Floods follow delayed start of rains in eastern Sudan and parts of northwestern Ethiopia

KEY MESSAGES

• The June to September seasonal rains intensified over the past month and helped ease cumulative rainfall deficits in eastern, central, and western Sudan, northwestern Ethiopia, and southwestern Eritrea (Figure 1). The affected areas are expected to experience reduced agricultural production owing to the significantly delayed onset of the rains and planting delayed by more than a month, especially in eastern Sudan.

• Recent rains have largely improved pastoral conditions and water resources in most pastoral and agropastoral areas which rely on the June to September rains, including in Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, parts of northeastern Uganda, and western Kenya (Figure 2).

• The above-normal rains experienced over the past two weeks in Sudan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and in localized areas of Kenya and Uganda have resulted in floods, with the worst-affected areas being in Sudan, including in Khartoum, River Nile, El Gazeira, West Kordofan, North Darfur, Blue Nile, Northern, Red Sea, and South Darfur States.

August 23, 2013 (KAMPALA) - Uganda’s ministry of health said on Wednesday that a 27-year-old woman in Kampala had died after contracting the deadly Congo Crimean Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF).

The woman was married to a South Sudan-based Ugandan trader who had suffered from the disease while in South Sudan and had recently returned to Uganda where he is receiving additional treatment.

In a statement on 19 August, the Ugandan health ministry declared that the fever, which was first reported in northern Uganda, was under control.

“The ministry of health informs the general public that the situation of the Congo Crimean Haemorrhagic Fever is under control with no new confirmed cases reported since the outbreak was announced on 16 August”, the statement said.

But by Wednesday, the ministry was announcing the first death in the country from the fever.

The deceased woman is not thought to have come into contact with the earlier reported cases of the fever in northern Uganda.

Ugandan health authorities suspect she contracted the disease from her husband who had recently returned from South Sudan.

South Sudan has not officially declared an outbreak of the fever in the country.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says CCHF causes severe fever outbreaks and has a fatality rate of up to 40%.

WHO adds that the disease is transmitted to humans from ticks and from human to human contact via blood, secretions and body fluids from affected persons.

The disease has no vaccine available for either humans or animals.

(ST)

Written by Catherine Ntabadde Makumbi
Saturday, 24 August 2013 13:43
By Willie Brens Wambedde Communications & PR Volunteer

Disaster Risk Reduction interventions under the Reducing Community Risks and Strengthening Disaster Response (RRSR) program has helped spur communities to another level according to the beneficiaries of the project. RRSR is funded by DFID through British Red Cross. Amina Namondo, the chairperson Manafwa community managed disaster risk reduction group in Budada district does not hide her joy when speaking about the program.

She says it is two years since it started and so far the fruits are visible, adding that the group has had several trainings in savings and credit, early warning systems, tree planting, hygiene and sanitation, vegetable gardening.

“Our savings in the group has grown from 1 saving cycle to 4 with a total of 20 members in each cycle. We come gather for meetings every Sunday afternoon where we are able to make collect money and be able to borrow to others. The savings are growing each week with the trainings we are continuously having” said Namondo.

The LCI chairperson of Kimondo Village, Silver Wakhonya where the project is being implemented says hygiene of the homes in his village has tremendously improved. He appreciated the work done by the Red Cross in especially kitchen gardening and warning systems.

“With the help of the Early Warning System the community is closely monitoring the water levels in river Manafwa and the malaria infections have reduced. In the recent heavy rains that affected Bushiyi Sub county and caused a landslide, our village was able to know the water raising level through the established early warning system and as result we able to move to safer places," said Wakhonya.

Alex Welikhe, the Branch Manager URCS Bubulo says the project started two years ago and is intended to create community resilience, where communities are able to stand on their own during disasters before Red Cross comes in.

In the recent past, the Red Cross has been doing more of emergency response but this is a new approach, where we want to empower and strengthen communities in order to be able to respond incase disasters occur.

In Kumi, demonstration trainings on construction of safe shelters have been conducted in the three villages of Busano, Tajar and Akakaat. Each member of the village volunteers on safe shelter is expected to train 10 households and eventually have these households construct a hut(s) each.

Construction work on safe shelter in the three villages of Tajar, Akakaat, and Busano has started. Six safe shelter structures have been completed and are habitable in Tajar, while 2 are complete and habitable in Akakaat.

