Its fighters have often been based in neighbouring southern Sudan or in north-eastern DRC. The LRA and Uganda have recently signed several peace agreements, raising hopes of a comprehensive accord to formally end the entire conflict.


UN seeks to help landlocked countries overcome their handicap in trade

UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro1 October 2008 – The United Nations today began three days of high-level consultations aimed at boosting foreign direct investment in the world’s 31 landlocked developing countries (LLDC) to strengthen their participation in international trade and the global economy.
“As we attempt to find long-term solutions to their plight, external investment is critical in enabling landlocked developing countries to substantially mitigate their unfavourable geographical locations,” Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told a high-level investment forum at UN Headquarters in New York.
Speaking on the eve of a two-day High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly devoted to the mid-term review of the Almaty Programme of Action, a 2003 plan setting out specific measures to help landlocked countries, she noted that despite “much progress” in the past five years many still remain marginalized from the world economy with limited access to global markets and to the sea for external trade.
“The Almaty Programme highlights the role that foreign direct investment could play in this process,” Ms. Migiro said. “Foreign direct investment has a great potential as contributor to growth and development. It can bring capital, technology, management know-how and access to new markets. In comparison with other forms of capital flows, it is also more stable, with a longer-term commitment to the host economy.”
Although LLDCs represent about 15 per cent of States, their share of world exports has remained well below 1 per cent.
Cheick Sidi Diarra, the UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS), also noted the progress made since 2003. But he warned: “The high cost of international trade continues to hinder their trade and economic development.”
The Almaty Programme is the first global action plan negotiated at ministerial level to provide a framework for cooperation between landlocked and transit access developing countries, promising reductions in red tape and transportation costs and time.
At the time of its adoption transport services through access countries consumed on average 15 per cent of export earnings of LLDCs – and as much as half for some African nations. In comparison, other developing countries spent an average of only 7 per cent on transport services, and the developed countries only 3 to 4 per cent.
The Programme established for the first time agreement in principle on compensating landlocked countries for their geographical handicaps with improved market access and trade facilitation.
With seven years left for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the ambitious targets set by the UN Millennium Summit of 2000 to slash poverty, hunger, preventable illness and a host of other socio-economic ills, all by 2015, Ms. Migiro called for accelerated progress in the LLDCs. “These countries require our collective special attention,” she said.


UN helicopters respond to rebel attack in eastern DR Congo

2 October 2008 – United Nations attack helicopters firing rockets went into action in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today after rebels attempting to advance against the Government opened fire on UN reconnaissance planes.
The UN action was the latest in a series of strikes against the rebel Ituri Patriotic Resistance Front (FRPI) in Ituri province, and comes less than two weeks after peacekeepers from the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) sent in combat helicopters against another rebel group in North Kivu province, to the south.
“MONUC is intervening with all the means at its disposal, including attack helicopters, to protect the civilian population which is in imminent danger,” the mission said in a news release. “Moreover MONUC is cooperating with the DRC armed forces to re-establish state authority over the whole of Ituri.”
Residual FRPI elements launched attacks on Monday against the army, capturing two camps and advancing towards the village of Aveba before they were repulsed by MONUC.
On September 19, UN helicopters opened fire on the rebel National Congress for People’s Defence (CNDP) in North Kivu, forcing them to withdraw after they tried to take control of a town 60 kilometres from the region’s main city, Goma.
Humanitarian and human rights organizations are reporting a sharp increase in the recruitment of child soldiers by armed groups in North Kivu, a crime against humanity and a violation of an agreement they signed at the beginning of the year, MONUC spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux told a news conference today in Kinshasa, the DRC capital.
Hostilities have continued in eastern DRC despite stabilization in much of the rest of the vast country, which was torn by years of civil war. On Monday, the DRC called for UN peacekeepers to be given a clear mandate and the resources necessary to impose peace by force if necessary.
“Confronted by the drama occurring in the east of the Congo, MONUC must be authorized to act, and can act in a convincing manner,” Permanent Representative Ileka Atoki told the General Assembly’s annual General Debate.
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