Quelque 470 000 personnes ont été déplacées par le conflit au nord du Mali depuis mars 2012. Près des deux-tiers d’entre elles ont fui vers le sud et le centre du pays où les communautés qui les ont accueillies souffrent encore de l’impact de la crise alimentaire et nutritionnelle de l’année dernière. Ces déplacements ont entraîné une augmentation importante de la population dans ces régions, comme à Ségou, où des milliers de déplacés se sont réfugiés et puisent dans les ressources déjà limitées des communautés hôtes.

Lire l'article complet

An estimated 470,000 people have been displaced by the conflict in northern Mali since March 2012. Nearly two thirds of these people have fled to southern and central Mali, where they and the communities hosting them are still coping with the impact of last year’s regional food and nutrition crisis. The displacement has led to a significant population increase in south-central regions such as Ségou, where tens of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge, overstretching host communities’ resources.

Read the full article

This document provides complex coverage of global events from 26 March – 01 April 2013 with hyper-links to source material highlighted in blue and underlined in the text. For more information on the topics below or other issues pertaining to events in the region, contact the members of the Complex Coverage Team or visit our website at www.cimicweb.org.

Inside this issue

Iraq 1

Mali 3

Syria 4

IED/Demining 5

Articulación de la respuesta:

El Gobierno Argentino no ha realizado declaratoria oficial de emergencia ni ha solicitado apoyo a la comunidad internacional.

La presidenta Cristina Fernández de Kirchner voló por la tarde del 03/04 a la localidad de Tolosa, en el Gran La Plata, una de las zonas más afectadas, y luego se trasladó al Barrio Mitre, en el porteño barrio de Saavedra. Por Decreto 341/2013 publicado hoy en el Boletín Oficial se declaró Duelo Nacional en todo el territorio de la República Argentina por tres días a raíz de las inundaciones producidas por el temporal acaecido en la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, en diversas localidades del Conurbano Bonaerense y en la Ciudad de La Plata, provincia de Buenos Aires.

C.A.B.A: Dirección de Defensa Civil, Policía Metropolitana, y el Ministerio de Desarrollo social de la Ciudad, con el apoyo del Ministerio de Seguridad y de Desarrollo Social de la Nación.

Bs. As: Intervienen a nivel nacional: Ministerio de Desarrollo Social, Ministerio de Planificación Federal (abastecimiento de agua), Ministerio de Seguridad: Policía Federal, Gendarmería Ministerio de Defensa: Ejército Argentino, Cancillería: Comisión Cascos Blancos, Bomberos Voluntarios de manera conjunta con los Ministerios provincial y autoridades municipales.

Highlights

• The reports about armed clashes coming in from Central African Republic are expected to have impact on the refugees coming into the East region in the days to come. As of March 31 a total of 1,140 refugees have arrived in East region- 1072 in Garoua-Boulai, 50 in Gbiti and 18 Refugees in Kenzou. Apart from these 119 military personnel have also crossed over and sent to Bertoua, East Region’s capital. UNICEF is in touch with UNHCR teams who are on standby in the field and the action we decide to take will very much depend on whether the situation stabilises or degenerates over the coming days.

• In anticipation of a cholera epidemic linked to the coming rainy season, a national campaign for cholera prevention was launched on the 14 and 15 march 2013 in all the 10 regions of the country by the Ministry of Public Health. Also Ministry of Basic Education launched “My school without Cholera” campaign in all the schools of both the regions.

• The KAP (Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice) survey’s results (Dec-2012) show that cultural concerns and access to services are main barriers for household’s survival key family practices, including Infant &Young Children Feeding Practices

• Key nutrition indicators have been included in the weekly surveillance system in collaboration with Ministry of Health and WHO. UNICEF is providing 396 mobile phones to CNA and CNTIs in 43 districts of both the regions to strengthen the quick availability of key nutrition indicators.

• 14.8 million USD received from Japanese Government for supporting the emergency nutrition, WASH and education interventions. This contribution will cover most of the needs for supply, transport and local capacities reinforcement to face nutrition crisis and preparedness, as well as renovating the school structures and providing new WASH facilities in schools.

• 200 schools (including 170 affected by floods) received an essential textbooks package for grade 1-6. Through the Ministry of Basic Education UNICEF provided the Government of Cameroon with classroom teaching material worth $ 626,685 to flood affected schools in North and Far-North.