In both Tajar and Akakaat, 64 huts are at the walling level, while 102 are at foundation level. In Busano, 7 households have started work on molding blocks. Beneficiaries of Bumalenya, Buwalusati, Buwatuwa, Busangai.1 and Bumutoola villages, Bulambuli, in Sironko are happy because the project has enabled them to dig trenches and building ridges that has helped reduce on flooding effects.

Irene Amuron, the URCS Assistant Programme Manager RRSR says the project has empowered communities through trainings, given them t-shirts and pinafores, bicycles, supplied both hand and construction tools as rammers, wheel barrows, dump proof course(DPC), nails, strings, shovel, spirit level, hoes, spades, pick axes, claw hammers to help in mobilization and actual work.

By Daniel Edyegu

AS the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) concluded the distribution of relief food to victims of the recent hailstorm in Bushiyi and Bumayoka subcounties in Bududa district last week, it became apparent that over 2,000 people in the affected areas were staring starvation is in the face.

Most recipients of the relief food, despite being grateful, seemed more worried. Boniface Birabi, a resident of Namirumbo village in Bushiyi, said given his extended family, he does not expect the food he received to last long.

“I have eight children and two wives. I received 50kg of maize flour and 10kg of beans. I don’t expect the food to last more than two weeks, yet during the recent disaster, I lost all the cassava, bananas, potatoes, beans and maize I had planted,” Birabi said.

A report from the URCS indicates that 117 households in Bushiyi sub-county were affected by the calamity.

In Bumayoka sub-county, 71 families were severely affected by the hailstorm, while the number of those who suffered a partial impact has not been established.

The Office of the Prime Minister, however, sent 300 bags of maize flour and 100 bags of beans, while Housing Finance Bank offered 20 cartons of bar soap, 2,640 plastic plates plus cups and 150 blankets.

To ensure considerate allocation of the food, Tumwa Wanambwa, the Manafwa URCS focal person, explained that the society decided to allocate food to households basing on the impact suffered during the disaster.

“Families that were severely hit got 50kg of maize flour and 10kgs of beans, while those that suffered partially got 10kg of maize flour and 4kg of beans. This calculation was based on the little that we had. Truth is, this food is not going to last long. The biggest form of help we can give these people is food and not the non-food items,” he said.

John Nambeshe, the Bududa district chairperson, said the relief food distributed to Bushiyi and Bumayoka subcounties was, in essence, meant for Bukalasi sub-county that had earlier on suffered a similar catastrophe.

“When heavy rains destroyed gardens in Bukalasi last month, we requisitioned for food to help the victims. Disaster, however, struck again before we received it. Considering the magnitude of the current disaster, we decided to reallocate the food to the two affected sub-counties,” Nambeshe said.

David Wakikona, the trade and co-operatives state minister, acknowledged the looming challenges.

“For these people to get back on their feet, it requires four months to allow them plant and harvest. As district leaders, we are going to pressurise the Government to secure more food for these families,” he stressed.

Highlights

• Amid overall food security improvements in the region, some 12.9 million people remained food insecure as of June 2013.
• Prevalence of malnutrition in Djibouti and Somalia is still above the 15 per cent emergency threshold.
• Thousands of civilians are cut off from life-saving assistance due to insecurity in Pibor County, South Sudan.
• MSF pulls out of Somalia due to insecurity.
• Thousands of Rwandans to lose refugee status following the entry into force of the Rwandan cessation clause.
• Proposed repatriation of Somali refugees from Kenya to be conducted in safety and dignity.
• 118 cases of polio confirmed in the Horn of Africa region

DAKAR, 26 août 2013 (IRIN) - Les difficultés d'accès aux communautés touchées par les conflits ou les catastrophes ralentissent la distribution de l'aide, compliquent les évaluations et peuvent entraîner l'exclusion de certains groupes vivant dans des régions isolées. Même si elles ne constituent pas une solution miracle, les nouvelles technologies contribuent à supprimer certains obstacles à l'accès.

De plus en plus souvent, les organisations d'aide humanitaire tentent de trouver des solutions novatrices pour résoudre de vieux problèmes. Par exemple, le Haut Commissariat des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) a fait équipe avec la firme de technologie Spigit pour lancer une initiative appelée « UNHCR Ideas », qui permet au personnel, aux réfugiés, aux universitaires et aux partenaires de mettre en commun leurs idées et d'utiliser le crowdsourcing pour trouver des solutions à des problèmes fréquents. Le premier défi proposé est d'améliorer l'accès des réfugiés des villes à l'information et aux services ; l'idée gagnante sera mise en ouvre dans le cadre d'un projet pilote en 2014.

