Examination of Witnesses (Questions 80
- 99)
WEDNESDAY 24 JUNE 1998
Mr Will Day and Mr David Bryer, Mr Robert Smith,
Director, Ms Marie Staunton, and Ms R Boycott.
80. Where do they fly to?
(Ms Staunton) They fly from Kenya, and
they also fly from Uganda, they fly from Entebbe and they fly
from El Obeid to eight feeding centres in Bahr el Ghazal and also
feeding centres throughout Southern Sudan.
Ann Clwyd
81. I wanted to ask about the Hercules planes. One
of the complaints they were making when I was there at the weekend
was they could not get hold of Hercules planes.
(Ms Staunton) That has been a problem
and in fact two of the Hercules they have are not performing very
well. They have asked the Belgian government to have two Hercules
and they are trying to get one other from Angola from WFP. There
are two problems. One is getting them but they think they may
have located them now and the second is getting clearance. On
5 June both sides were asked for clearance and we are still waiting
for that.
82. Have they asked the British Government because
we have 51 Hercules in this country?
(Ms Staunton) I am not aware we have
asked the British Government.
Ms King
83. It would help Members when looking at that map
to know that the country is approximately the size of Western
Europe so when you are talking about a train going at walking
pace you are talking about walking from London to Madrid or something
ridiculous.
(Ms Staunton) Thank you and when I am
talking about flying from Bahr El Ghazal I am talking about three
and a half hours each way. You can do it if you only stop for
20 minutes about twice a day.
Chairman
84. It does also mean that you cannot supply the
quantities that your figures suggest by air alone?
(Ms Staunton) If permission is granted
for the outstanding planes and we therefore have seven Hercules,
three Ilyushins, which are massive, they carry 30 metric tonnes
and three Buffalos, the World Food Programme think they can meet
the need and drop the food. There are two ways in which food is
delivered. One is food for the population as a whole is dropped
through special air drops in planes but for malnourished children
you have got to land your plane, give the children Unimix and
it has got to be administered by a nutritionist or a nurse and
it is much more labour intensive. Therefore for feeding malnourished
children you need people on the ground and the planes and stuff
to put in the planes. So in terms of just the malnourishment requirement
in Bahr el Ghazal at the moment which is you could say the epicentre,
not the only area of the problems but the epicentre, there are
about 700,000 people at risk who are malnourished and the level
of malnourishment of children is about 35 per cent, something
like 30,000 children. These are very rough figures. We are dealing
with an area where there has not been a census and where even
your estimates of population range from 2.5 million to five million.
Chairman
85. They are guestimates.
(Ms Staunton) Yes. In Western Upper
Nile which are the areas not held by the government here, there
are about 162,000 people at risk, about 10,000 of those are children
with a 25 per cent malnourishment level. One in every four (25
per cent) of children are malnourished. In Jonglei down here about
182,000 people are at risk and of those about 5,000 are children
who are 25 per cent malnourished. In Eastern Equatoria, where
most of the aid agencies work, there are about 300,000 people
at risk, possibly about 5,000 children and we have not got anything
reliable in terms of the malnourishment rates. There has been
rain in Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei and Upper Nile. There has been
some rain in Eastern Bahr el Ghazal but there has been not much
rain in northern Bahr el Ghazal which of course makes the prognosis
very depressing. Also there is military movement. In Bahr el Ghazal
yesterday we had to evacuate Panthou which meant leaving the children
in the feeding centre because the militia were reported to be
coming and we had to get out. Hopefully we will get back in as
soon as we can. That means the malnourishment level of those children
is going to go right down. Therefore overall in the government-controlled
areas there are about 1.3 to 1.5 million people at risk and in
the southern sector there is about 1.2 million and the scale of
the problem is greatest in Bahr el Ghazal but exists elsewhere.
Ann Clwyd
86. Is your estimate that 2.2 million people could
be at risk from famine by next year?
(Ms Staunton) 2.5 million.
Chairman
87. From right now not next year.
(Ms Staunton) 1.3 in the northern sector
and 1.2 in the southern sector.
Mr Rowe
88. Right now.
(Ms Staunton) That would be right now.
Chairman
89. They can get it all in by plane.
(Ms Staunton) If they get the clearance.
It is not just the planes. As the Secretary of State was saying
you do not just need the plane, you need the fuel for the plane
and you need to pay for the plane, which is very expensive.
Ms Follett
90. Assuming that you have got the planes and you
have got the food then do you have the centres and the people
on the ground to administer the kind of rehydrant that you need?