KEY MESSAGES

• Due to large household and trader stocks and a good flow of domestic and cross-border trade, food availability is still be ensured and most poor households are experiencing only Minimal (IPC Phase 1) food insecurity.

• However, some 5,000 poor farming households in wadi (dry riverbed) and oasis areas are still feeling the effects of the poor rainy season on their agropastoral output and incomes. These households are currently facing Stressed (IPC Phase 2) food insecurity.

• After a large influx of arrivals in February, refugee inflows into Mauritania have slowed. At the moment, the only negative effects of their presence are on the movement of people and goods in Bassikounou department. However the large concentration of workers and livestock in the southeast is expected to cause Stressed (IPC Phase 2) food insecurity in that area by the beginning of May.

KEY MESSAGES

• February to March rainfall estimates (RFE), as well as the medium term forecast, indicate that the onset of the long season rains (March to July) occurred in bi-modal areas of West Africa approximately one month earlier than normal.

• In bi-modal zones, current climatic conditions are favorable for the normal start of agricultural activities in April.

NIAMEY, Niger, 5 avril (HCR) – Environ 5 600 réfugiés maliens ont traversé la frontière vers le Niger la semaine dernière. Ils expliquent avoir fui à cause de la poursuite du conflit dans le nord ou par crainte de possibles représailles de la part de l'armée malienne. Les nouveaux arrivants ont indiqué que beaucoup d'autres sont en route vers le Niger.

Les réfugiés, principalement de femmes et des enfants, sont originaires des régions de Kidal et de Menaka. Ils ont voyagé à pied ou à dos d'âne. Ils ont commencé à arriver le 28 mars et ils ont trouvé refuge à Mentes ou Midal, dans une région désertique reculée au nord du Niger, a indiqué un porte-parole du HCR.

Mentes est situé à environ 920 kilomètres de Niamey et à 420 kilomètres de Tahoua, où le HCR s'occupe de 17 000 autres réfugiés maliens. Le voyage dure environ six heures en voiture à travers le désert vers cette localité, depuis Tahoua.

« Les conditions de réception sont très précaires. Les seules ressources en eau disponibles – et qui est argileuse – sont collectées dans des piscines. Il n'y a pas de dispensaire », a indiqué le porte-parole Adrian Edwards, ajoutant : « Nous prévoyons de transférer ces réfugiés vers Midal, où nous pourrons mieux leur venir en aide et où il y a un puits en service. »

Des missions conjointes et séparées avec les autorités locales et le Programme alimentaire mondial sont organisées pour enregistrer les nouveaux arrivants et distribuer des articles alimentaires et non alimentaires. Plus de 2 400 personnes arrivées avant le 28 mars ont reçu une aide. Les autres en bénéficieront lors de la prochaine distribution.

Le porte-parole a indiqué que le HCR procède actuellement au redéploiement de personnes et de ressources dans cette région, qui n'avait jamais connu d'afflux de réfugiés. Des distributions de vivres et d'articles non alimentaires vont continuer. De plus, des évaluations des besoins et des études sont organisées actuellement pour connaître les autres besoins.

On compte environ 175 000 réfugiés maliens qui se trouvent en Algérie, au Burkina Faso, en Mauritanie et au Niger. Ce chiffre inclut 37 530 personnes qui ont fui depuis janvier.

Par Charlotte Arnaud à Niamey, Niger

Highlights

• To date, some 48,731 Malian refugees are recorded in Burkina Faso, 56% of them are children between 0-17 years.
• The total estimated annual caseload of children under 5 suffering from severe acute malnutrition is 120,000 children in 2013. The number of new admissions in January and February 2013 was 6,291.
• From January to March 2013, 308 cases of measles and 0 deaths were reported in Dori, Gorom Gorom, Sebba and Djibo districts in the Sahel region.
• 1,317 cases of meningitis were reported in all the 63 districts in the country since the beginning of the year up to week 11 with 169 deaths. The lethality rate is still high at 12.83%. However, this number of cases is the lowest in comparison to the past 5 years and only two districts out of 63 were in alert in week 11, with no district having reached the epidemic threshold.
• A Letter of Understanding (LOU) between UNICEF and UNHCR was signed early March 2013.

“My main work is to do deliveries. In our health center there are on average 120 deliveries a month including two or three dead, but we try our best to avoid this,” says Fatmata Condé a midwife student in the locality of Donka in Guinea, trained by UN Women to address complications during pregnancy and delivery, due to violence.