« Nous espérons que ce projet permettra aux réfugiés de se faire entendre, car ce sont très souvent eux qui détiennent les solutions. Nous tentons de renforcer leur autonomie et leur indépendance pour améliorer leur dignité », a dit Olivier DelaRue, chef des innovations au sein du HCR.

Le Fonds des Nations Unies pour l'enfance (UNICEF) a également mis sur pied des laboratoires d'idées pour trouver de nouvelles approches. Des laboratoires de ce type existent déjà au Danemark, au Kosovo, en Ouganda et au Zimbabwe.

IRIN présente, ci-dessous, cinq innovations mises en ouvre par des organisations et permettant d'améliorer l'accès humanitaire.

L'école en boîte de l'UNICEF

L'UNICEF pilote actuellement un projet d'école numérique en boîte en Ouganda. Soixante écoles fréquentées par 100 à 200 enfants ont reçu un colis contenant un ordinateur portable fonctionnant à l'énergie solaire et pouvant être connecté à Internet, un projecteur, un haut-parleur et un visualiseur. L'idée est de raccorder les écoles rurales afin de développer les réseaux d'apprentissage et d'élargir l'éventail des outils disponibles. Les équipements peuvent également être utilisés pour permettre aux communautés isolées d'avoir accès à des ressources de santé, à des informations d'urgence et à des moyens de divertissement.

L'UNICEF achète actuellement les équipements à divers fournisseurs, mais l'objectif, à terme, est de les faire fabriquer en Ouganda. Selon l'organisation, il faut, pour assurer le succès du projet, trouver des équipements de bonne qualité à faible coût et former des membres de la communauté à leur entretien.

Des téléphones portables pour évaluer l'insécurité alimentaire

Le Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM) utilise un processus appelé analyse et cartographie de la vulnérabilité (Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping, VAM) pour collecter des données précises sur les personnes souffrant d'insécurité alimentaire, leur nombre, l'endroit où elles vivent et comment elles en sont arrivées là. La majeure partie des informations étaient auparavant récoltées par le biais d'interviews individuelles sur le terrain, mais cette méthode peut être lente, coûteuse et parfois peu pratique, en particulier pour enquêter sur des communautés isolées ou lorsque l'accès est entravé par des catastrophes naturelles, le mauvais état des routes ou la violence.

Le PAM pilote actuellement un projet de VAM mobile (mVAM) pour récolter des informations sur certaines communautés par le biais de sondages par SMS. Les SMS contiennent des questions simples au sujet de la disponibilité de la nourriture et des habitudes alimentaires et permettent de collecter des données clés sur le niveau d'insécurité alimentaire.

« Dans les régions dont les routes sont en très mauvais état, voire absentes, la collecte de données sur la sécurité alimentaire et la surveillance de la situation sont de véritables défis logistiques. [mVAM] a le potentiel d'être un moyen plus rapide et rentable de récolter des données, nous permettant du même coup de venir plus rapidement en aide aux personnes qui ont le plus besoin de nos fournitures d'urgence », a dit Koffi Akakpo, chef de l'unité VAM du PAM en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), où un projet pilote de ce programme a été mené en janvier. L'objectif est d'étendre le projet pilote à d'autres régions de la RDC et à la Somalie.

Le projet est financé par le Fonds pour l'innovation humanitaire (HIF, selon son sigle anglais), un mécanisme de financement du réseau ELRHA [Améliorer l'apprentissage et la recherche pour l'action humanitaire], qui accorde son soutien à des organisations et des individus qui créent des solutions novatrices et évolutives pour résoudre les problèmes rencontrés par les humanitaires.

Des applications mobiles pour retracer des enfants disparus

Pendant longtemps, le processus de réunification familiale engagé à la suite d'une catastrophe naturelle ou d'un conflit - appelé Recherche et réunification familiale (Family Tracing and Reunification, FTR) - impliquait la rédaction de listes manuscrites. Il s'agissait d'un processus souvent lent et inefficace. L'UNICEF teste actuellement un système appelé RapidFTR, qui utilise une application mobile à code ouvert imaginée par un étudiant de master et développée par ThoughtWorks, une société de conseil en technologies de l'information.