(Ms Staunton) This is an operation which
is gearing up and there need to be more people on the ground particularly
for the feeding of children.
Chairman
91. How do you prevent the food and supplies meant
for children supplying the soldiers?
(Ms Staunton) Well the soldiers are
not marching on supplementary food for children. It is baby food
and high energy biscuits. It is special food for children.
92. Is that all you are taking in?
(Ms Staunton) No, it is basically Unimix,
which is mixed up in various ways from corn and dried skimmed
milk, high energy biscuits and oral rehydration salts going in
for the infants, the children. For the adults there is food dropped.
Ann Clwyd
93. When I was leaving Lokichokio on Sunday the OLS
man in charge was telling me that the following week flights would
be cut by a half because they could not afford them. They had
done their budget in the last two days and could not afford them.
(Ms Staunton) In relation to budgets
overall, as has been said, the UN budget is 48 per cent covered
and WFP is 54 per cent covered which means WFP are saying their
budget is covered at least to the end the August into September.
As far as UNICEF in the north is concerned, and that is just UNICEF,
we are 32 per cent funded which means we have Unimix until the
end of September but we do not have essential drugs. In relation
to the southern sector we are 54.8 per cent funded which means
if the situation does not get worse we have enough supplementary
food for children for the end of the year but we are about to
ask for more money (which has not yet been communicated to governments)
for the air bids of £2 million and also for nutritional supplements.
I should say all I have been talking about is the overall picture.
When you look at supplies all the agencies work together. There
are supplies going in from all the other agencies and our budget
depends on the fact that other agencies are putting supplies in.
Just to finish the snapshot. In relation to the Nuba mountains,
an area right in the middle of Sudan, access was in theory granted
to the Nuba mountains at the beginning of May. Access had not
been given for ten years. An assessment was agreed by all sides.
The assessment has not yet been able to go in. There was a shooting
there a couple of weeks ago so there is a security problem. The
reason why the head of UNICEF's emergency programme is going into
the area is to look at access to the Nuba mountains.
Mrs Kingham
94. I want to clear up this issue about the coverage
of the aid promised. We have heard from the Secretary of State
that funding is not a problem. You are saying that your budget
at the moment is only 54.8 per cent covered and the World Food
Programme budget was only—?
(Ms Staunton) It is 54 per cent covered.
95. What do you mean by "covered"? Does
that mean that you have asked for money and it has not been forthcoming
and not been pledged, ie, there is no more money coming, or is
that a statistical/logistical thing? Does that mean that is all
the pledged money and therefore there is a great need for more
money from some other source or does it mean that countries have
pledged it but not yet delivered it?
(Ms Staunton) No, it is all the money
that has been pledged by countries, but fundraising happens throughout
the year, it happens all the time. Unfortunately this time is
the dry season for fundraising in Europe in that most government
officials go away, but right throughout the year we will be trying
to get that budget funded and we will be hoping that the other
agencies in OLS also get their funds because then the supplies
can be delivered. So it is an on-going process.
96. Are you worried about the money not being available
or is this something that happens as a matter of course in disaster
appeals, that you go through this pledging? Are you concerned
the money will not be there or not, because if you are we ought
to know about it?
(Ms Staunton) I think one of the concerns
from people on the ground was that last year the appeal was only
30 per cent funded overall. This year is a different situation.
If you are working on the ground and you can see that you have
got enough supplies for the next few months you also want to be
sure that you have supplies later. But there is a process of continually
reassessing and continuing communication and continually looking
for more resources.
Mr Rowe
97. Did you get the impression from the Secretary
of State's session with us today that ask and you shall be given?
(Ms Staunton) I would hope so. We do
regularly ask and we are in regular contact and we are pushing
regularly for more funds.
Mrs Kingham
98. Do you get it?
(Ms Staunton) We have so far received
for UNICEF £900,000 for the work with children and that is
part of an overall amount of £25 million which the UK government
have given which puts them near the top in terms of funding.
(Mr Day) UN appeals are traditionally
under-funded and one of the things that NGOs often say is that
they would like to see governments support UN appeals more. There
has been a lack of confidence in the past in some appeals, but
I do not think that gets away from the fact that this is a serious
situation. The British government is the second largest donor
to this new appeal and if there is anything they can do, it is
to encourage other governments who feel they have international
responsibilities to contribute to this appeal. I do not think
we have a direct problem with the level of UK support from the
government, but after all the UN is not an extension of the British
government, it is an international body and I think there is a
traditional under-funding of this kind of appeal.
Chairman
99. Who is the first contributor?
(Mr Day) The United States.
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