Fatmata is trying to ensure safer deliveries, which often saves the lives of mother and child. She is one of the many mid-wife participants of the joint programme that UN Women –in partnership with UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO – is implementing to reduce maternal and child mortality in Central African Republic, Chad, Guinea, Haiti, Mali, Niger and Togo.

According to the UN Secretary-General’s Millennium Development Goals Report 2012, an estimated 287,000 maternal deaths occurred in 2010 and even when the maternal mortality ratio (the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births) decreased between 1990 and 2010 for the developing regions as a whole, it is still 15 times higher than in the developed regions.

Evidence presented at the Summit on Family Planning in 2012 shows that more than 220 million girls and women in developing countries who don’t want to get pregnant are unable to access and use modern contraceptives, information, and services. This results in over 60 million unintended pregnancies every year, which puts girls and women at serious risk of death or disability during pregnancy and childbirth, and unsafe abortion.

The five-year (2012-2016) UN Joint programme in the seven countries advances efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality highlighting the links between violence against women and maternal health, promoting funding for maternal health through gender-responsive budgeting and planning, and training midwives and community health workers.

“The UN Women training was very useful in the sense that we learned that by helping women victims of violence, we help both women and children. We learned to provide for women and deliver medical care. Today when a woman comes here, she will benefit from an HIV test, a pregnancy test, and in case of a rape we can provide emergency contraceptive pill, we are also doing the Hepatitis B and Tetanus test. Also we report the case to the police and help write a medical-legal report that allows women to have access to justice,” Fatmata adds.

The joint pogramme is part of the larger UN effort, collectively known as the ‘The Health 4+’ (H4+), to accelerate progress in saving the lives of women and newborns, and to accelerate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by ensuring better access to health for women and addressing some of the persistent root causes of maternal mortality such as gender inequality, violence against women, low access to education – especially for girls, child marriage and adolescent pregnancy, among others.

There is no doubt that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have already achieved remarkable results and have positively impacted the lives of billions of people. However, the MDG5 goal, which focuses on improving maternal health, is one of the eight goals that is seriously lagging behind, and despite considerable progress, its implementation on the ground is far from the 2015 target of reducing by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio globally.

Improving the health of mothers depends on giving birth with the assistance of a skilled birth attendant and quality medical supplies, but also on advancing women’s rights, listening to their voices and respecting women’s choices. Girls who have been educated are likely to marry later and to have smaller and healthier families. Educated women can recognize the importance of health care and therefore a child born to a mother who can read is 50 per cent more likely to survive past the age of five.

The more we can do for women’s rights to be respected, the lower the rates will be of mothers dying during pregnancy, of abortions and of teenage girls getting pregnant.

Meanwhile, one preventable death is still too many.

In October 2011, Montserrat Serra and Blanca Thiebaut were abducted from the Ifo 2 refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya, where they had been working to help some of the most vulnerable members of the Somali population. They were then transferred to Somalia and they are still being held against their will.

While continuing to work for their release, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) once again condemns this heinous and cruel act of violence perpetrated against humanitarian workers and reiterates its demand for their immediate release.

The Thiebaut and Serra families have expressed their concern and anguish over the kidnappings and remain committed to doing everything they can to gain the release of Blanca and Montserrat. Through MSF, they wish to thank the media and other local, national, and international institutions for the caution and discretion they have shown with regard to the abduction, and MSF requests that all such discretion continue to be observed.

Mopti/Bamako, 8 April 2013 (IRIN) - Ongoing fighting and the fear of reprisal killings has severely disrupted normal migration patterns for pastoralists in northern Mali, putting them and their families in danger of severe food insecurity and poverty as the lean season approaches.

The regions of Gao and Timbuktu remain volatile, with sporadic attacks and banditry. The most recent attack in Timbuktu, on 30 March, involved an attempted suicide bombing. Military operations in northern Kidal Region’s Ifoghas mountains have come to an end, but the region is far from secure, and tensions persist over the control of Kidal town by the Tuareg independence group the MNLA.

Limited migration, rise in tension

Insecurity has caused pastoralists to disperse widely across the north, but has also limited the migration routes of some for fear of violence. Thousands of Tuareg and Arab herders have taken refuge in neighbouring countries, too afraid of reprisal attacks to return to Mali’s pastoral zone north of the Niger River.

According to the Mali head of the NGO Action against Hunger, Franck Vanatelle, herders have mainly either headed north towards Kidal or northern Gao, or have stayed by the river in Gao and Timbuktu. According to Agronomists and Veterinarians without Borders (AVSF), criminality and banditry are very high in market areas in this zone.

