Humanitarian
Updates
20.02.2004
Humanitarian situation in Guinea Forestière on the agenda of
heads of UN peace missions in West Africa On 20
February 2004, the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA) will
host a meeting of all five Heads of UN peace missions in
West Africa. This High-level meeting, which aims at
furthering progress in harmonizing policies and activities
of the UN peace presences in West Africa, will review the
overall situation in West Africa and discuss specific
cross-border issues of regional interest, including
cross-border humanitarian impact of crises, especially in
Forest Guinea. The meeting will be chaired by Mr. Ahmedou
Ould-Abdallah (UNOWA), and attended by Mr. Albert Tevoedjre
(UN mission in Cote d'Ivoire - MINUCI), Mr. Jacques Klein
(UN mission in Liberia - UNMIL), Mr. Daudi Ngelautwa
Mwakawago (UN mission in Sierra Leone - UNAMSIL), and Mr.
David Stephen (UN peace-building support office in Guinea
Bissau - UNOGBIS).
20.02.2004
Security Council discussions on West Africa
On 23 January 2004, during the Security Council's 4899th
meeting, members of the Council agreed on the importance of
a regional approach to resolving the interrelated conflicts
ravaging West Africa, as they considered the situation in
Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Taking up the Secretary-General's progress report on the
recommendations of the Security Council mission that visited
West Africa in mid-2003, Council members focused on elements
common to the subregion's conflicts: the use of child
soldiers; mercenary forces crossing national borders at
will; sexual violence against women and children;
displacement of peoples; the culture of impunity; and
illicit trafficking in small arms and natural resources.
Speakers also emphasized the importance of greater
international support for the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS), which had spearheaded peacekeeping
operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and led mediation
efforts in Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau.
20.02.2004
Repatriation of Sierra Leoneans
While repatriation of Sierra Leoneans was resumed through
the Pamelap axis in December 2003 UNHCR has as of 20 January
2004 speeded up the operation by repatriating refugees to
Kailahun district through the Languette/Parrot's Beak. A
departure centre has been constructed at Dandou where the
refugees will cross the river by boat. WFP will supply food
for hot meals in the transit centres the night before each
convoy. UNHCR had planned to repatriate about three convoys
of 500 refugees each per week, but only little over 100
refugees per convoy have so far opted for repatriation.
Reasons for difficulties in filling the convoys that have
been reported are 1) refugees interest in completing
harvesting in Guinea, 2) lack of access to education,
limited employment opportunities and high cost of living in
Sierra Leone, as well as 3) hopes of being resettled to
third countries.
20.02.2004
Spontaneous returns of Liberians
An assessment of spontaneous returns of Liberians from
Lainé refugee camp is being carried out by MSF-CH.
20.02.2004
IOM resettled 3,201 individuals in 2003
During the course of 2003, IOM carried out 3,201 cases of
permanent resettlement of refugees living in Guinea to third
countries: USA (2,205), Norway (384), Australia (341),
Canada (165), Sweden (78), Netherlands (7), Mali (6),
Belgium (6), France (4), Switzerland (4) and Ireland (1).
Hereof, 1,652 (52 %) were women, 1,549 (48 %) were men, 753
were children of 2-12 years and 42 were infants. Prior to
departure, IOM activities include logistic arrangements from
camps, medical checks and follow up, as well as Cultural
Orientation.
20.02.2004
Funding update CAP 2004
According to reports received by OCHA's financial tracking
unit from respective appealing agencies, funding of the
Guinean CAP 2004 is confined to USD 129,891 from Sweden
channelled through OCHA to facilitate a better response to
humanitarian and transition needs. Another USD 519,565 from
Sweden channelled through UNICEF for multi-sector activities
is awaiting confirmation.
09.01.2004
Assessment of returnees in Guinea indicates that large
population groups affected by the Côte d'Ivoire crisis
continue to be in need of assistance
As a result of the Côte d'Ivoire crisis a vast number of
civilians have sought refuge in Guinea since September 2002.
Among these are - according to official figures - over
100,000 Guinean nationals who were part of the large West
African immigrant community in Cote d'Ivoire.
Download Reliefweb map of returnees
In the sub-prefectures along the Guinean-Ivorian border
alone, local communities are currently hosting over 50,000
Guinean returnees from Côte d'Ivoire and the vast majority
of returnees continue to be almost entirely dependent on
local communities for basic life sustaining assistance.
While the integration of these returnees generally has been
smooth and not led to noticeable social tensions, the
difficult economic circumstances endured in the area due to
the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire have placed a considerable
strain on weak social services, in particular in the sectors
of Health, Food Security, Education and Water and
Sanitation. The returnees currently represent eight percent
of the population in this area and fifty percent are
children.
These are findings of an assessment carried out from
September to November 2003 by the OCHA sub-field office in
N'Zerekore in collaboration with local authorities. With the
objective of providing humanitarian decision makers with an
informed understanding of this less visible impact of the
Ivorian crisis on civilians, the assessment covers the
numbers and conditions of returnee-families, host-families
and communities in all sub-prefectures and main urban zones
along the Guinean-Ivorian border.
While the primary responsibility for protecting and
assisting groups such as returnees rests with States, in
this case the Guinean Government, the scope and complexity
of this phenomenon requires the concerted action of a wide
range of humanitarian, development and political actors.
Within the UN system, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is
mandated to lead international action for the protection and
assistance of refugees and the International Organisation
for Migration (IOM) is mandated to lead international action
in relation to third country nationals. There is, however,
no single agency charged with responding to the needs of
returnees. This, combined with a lack of resources to
humanitarian activities outside assistance to refugees in
Guinea, has led to a situation where returnees, who often
arrive under the same conditions as refugees and third
country nationals, not always have been monitored and
received the protection and assistance implied by
fundamental humanitarian principles.
In order to build on the capacities of the local
communities, humanitarian actors such as World Food
Programme (WFP) currently support returnee and host families
through, for example, school-feeding programmes carried out
in the prefectures of Lola, Youmou and Nzerekoré, targeting
some 45,000 persons. While the assessment makes no claim to
be exhaustive, it is clear, however, that much still needs
to be done in terms of protection of civilians in Guinea
affected by the crisis in Côte d'Ivoire.
Download the full report here
While returnees who are forced to return home are neither
IDPs nor refugees, the humanitarian response to this
vulnerable population would be similar to a response to an
IDP population, i.e. through a collaborative approach. For
further information on humanitarian assistance to such
groups:
Earlier updates click
here for more updates ...