Les enfants non accompagnés sont enregistrés et photographiés et les renseignements collectés sont instantanément intégrés dans une base de données centrale à laquelle peuvent avoir accès les ONG et les autres agences des Nations Unies. Les parents peuvent consulter la base de données pour voir si leur enfant a été enregistré et, si c'est le cas, où ils peuvent le retrouver.

« Ce système remplace celui qui prévalait auparavant, c'est-à-dire les photos imprimées et les listes photocopiées. Il fallait des semaines, voire des mois pour tout centraliser. Aujourd'hui, tout se fait de manière instantanée en utilisant les téléphones portables et Internet », a dit Kim Scriven, l'une des responsables de HIF, qui finance également ce projet.

RapidFTR utilise des mesures de sécurité semblables à celles employées par les services bancaires mobiles pour s'assurer que les données sensibles au sujet des enfants vulnérables, en particulier les photos, sont uniquement accessibles aux utilisateurs autorisés.

Un projet pilote est actuellement mis en ouvre par la Croix-Rouge ougandaise et l'organisation Save the Children dans le centre de transit de Nyakabande et le camp de réfugiés de Rwamwanja, situés dans l'est de l'Ouganda, où de nombreux Congolais ont trouvé refuge.

L'impression 3D pour créer des pièces de rechange

Si l'impression 3D, officiellement connue sous le nom de « prototypage rapide », semble relever de la science-fiction, elle offre en réalité des solutions concrètes et potentiellement durables pour des pays en développement ou des communautés affectées par des catastrophes.

Elle consiste à numériser et garder en mémoire un modèle 3D d'un objet qui est ensuite partagé, téléchargé et imprimé, une mince couche à la fois. Les objets imprimés sont généralement en plastique.

L'impression 3D pourrait donner aux communautés isolées un accès sans précédent à des objets comme des tuyaux d'irrigation, des outils agricoles, des pompes à eau, des pales d'éolienne et des fournitures de santé, des articles dont l'importation exige beaucoup de temps et d'argent.

« Les coûts des imprimantes diminuent, les téléphones portables sont les ordinateurs d'aujourd'hui et Internet est de plus en plus accessible : les possibilités sont infinies », a dit à IRIN William Hoyle, PDG de techfortrade, une association caritative basée au Royaume-Uni dont l'objectif est de trouver des solutions technologiques aux problèmes rencontrés dans le domaine du commerce et du développement.

« De nombreuses entreprises émergentes ont de la difficulté à se procurer des pièces de rechange pour leur machinerie. Le fait de pouvoir fabriquer une pièce de rechange en téléchargeant un fichier et en l'imprimant change tout », a-t-il dit.

M. Hoyle a également ajouté que techfortrade était actuellement en train de négocier avec une entreprise basée en Inde afin de recycler du plastique pour en faire des filaments destinés à un projet de fabrication d'outils agricoles par impression 3D. « Les déchets plastiques sont partout. C'est bien de pouvoir en faire un bon usage qui n'est pas nocif pour l'environnement. »

Des experts et des innovateurs du monde entier se sont réunis en mai dernier à Trieste, en Italie, dans le cadre d'un événement organisé par le Centre international Abdus Salam de physique théorique. Ils ont discuté de la façon dont l'impression 3D à faible coût pourrait être utilisée pour la science, l'éducation et le développement durable.

Le partage d'informations au sujet de la malnutrition

Un certain nombre d'organisations, notamment Save the Children UK, le PAM et Concern Worldwide, utilisent le Système de reporting minimal (Minimum Reporting Package, MRP), un outil de suivi et de rapport qui permet aux organisations de collecter et de mettre en commun des données standardisées au sujet des programmes d'alimentation complémentaire d'urgence (Supplementary Feeding Programmes, SFP), des programmes ciblant les personnes atteintes de malnutrition sévère modérée.

Le Système de reporting minimal ne permet pas seulement aux organisations d'aide humanitaire de mieux évaluer l'efficacité des programmes d'alimentation complémentaire d'urgence, il leur permet aussi de fournir rapidement des informations standardisées aux bailleurs de fonds et aux gouvernements en temps de crise.

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[FIN]

Highlights

 In North Kivu, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUSCO) set on 1 August a security zone around Goma. On 21 August, fighting resumed between FARDC and M23 in the Kibati area, 15 km north of Goma. Populated areas and UN posi-tions were directly targeted by mortars and hit by indiscriminate fire. MONUSCO FIB received from the SRSG the authorization to en-gage in fighting. Up until today fighting continues, with some pro-gress by FARDC supported by the FIB.

