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Africa/Global: Invisible Crises, Failing Safety Nets
AfricaFocus Bulletin
March 14, 2017 (170314)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
"Famine 'largest humanitarian crisis in history of UN': UN
humanitarian chief says 20 million people in Yemen, South Sudan,
Somalia and Nigeria face starvation and famine," says the headline
in Al Jazeera, echoed in the BBC and other international media, but
easily ignored without the high-intensity spotlight that
occasionally targets disasters with greater geostrategic centrality.
In the United States, while headlines rightly focus on the 24
million who would lose health care under the Republican Trumpcare
plan, no one has yet calculated the toll from a proposed 50% cut in
the U.S. budget for support of the UN.
No one would claim that the international humanitarian assistance
program is without major flaws, and UN officials quickly note
that it cannot solve the fundamental issues leading to disaster, in
particular military conflicts that in turn rest on political and
diplomatic failures. This is particularly notable in the four
countries mentioned in this most recent appeal, most dramatically in
Yemen where U.S.-backed Saudi intervention has not only directly
imposed massive civilian casualties but also blocked humanitarian
assistance.
The situation in the three remaining countries named, all in Africa,
varies, and the failures are both national and international.
Providing assistance will not resolve the fundamental issues. But
there can be little doubt that the weakening of the international
safety net will both cost lives and increase the difficulty of
addressing the underlying issues.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains, just below, links to several
recent articles, as well as the text of(1) the March 10 report to
the Security Council by UN Under Secretary-General Stephen O'Brien,
and (2) the press release from the Oslo conference in February on
the humanitarian crisis in north-eastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad
region.
Additional links to recent related articles of interest:
From Baidoa in Somalia, Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post reports
on visit by UN Secretary-General António Gutteres to Somalia, March 11, 2017.
http://tinyurl.com/gpvmmp2
"Famine 'largest humanitarian crisis in history of UN': UN
humanitarian chief says 20 million people in Yemen, South Sudan,
Somalia and Nigeria face starvation and famine," Al Jazeera, March
11, 2017. http://tinyurl.com/jpdbowj
Includes link to 25-minute video special report
"UN: World facing greatest humanitarian crisis since 1945," BBC,
March 11, 2017
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-39238808
Includes overview map and short video report on each country
mentioned
"'Where is the help?': black tea and dark despair as Somalia edges
closer to famine," Guardian, March 10, 2017
http://tinyurl.com/gn3aksb
Colum Lynch, "White House Seeks to Cut Billions in Funding for
United Nations," Foreign Policy, March 13, 2017
http://tinyurl.com/hg3n27b
"The budget proposal reinforces a shift by the Trump administration
from U.S. support for diplomacy and foreign assistance to increased
financial support for the U.S. military."
Note that Yemen, the only non-African country on the UN's list of
four most-affected countries, is, with Somalia, is on the list of
two countries the Trump administration is using as "test cases" for
loosening Obama administration rules on counterterrorism actions
outside designated combat zones (http://tinyurl.com/znwr2ct). "The
move to open the throttle on using military force — and accept a
greater risk of civilian casualties — in troubled parts of the
Muslim world comes as the Trump administration is also trying to
significantly increase military spending and cut foreign aid and
State Department budgets."
On Thursday, March 9, 53 House Democrats wrote to Secretary of State
Tillerson, urging him to "use all U.S. diplomatic tools to help open
the Yemeni port of Hodeida to international aid humanitarian aid
organizations to allow them to import food, fuel, and medicine into
northern Yemen and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Yemeni
children who face starvation."
For more details and to sign a petition to support this, visit
http://tinyurl.com/z46z5az
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++
Statement to the Security Council on Missions to Yemen, South Sudan,
Somalia and Kenya and an Update on the Oslo Conference on Nigeria
and the Lake Chad Region
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency
Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien
10 March 2017
http://tinyurl.com/j6ojjz6
Mr. President, Council members,
Thank you for inviting me to brief on my visits to countries facing
famine or at risk of famine: Yemen, South Sudan and Somalia. I will
also briefly mention the outcomes of the Oslo Conference on the Lake
Chad Basin.
I need to mention that I also visited Northern Kenya where
pastoralists are worst affected by the terrible drought. Over 2.7
million Kenyans are now food insecure, a number likely to reach 4
million by April. In collaboration with the Government, the UN will
soon launch an appeal of $200 million to provide timely life-saving
assistance and protection. For what follows however, I will focus on
my other visits over the past 16 days.
Yemen
I turn first to Yemen. It’s already the largest humanitarian crisis
in the world and the Yemeni people now face the spectre of famine.