Herders are gathering near the Mauritanian border in the west and the Burkina Faso border in the east , which is upping tensions between herders and farmers, said AVSF head Marc Chapon.

Experts fear that the southward movement of French military forces to the riverine pastoralist zones of Gao and Timbuktu will further disrupt herder movements as they flee potential violence or in fear of being mistakenly targeted.

Looted stocks, fodder out of reach

Over the course of 2012, herders in the occupied north lost considerable stocks as 2012 Islamist groups either seized their animals or bought them at very low prices. Mohamed Ould Rhissa, a pastoralist in Timbuktu, told IRIN, “I lost half of my herd during the occupation [of the north]. I had more than 200 animals, but now I have about 50 left. The jihadists came each week to take whichever ones they wanted.”

Rhissa says he can no longer feed his 50 remaining animals; a bag of fodder is up from US$15 before the occupation to $40 now, and there is not enough pasture just outside of Timbuktu, where his animals remain, to feed them. “I don’t know what I’ll do with them - it’s hard to find water, pasture, people who have money to buy them. I can’t migrate because of the insecurity. It’s really sad.”

Fodder is also largely unavailable as many of the big fodder traders have fled the country. Other suppliers who usually come from southern Nigeria to exchange fodder for food are staying put this year, according to Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET).

Gao resident Oumarou Ag told IRIN some herders are simply giving their animals away to the military as they cannot afford to feed them. Some of those who managed to migrate south, to the river valley around Mopti, have had to sell their animals at very low prices.

“In Gao, the livestock sector will have to be completely overhauled, otherwise it will be a catastrophe,” he told IRIN.

Animal markets paralyzed

The closure of the Algerian border means no animal markets are functioning 50km north of the river, in Timbuktu and Gao. Almost all the commercial exchange taking place is between small traders who exchange food for animals.

While the price of animals is traditionally on the rise this time of year, it cannot keep up with the soaring price of cereals, creating poor terms of trade. According to recent assessments, cereal prices are up to 70 percent higher than the five-year average in some parts of the north, sparking concern of mounting food insecurity.

Pastoralists who have gone to markets in Gao town say they cannot sell their animals as no one is around or able to buy them.

Pastoralists have considerably cut their meat and milk consumption, according to the World Food Programme, which did not give figures.

Even in a normal year, pastoralists’ difficult season starts in around April or May, when pasture starts to run out, while the lean season for farmers will worsen between April and June.

“We feel abandoned,” said Rhissa. “No one is helping us. NGOs give food for people, but none of them - nor the government - thinks of us. Livestock will soon become a ghost sector.”

Government absent

For the past year, the government has been more or less absent from the north, meaning all official animal support activities have stopped. According to AVSF’s Chapon, the only veterinary and vaccination operations to take place in the north - in northern Gao and Timbuktu - have been theirs, meaning overall coverage for animals is very low.

“High concentrations of animals in certain valleys, areas near lakes and other bodies of water mean there is a strong risk of diseases breaking out,” said Chapon, who urged agencies and the government to decide whether a mass vaccination campaign would be feasible in 2013. But vaccination coverage would likely be hampered by the constant power cuts in the north, which would make it difficult and expensive to maintain a vaccine cold chain.

AVSF is setting up three mobile animal and person health teams in the northern Timbuktu and Gao regions, as well as six health posts. The NGO is also considering re-stocking animals for families who lost a lot of their livestock either through looting, as a result of the 2011-2012 crisis, or because they fled, leaving their animals behind.

aj/kh/sd/rz

General Assembly
Sixty-seventh session
Agenda item 33
Prevention of armed conflict

Security Council
Sixty-eighth year

Report of the Secretary-General

I. Introduction

1. The present report, which covers the period from December 2011 to December 2012, is submitted pursuant to paragraph 18 of Security Council resolution 1960 (2010), by which the Council requested me to submit annual reports on the implementation of resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009), and to recommend appropriate actions. The report also responds to the requests made by the Council in its presidential statement S/PRST/2012/23. The report presents information on parties to conflict credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for acts of rape and other forms of sexual violence. It highlights actions taken and challenges faced by States in conflict and post-conflict situations to protect women, men and children from sexual violence; the implementation of the monitoring, analysis and reporting arrangements; the deployment of women’s protection advisers; the engagement undertaken by the United Nations Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict; the efforts of the United Nations system; and recommendations to strengthen efforts to combat this egregious crime.
   The report should be read in conjunction with my previous report on the same topic (A/66/657-S/2012/33).