 UNICEF is deeply concerned about a growing number of children being killed or injured in the renewed fighting. As many as 2,000 are being used as child soldiers in the conflict. In the statement released on 26 July, UNICEF reminded all parties that the recruit-ment and use of children under 18 years of age in armed forces and groups is a crime under Congolese and international law.

 In Katanga Province, in August, 112 Children associated with armed groups have been extracted from the Mai Mai Bakata Katan-ga group (40 already reunited with their families). Unicef hopes to assist more than 300 children in the next few weeks.

 In North and South Kivu, The Ministry of Education (EPSP) in collaboration with Unicef has identified 80 con-flict affected schools for rehabilitation through a community based cash transfer approach.

 In August 15 and 17, launch of the second round of Polio National Immunisation Day (NID) coupled with Vitamin A and deworming.

 In Katanga province, 20 suspected measles cases with so far 0 death were reported in five health zones of Lubumbashi (Kenya, Rwashi, Lubumbashi, Katuba and Kisanga) during the 32th epidemiological week.

 A Human Rights Watch report released on 22 July accused Rwanda for continuing giving significant support to M23 rebel group in eastern Congo despite ongoing abuses including killings, rape and forced recruitment of children. The report says M23 has summarily executed at least 44 people and raped at least 61 women and girls since March.

KEY MESSAGES ON CURRENT FOOD SECURITY & NUTRITION CONDITIONS

• Good food security outcomes across the region which are expected to improve with the start of harvest across much of the region.

• Nutrition conditions stable but with high levels of acute and chronic malnutrition.

• Prices of staple grains in the region are either stable or declining.

• June to September rains expected to be average to below average for most of the region

In Syria, fighting continued in Aleppo, Al-Hasakeh, Dar’a, Damascus, Deir-ez-Zor, Hama, Homs, Idleb, Rural Damascus and Quneitra. A large-scale chemical weapons attack in Ghouta killed hundreds of people, according to opposition groups that blamed the Government on 21 August. After some delay, Damascus allowed UN inspectors to visit the site of the alleged chemical attack while denying being behind the assault. Meanwhile, over 1.9 million Syrians have been registered with UNHCR or are awaiting registration in neighboring countries. About 45,000 refugees, believed to be mainly Syrian Kurds, have entered Iraqi Kurdistan since 15 August.

Since mid-August, China has experienced two typhoons, Utor and Trami, in the south of the country and extremely severe flooding in the north with an overall number of killed estimated to be over 200. The authorities reported that the total number of affected by the disasters to be over 10 million people.

Four days of heavy rains, triggered by the passage of the Tropical Storm Trami, and ensuing extensive floods have affected Philippines’ Luzon Island, hitting the National Capital, where metropolitan Manila is located, Cordillera Administrative, Ilocos, Central Luzon, CALABARZON and MIMAROPA regions. Over 600,000 people have reportedly been affected by the floods.

Heavy rains and floods have affected 16 states across Sudan and the Abyei contested area since 1st August. Khartoum is the most severely affected state. Reports from international organisations indicated that an estimated 300,000 people had been affected by the floods while the authorities reported 530,000 people as being affected.

An estimated 8.3 million people in the northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe are threatened with limited access to markets and decreased household income due to the on-going insurgency and state of emergency in Nigeria. Meanwhile, it was also reported that some 492,000 children are severely malnourished in the north of the country.

Last Updated: 26/08/2013 Next Update: 02/09/2013

Global Emergency Overview web interface

Operation Highlights

Somalia is the country generating the second highest number of refugees in the world (Afghanistan is the highest).

UNHCR leads protection and emergency relief interventions targeting 700,000 IDPs out of a total IDP population estimated at 1.1 million and over 2,300 refugees in Somalia.

As at 22nd August, 2013, there were 997, 463 Somali refugees in the region; mainly hosted in Kenya, Yemen, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Tanzania and Uganda and over 1.1 million Somalis internally displaced within the country, settled mainly in the South-Central region.

Over 21,612 Somalis have so far sought refuge in neighboring countries in 2013. In the month of July, 7,500movements were reported in different areas in Somalia due to cross-border movements, IDP eviction, forced return, insecurity, lack of livelihood and clan conflict

Cooking banana (matoke), dry cassava chips, sorghum, millet, beans, and white maize are important food commodities for Ugandans. The staple food varies by region. Matoke is most important in the central, western, and southwestern regions; millet in the east; and sorghum in the east, north and northeast. Cassava chips, beans, and white maize are also very important for a significant part of population; cassava chips are especially important in eastern (Soroti), northern, and northwestern (Arua) Uganda. In Mbarara and Kampala, matoke is most important commodity for all households. Lira and Soroti depend heavily on sorghum and millet and also represent a supply source for Karamoja. Beans are consumed across the country, but monitored in Kampala and Lira: the latter of which is also a production area.
Masindi is a production and commercial area for white maize.