Today, two-thirds of the population – 18.8 million people – need
assistance and more than 7 million are hungry and do not know where
there next meal will come from. That is 3 million people more than
in January. As fighting continues and escalates, displacement
increases. With health facilities destroyed and damaged, diseases
are sweeping through the country.
I spoke with people in Aden, Ibb, Sana’a and from Taizz. They told
me horrific stories of displacement, escaping unspeakable violence
and destruction from Mokha and Taizz city in Taizz governorate. I
saw first-hand the effects of losing home and livelihood:
malnourishment, hunger and squalid living conditions in destroyed
schools, unfinished apartments and wet, concrete basements. In the
past two months alone, more than 48,000 people fled fighting, mines
and IEDs from Mokha town and the surrounding fields alone. I met
countless children, malnourished and sick. My small team met a girl
displaced to Ibb, still having shrapnel wounds in her legs while her
brother was deeply traumatized. I was introduced to a 13-year-old
girl who fled from Taizz city, left in charge of her seven siblings.
I spoke with families who have become displaced to Aden as their
homes were destroyed by airstrikes living in a destroyed school. All
of them told me three things: they are hungry and sick – and they
need peace so that they can return home.
I travelled to Aden on the first humanitarian UN flight, where I met
the President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Republic
of Yemen. I also met with the senior leadership of the Houthi and
General People’s Congress authorities in Sana’a. I discussed the
humanitarian situation, the need to prevent a famine and to better
respect international humanitarian law and protect civilians. I
demanded full, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access. All
counterparts promised to facilitate sustained access and respect
international humanitarian law. Yet all parties to the conflict are
arbitrarily denying sustained humanitarian access and politicize
aid. Already, the humanitarian suffering that we see in Yemen today
is caused by the parties and proxies and if they don’t change their
behaviour now, they must be held accountable for the inevitable
famine, unnecessary deaths and associated amplification in suffering
that will follow.
Despite the almost impossible and terrifying conditions, the UN and
humanitarian partners are not deterred and are stepping up to meet
the humanitarian needs across the country. In February alone, 4.9
million people received food assistance. We continue to negotiate
access and make modest gains. For instance, despite assurances from
all parties of safe passage to Taizz city, I was denied access and
retreated to a short safe distance when I and my team came under
gunfire. Yet, we managed to use this experience to clear the path
for reaching people inside Taizz city with a first humanitarian
truck delivery of eight tons of essential medicine on the Ibb to
Taizz city road since August 2016. We will not leave a stone
unturned to find alternative routes. We must prevail as so many
lives depend on us, the full range of the humanitarian family.
For 2017, the humanitarian community requires US$ 2.1 billion to
reach 12 million people with life-saving assistance and protection
in Yemen. Only 6 per cent of that funding has been received thus
far. An international ministerial-level pledging event is scheduled
for 25 April, but the situation is so dire that I ask donors to give
urgently now. All contributions and pledges since 1 January will be
counted at the event.
I continue to reiterate the same message to all: it is only a
political solution that will ultimately end human suffering and
bring stability to the region. And at this stage, only a combined
response with the private sector can stem a famine: commercial
imports must be allowed to resume through all entry points in Yemen,
including and especially Hudaydah port, which must be kept open and
expanded. With access and funding, humanitarians will do more, but
we are not the long-term solution to this growing crisis.
I am pleased as I said to confirm that a ministerial-level pledging
event for the humanitarian response in Yemen for 2017 will take
place in Geneva on 25 April. The Secretary-General will chair the
event, co-hosted by the Foreign Ministers of Sweden and Switzerland,
to advocate for more resources and access. For 2017, as mentioned,
the Yemen humanitarian response plan asks for US $2.1 billion to
assist 12 million people in need across all 22 governorates.
South Sudan
Turning to South Sudan which I visited on 4 and 5 March. The
situation is worse than it has ever been. The famine in South Sudan
is man-made. Parties to the conflict are parties to the famine – as
are those not intervening to make the violence stop.
More than 7.5 million people need assistance, up by 1.4 million from
last year. About 3.4 million people are displaced, of which almost
200,000 have fled South Sudan since January alone. A localized
famine was declared for Leer and Mayendit [counties] on 20 February,
an area where violence and insecurity have compromised humanitarian
access for years. More than one million children are estimated to be
acutely malnourished across the country; including 270,000 children
who face the imminent risk of death should they not be reached in
time with assistance. Meanwhile, the cholera outbreak that began in
June 2016 has spread to more locations.
I travelled to Ganyiel in Unity state where people have fled from
the horrors of famine and conflict. I saw the impact humanitarians
can have to alleviate suffering. I met an elderly woman with her
malnourished grandson receiving treatment. I listened to women who
fled fighting with their children through waist-high swamps to
receive food and medicine. Some of these women have experienced the
most appalling acts of sexual violence – which continues to be used
as a weapon of war. Their harrowing stories are only a few among
thousands who have suffered a similar fate across the country.