Ceci est un résumé des déclarations du porte-parole du HCR Adrian Edwards – à qui toute citation peut être attribuée – lors de la conférence de presse du 27 août 2013 au Palais des Nations à Genève.

Le HCR et d'autres agences sœurs des Nations Unies déplorent le meurtre de civils durant les combats ce week-end entre l'armée congolaise et le groupe M23 autour de Goma, la capitale du Nord-Kivu dans l'est de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC).

Au moins trois personnes ont été tuées et cinq autres blessées samedi matin (24 août) lorsqu'une bombe est tombée sur Ndosho, une banlieue de Goma. Goma a une très importante population civile car plus de 150 000 personnes ont été déplacées vers cette ville depuis 2012.

Une autre bombe est tombée samedi près du camp de Mugunga 3, où sont hébergés plus de 14 000 déplacés internes. Le 22 août, plusieurs bombardements avaient eu lieu contre des zones résidentielles à Goma, tuant au moins quatre personnes et en blessant 15 autres – toutes des civils.

Nous réitérons à toutes les parties au conflit que les attaques aveugles et délibérées contre les civils sont des crimes de guerre. Les civils ne doivent pas être ciblés.

Ailleurs dans l'est de la RDC, nous voyons la reprise d'un conflit ancien dans la plaine de Ruzizi, à la frontière entre le Sud-Kivu et le Burundi. Le conflit avait commencé en avril 2012, mais il a envoyé 1 500 demandeurs d'asile vers le Burundi durant les 12 derniers jours. Les demandeurs d'asile, ayant fui les zones de Sange, Mutalule, et Rwanena dans la plaine de Ruzizi, nous disent que des hommes armés non identifiés ont tué huit personnes et en ont sérieusement blessé beaucoup d'autres.

Les demandeurs d'asile sont temporairement hébergés au centre de transit de Cishemere, à l'ouest de la province de Cibitoke au Burundi. Beaucoup de ceux qui sont accueillis par des familles burundaises dans la commune de Buganda ont été transférés vers le centre de transit où ils peuvent être mieux assistés. Nous avons déjà transféré 174 personnes au camp de réfugiés de Kavumu dans l'est de la province de Cankuzo. Quelque 341 autres sont en chemin.

Nous voyons des personnes arriver au Burundi, au nombre d'environ 60 par jour, et entre 150 et 200 par jour la semaine dernière. Environ 60% d'entre eux sont des enfants.

Parallèlement, l'Ouganda accueille toujours quelque 50 000 réfugiés congolais qui ont fui les combats au Nord-Kivu à la mi-juillet. Les réfugiés continuent d'arriver par leurs propres moyens depuis la frontière vers un centre de transit à Bubukwanga, dans l'ouest de l'Ouganda. Bien que nous ayons déjà transféré plus de 3000 personnes vers l'installation plus confortable de Kyangwali dans l'ouest de l'Ouganda, 21 344 personnes se trouvent toujours dans le centre de transit. Par ailleurs, plus de 20 000 réfugiés hébergés chez des proches ou des familles hôtes du côté ougandais de la frontière ont besoin d'aide.

This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today’s Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva.

UNHCR joins other UN agencies in condemning the killing of civilians during fighting this past weekend between the Congolese Army (FARDC) and the M23 rebel group around Goma, the capital of North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

At least three people were killed and five others wounded on Saturday morning (24 August) when a shell landed in Ndosho, a suburb of Goma. Goma is packed with civilians because more than 150,000 people have been displaced towards the city since 2012.

Another shell fell Saturday near the Mugunga 3 camp, which shelters more than 14,000 internally displaced people. On 22 August, numerous shells landed in residential areas of Goma, killing at least four people and wounding 15 – all civilians.

We remind all parties to the conflict that indiscriminate or deliberate attacks against civilians are war crimes. Civilians must not be targeted.

Elsewhere in eastern DRC, we are seeing a flaring of a longstanding conflict in the Ruzizi Plain, on the border of South Kivu and Burundi. Conflict there re-erupted in April 2012, but has sent 1,500 asylum-seekers into Burundi over the last 12 days. Asylum-seekers, fleeing the Sange, Mutalule, and Rwanena areas of the Ruzizi Plain, tell us that unidentified armed people killed eight people and seriously wounded many more.

The asylum seekers are being temporarily hosted at the Cishemere Transit Centre, in Burundi’s western province of Cibitoke. Many of them who were hosted by Burundian families in the commune of Buganda have been moved to the transit centre where they can be better assisted. So far we have transferred 174 people to Kavumu Refugee Camp in the eastern province of Cankuzo, and some 341 others are on their way there.

We are still seeing people arriving in Burundi, about 60 per day, down from 150 to 200 per day last week. About 60 per cent are children.

Meanwhile, Uganda is still hosting some 50,000 Congolese refugees who fled fighting in North Kivu in mid-July. Refugees are continuing to come on their own from the border to the transit centre at Bubukwanga in western Uganda. Despite the fact that we have already transferred more than 3,000 people to better facilities at the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in mid-western Uganda, 21,344 people remain at the transit centre. A further 20,000 refugees who are staying with relatives or host families inside the Ugandan border also require help.

For further information on this topic, please contact:

In Nairobi, Kitty McKinsey at +254 735 337 608 or mckinsey@unhcr.org In Kinshasa, Celine Schmitt at +243 81 700 94 84 or schmittc@unhcr.org In Bujumbura, Bernard Ntwari at +257 7991 89 02 or ntwarib@unhcr.org In Geneva, Daniel MacIsaac at +41 79 200 76 17 or macisaac@unhcr.org

Across Africa, an innovative program helps couples avoid the risk of HIV.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Maternal Life International/Uganda collaboratively created the Faithful House program as a couples-based approach to HIV prevention. Faithful House helps couples talk about attitudes and behaviors that contribute to sexual risk behavior. Currently, the curriculum is used in 11 countries.

Listen to the report

By Boniface Odongo

Heavy rains in Lango Sub region have caused floods submerging bridges, washed away culverts and destroyed roads.

In Otuke and Alebtong districts, Apak Bridge that connects the two districts has been washed away.

In Kole district, most roads connecting different sub counties to the district headquarters are flooded and cut off.

Kole district LC5 chairman Peter Ocen said a number of people have been affected by the impassible roads.

Oyam district LC5 Chairman, Charles Okello Engola said the most affected areas include; Aleka and some parts of Aber Sub County.

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT

• Harvesting of 2013 first season crops is complete and production prospects are near average

• A long dry spell in May/June affected cereal crops in some central cropping areas

• Unfavourable prospects for crop production in Karamoja region

• Maize prices stabilize in most markets since early August

• Overall food security is satisfactory, but deteriorate in Karamoja region

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is providing urgently needed medical care and water and sanitation services in western Uganda, where tens of thousands of refugees fleeing insecurity in North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), arrived in mid-July.

Around 22,000 refugees are now living in the Bubukwanga transit camp, a space that was designed for only 12,500 people, 18 kilometers [around 11 miles] from the DRC border.

MSF is providing maternity care, vaccinations, and nutrition treatment, and is also working to improve a potentially dangerous water and sanitation situation. Medical care is provided both to refugees and locals, reaching a total catchment population of 50,000 people.

Next week, MSF will begin offering medical care in the Kyangwali permanent camp where refugees are being transferred. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has thus far transferred around 4,000 refugees from the transit camp to this permanent site and plans to continue transferring 2,000 each week. The permanent camp is 150 kilometers [around 90 miles] away, but the journey, which can take up to six hours, poses a risk for the refugees unto itself. An accident involving one of the buses transferring refugees killed an infant and injured 24 other people. The injured were transported in an MSF ambulance to a nearby hospital where MSF and other medical staff provided critical care.

Additionally, the number of new arrivals at the transit camp is increasing as the security situation deteriorates in DRC; around 3,000 arrived last week alone.

MSF remains concerned about the water and sanitation condition in the transit camp.

“Although the situation has improved in recent weeks, there are inadequate latrines, only one latrine for 82 people, that are full to overflowing, posing a serious risk of cholera, dysentery, and shigellosis infections,” says MSF head of mission Ruben Pottier. “Cholera is a big concern. It is an endemic area for cholera and the seasonal peak is always at the start of the rainy season.”