Humanitarians are delivering. Last year, partners reached more than
5.1 million people with assistance. However, active hostilities,
access denials and bureaucratic impediments continue to curtail
their efforts to reach people who desperately need help. Aid workers
have been killed; humanitarian compounds and supplies have been
attacked, looted, and occupied by armed actors. Recently,
humanitarians had to leave one of the famine-affected counties
because of fighting. Assurances by senior Government officials of
unconditional access and no bureaucratic impediments now need to be
turned into action on the ground.
Somalia
In Somalia, more than half the population – 6.2 million
people – need humanitarian and protection assistance, including 2.9
million who are at risk of famine and require immediate assistance
to save or sustain their lives, close to 1 million children under
the age of 5 will be acutely malnourished this year. In the last two
months alone, nearly 160,000 people have been displaced due to
severe drought conditions, adding to the already 1.1 million people
who live in appalling conditions around the country.
What I saw and heard during my visit to Somalia was distressing –
women and children walk for weeks in search of food and water. They
have lost their livestock, water sources have dried up and they have
nothing left to survive on. With everything lost, women, boys, girls
and men now move to urban centres.
With the Secretary-General – his first field mission since he took
office – we visited Baidoa. We met with displaced people going
through ordeals none of us can imagine. We visited the regional
hospital where children and adults are desperately fighting to
survive diarrhoea, cholera and malnutrition. Again, as if proof was
needed, it was clear that between malnutrition and death there is
disease.
Large parts of southern and central Somalia remain under the control
or influence of Al-Shabaab and the security situation is volatile.
Last year, some 165 violent incidents – an 18 per cent increase
compared to 2015 – directly impacted humanitarian work and resulted
in 14 deaths of aid workers. Al-Shabaab, Government Forces and other
militia also continue to block major supply routes to towns in 29 of
the 42 districts in southern and central Somalia. This has
restricted access to markets, basic commodities and services, and is
severely disrupting livelihoods. Blockades and double taxation bar
farmers from transporting their grains. It is critical that AMISOM
and Somali forces secure vital road access to enable both lifesaving
aid and longer term recovery. A lot of hope is placed in the new
Government.
The current indicators mirror the tragic picture of 2011, when
Somalia last suffered a famine. It is important to add that when the
famine was called at that time 260,000 had already died, this will
be important in what I am about to tell you. However, humanitarian
partners now have a larger footprint, mature cash programming,
better data through assessments, better controls on resources and
vetting of partners, as well as stronger partnership with government
authorities. The Government recently declared the drought a national
disaster and is taking steps to work with humanitarian partners to
ensure a coordinated response. To be clear, we can avert a famine,
we have a committed clear new President, a humanitarian and
resilience track record, a detailed plan, we’re ready despite
incredible risk and danger, we have local and international
leadership, we have a lot of access, now we need the international
community, at the scale of you the donor agencies and nations, to
invest in Somalia, its life-saving – but we need those huge funds
now.
For all three crises and North-Eastern Nigeria, an immediate
injection of funds plus safe and unimpeded access are required to
enable partners to avert a catastrophe; otherwise, many people will
predictably die from hunger, livelihoods will be lost, and political
gains that have been hard- won over the last few years will be
reversed. To be precise we need $4.4 billion by July, and that’s a
detailed cost, not a negotiating number.
Oslo Conference Before I visited all these countries, I was in Oslo,
where the governments of Norway, Germany and Nigeria, in partnership
with the United Nations, organized a humanitarian conference on
Nigeria and the Lake Chad region. 10.7 million people need
humanitarian assistance and protection, including 7.1 million people
who are severely food insecure. Humanitarian partners scaled up
their response to reach the most vulnerable groups threatened by
violence, food insecurity and famine, particularly in North-Eastern
Nigeria.
Fourteen donors pledged a total of US$672 million, of which $458
million is for humanitarian action in 2017. This is very good news,
and I commend those who made such generous pledges. More is needed
however to receive the $1.5 billion required to provide the
assistance needed across the Lake Chad region.
We stand at a critical point in history. Already at the beginning
of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the
creation of the United Nations. Now, more than 20 million people
across four countries face starvation and famine. Without
collective and coordinated global efforts, people will simply
starve to death. Many more will suffer and die from disease.
Children stunted and out of school. Livelihoods, futures and hope
will be lost. Communities’ resilience rapidly wilting away.
Development gains reversed. Many will be displaced and will
continue to move in search for survival, creating ever more
instability across entire regions. The warning call and appeal for
action by the Secretary-General can thus not be understated. It was
right to take the risk and sound the alarm early, not wait for the
pictures of emaciated dying children or the world’s TV screens to
mobilise a reaction and the funds.