The rainy season has just begun, further increasing the cholera risk and reducing road access for the trucks that empty the latrines. MSF has been building latrines, trucking in clean water, and pre-positioning the medical supplies that would be needed to respond to a cholera outbreak.

MSF is providing around 300 outpatient consultations each day in the transit camp, mostly for respiratory tract infections, malaria, and diarrhea. Teams have also provided assistance to survivors of sexual violence in the camp.

MSF is also supporting an inpatient department that has grown from 20 to 47 beds and includes a pediatric ward, an adult ward, and a maternity ward.

“We’ve particularly scaled up capacity in sexual and reproductive health,” says Pottier. “In an emergency we should not forget that life goes on, women still give birth, and there is an urgent need for medical care for complicated deliveries. Our maternity unit can deal with complicated deliveries—we only need to refer for Caesarean sections—and since July 22 we’ve delivered 92 babies.”

In the Kyangwali permanent camp, MSF is establishing a health unit in the refugee reception area. Starting next week, teams will offer basic health care, referrals for patients requiring ongoing medical treatment, and vaccination and malnutrition screening for children. Children who started malnutrition treatment in the transit camp will be monitored to ensure their treatment continues.

MSF will continue to scale up activities in both camps as more refugees arrive.

MSF has worked in Uganda since 1986. In addition to responding to emergencies, MSF runs an HIV and TB treatment program in Arua.

• See more at: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=7032&cat=field-...

(August 28, 2013) - Floods have cut off the main road to Uganda, leaving busses, trucks and passenger vehicles stranded at the Ugandan side of the border for the past three days.

The disruption is between the towns of Atiak in Uganda and Elegu in South Sudan.

One passenger traveling by bus told Radio Miraya that she was forced to leave her luggage behind and walk through the flood waters to get to Nimule.

“We were moving on very well but we got to a point and found the road full of water. Something very strange, there is too much water. So we opted to leave all our luggage behind and I came with this fellow South Sudanese because she has a baby,” the passenger said.

As a result, work at the customs and migration offices at Nimule has come to a standstill.

Up to 10 South Sudanese police officers are deployed to the troubled spot every day to assist people in crossing the border.

“On the Elegu side, the water was very deep, up to the level of your thigh. When the water is deep, vehicles cannot move,” a police officer said.

“People are just facilitating the movement of vehicles such that any place which is bad, they are shown by the people. The road is completely damaged,” he added.

There is an inextricable link between agriculture and nutrition, which is why Feed the Future is committed to developing programs that comprehensively address the chronic hunger and undernutrition that prevent children from growing up to lead healthy, productive lives. One way the initiative supports better nutrition is by investing in research that investigates how agriculture, nutrition and health programs can best be integrated to improve nutrition for mothers and children on a large scale.

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Nutrition is led by Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, which also partners with public health and agriculture programs at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Purdue, and Tuskegee universities. The Nutrition Innovation Lab aims to discover the most effective approaches to achieving Feed the Future’s nutrition targets, in part by supporting graduate-level training and capacity building for researchers pursuing degrees in nutrition-related fields.

For example, Feed the Future is helping 14 graduate students in Uganda pursue critical research in public health, applied nutrition, agricultural extension and agricultural economics, equipping them to build Uganda’s long-term capacity to address its own challenges in hunger and undernutrition. With support from the Nutrition Innovation Lab, the students are working in 38 districts in Uganda and investigating topics including food safety, gender roles in household decision-making, crop and dietary diversity, HIV/AIDS, and vitamin A nutrition education. They are also strengthening their skills in research design, data collection and analysis, and presentation of their findings so they can contribute to national and global understanding of nutrition’s role in combating food insecurity.

In June 2013, the Ugandan students had the opportunity to publicly present their nutrition research at Makerere University in Kampala during a symposium organized by the Nutrition Innovation Lab and attended by representatives from government, civil society, academia and research institutions.

Joshua Ssemakula, who is pursuing his Master of Science degree in applied human nutrition at Makerere University, says the symposium “was a great opportunity for me to learn how to incorporate agriculture, nutrition and health into my research work. Critiques on my presentation…especially those from professors at Tufts, helped me to get a better insight and understanding of my research direction.”

Research supported by the Nutrition Innovation Lab emphasizes nutrition for pregnant and lactating women, as well as the critical 1,000-day window from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday. All research projects support the Lab’s overarching goal to build human and institutional capacity at local and national levels to identify problems, apply appropriate research tools, assess intervention options, implement best practices and document impact.