The UN and humanitarian partners are responding. We have strategic,
coordinated and prioritised plans in every country. We have the
right leadership and heroic, dedicated teams on the ground. We are
working hand-in-hand with development partners to marry the
immediate life-saving with longer term sustainable development. We
are ready to scale up. This is frankly not the time to ask for more
detail or use that postponing phrase, what would you prioritize?
Every life on the edge of famine and death is equally worth saving.
Now we need the international community and this Council to act:
First and foremost, act quickly to tackle the precipitating factors
of famine. Preserving and restoring normal access to food and
ensuring all parties' compliance with international humanitarian law
are key.
Second, with sufficient and timely financial support, humanitarians
can still help to prevent the worst-case scenario. To do this,
humanitarians require safe, full and unimpeded access to people in
need. Parties to the conflict must respect this fundamental tenet of
IHL and those with influence over the parties must exert that
influence now.
Third, stop the fighting. To continue on the path of war and
military conquest is – I think we all know – to guarantee failure,
humiliation and moral turpitude, and will bear the responsibility
for the millions who face hunger and deprivation on an incalculable
scale because of it.
Allow me to very briefly sum up. The situation for people in each
country is dire and without a major international response, the
situation will get worse. All four countries have one thing in
common: conflict. This means we – you – have the possibility to
prevent – and end – further misery and suffering. The UN and its
partners are ready to scale up. But we need the access and the funds
to do more. It is all preventable. It is possible to avert this
crisis, to avert these famines, to avert these looming human
catastrophes.
Oslo humanitarian conference for Nigeria and the Lake Chad region
raises $672 million to help people in need
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 24 Feb 2017
http://tinyurl.com/zu9l5za
Oslo 24 February 2017 - Some 170 representatives from 40 countries,
UN, regional organisations and civil society organisations gathered
at the Oslo Humanitarian Conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad
Region today. The conference was co-hosted by Norway, Nigeria,
Germany and the UN and followed a civil society meeting with large
participation from local organisations working in Nigeria, Chad,
Niger and Cameroon.
One of the world’s largest humanitarian crises is currently
unfolding in the Lake Chad region with 17 million people living in
the most affected areas. Nearly 11 million people urgently need
humanitarian assistance. At the conference, 14 donors pledged $458
million for relief in 2017 and an additional $214 million was
announced for 2018 and beyond. Pledges were announced by the
European Commission, Norway, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland,
France, Italy, Ireland, Finland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands
and Republic of Korea.
Humanitarian partners agreed to further scale up their response to
reach the most vulnerable groups threatened by famine, including
children with severe acute malnutrition. Special attention was given
to the protection needs of women, children and youth, as well as the
need for longer-term support and durable solutions for the displaced
populations.
Foreign Minister Borge Brende of Norway said:
"The conference has helped raising awareness and increased support
for millions of people affected by this crisis, not least for the
many children and young people who are currently out of school. It
is crucial to provide and protect education to safeguard their
rights and pave the way for a peaceful development in the region.
Our goal must be to ensure quality education for all, for girls as
much as for boys. It is of critical importance also to enhance the
protection of women and girls, who often carry the main burden of
crisis and conflict, and ensure that women are involved in ongoing
processes related to peace and development in the region."
The Foreign minister of Nigeria, Geoffrey Onyeama, said:
"Nigeria is suffering from violent extremism at the same time as it
is dealing with low oil prices and an economic recession. While the
Government is committing significant budgetary allocations to
confront the security and humanitarian situation arising from the
insurgency, we also need all the help and support we can get from
the international community."
The Foreign Minister of Germany, Sigmar Gabriel, said:
"With today’s pledges, humanitarian agencies can now concentrate on
their work – to save lives and offer help to those in urgent need.
Germany contributes 120 million Euro over the course of the next
three years to those efforts. We will provide 100 million Euro for
humanitarian assistance and 20 million Euro for stabilization
efforts in the region. In the long run, we have to strengthen our
partnership with the countries involved to address the root causes
of terror, displacement and poverty. For that purpose, we
established today a Consultative Group on Prevention and
Stabilisation with our counterparts from the region."
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien said:
"The humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad Region is truly massive
with a staggering 10.7 million people in need of immediate
humanitarian assistance. Without our increased support, affected
communities will face a life of hunger, disease, gender-based
violence and continued displacement. But there is another future
within grasp: as the international community scales up support, we
can stop a further descent into an ever-deepening crisis with
unimaginable consequences for millions of people. I am grateful for
the generous support to humanitarian action we have heard this
morning. The UN and our partners are ready and mobilised to further
scale up our life-saving response - the people in the region have no
time to wait."
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a
particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
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