2. Preparation of the report involved consultations with the 13 members of the network of United Nations entities called United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations field missions and country teams, concerned Member States and non-governmental organizations. United Nations peacekeeping and political missions, as well as country teams, were the primary sources of information for the report.

3. On 2 September 2012, Zainab Hawa Bangura took office as my new Special Representative for Sexual Violence in Conflict, replacing Margot Wallström, and assumed the chairmanship of United Nations Action. Ms. Bangura will focus on consolidating the gains made with regard to the five-point priority agenda established by her predecessor, namely to address impunity, empower war-affected women so that they seek redress and realize their rights, strengthen the political will to comprehensively address sexual violence, harmonize and scale up the international response and enhance understanding of sexual violence as a tactic and consequence of war. As an additional priority, my Special Representative will emphasize the need to foster national ownership, leadership and responsibility in addressing sexual violence.

4. In 2012, United Nations Action supported the roll-out of scenario-based training for peacekeepers to improve their operational readiness to recognize and react swiftly to sexual violence, and piloted new early-warning indicators to enhance prevention. United Nations Action also supported the implementation of joint Government-United Nations comprehensive strategies to combat sexual violence in relevant settings. United Nations Action has produced a number of tools to assist national capacity-building efforts, including a study on strengthening the prevention of conflict-related sexual violence with non-State armed groups and policy briefs on responding to the psychosocial and mental health needs of survivors of sexual violence in conflict-affected settings. To bolster the United Nations system’s capacity on the ground, United Nations Action has committed catalytic funding for women’s protection advisers in key settings. These activities are supported by voluntary contributions to the United Nations Action multi-partner trust fund, which serves to incentivize cooperation across United Nations system entities on sexual violence in conflict. I urge donors to continue to support this important fund.

Period covered by this update: June 2012 to December 2012. This update represents a six-month summary of the operation (cumulative narrative and financial).

Appeal target (current): CHF 20,419,397 Appeal coverage: 5%;

Appeal History:

• This Emergency appeal was launched on 11 June 2012 for CHF 20,419,397 for 12 months to assist 465,844 beneficiaries.

• A DREF (MDRKE022) of CHF 314,208 was allocated in May 2012 from the IFRC DREF to support provision of immediate support to 20,892 persons displaced by floods in West Kenya, Rift Valley and Coast.

• Two Operations Updates were issued highlighting initial response following the launching of the appeal.

Summary

The Complex Emergencies appeal sought to cater to the needs of beneficiaries affected by a number of anticipated emergencies including drought, conflicts and floods. The innovative approach to fundraising for disaster response activities was guided by Kenya Red Cross Society’s (KRCS) experience in emergency response in Kenya, which in the last five years has followed a cyclical trend. Funds raised under this appeal have enabled the society to respond to beneficiary needs arising from inter-clan conflicts in Tana Delta (Pokomo and Orma clans), Wajir and Moyale districts (Borana and Gabras communities), riots in Mombasa and floods in Western Kenya. The funds also supported preparedness activities in Nairobi, Tana delta and western regions of the country. In addition, the skills of both staff and volunteers were strengthened in the Lower Eastern and Coast regions through refresher training in Emergency Preparedness and response with funds from this appeal. Analysis of response operations undertaken by the national society reveals that conflicts (Inter-clan conflicts, riots, threat of violence) have been the main type of disaster during the period under review.

Off-season crop harvests boost food stock levels

KEY MESSAGES

• Most households in Chad are able to meet their food and nonfood needs through their normal livelihood strategies (food stocks from on-farm production, paid labor, and the sales of livestock and animal products). As a result, all livelihood zones are currently classified as facing Minimal/None (IPC Phase 1) food insecurity.

• Good rainfed crop harvests, bolstered by the recent off-season harvests of berbéré (flood-recession sorghum) and/or market garden crops, are boosting current household food stock levels.
In addition, high daily wage rates compared with last year are helping poor households access food normally on local markets.

• Cereal prices are relatively stable or down slightly from February of this year and March 2012. However prices in the Sudanian zone are still high compared with the five-year average. For example, sorghum prices in Sarh and Moundou are above the five-year average by 37 percent and eight percent, respectively.

This 12th issue contains a dual focus: First, we explore the role of the private sector in combatting trafficking in persons and other contemporary forms of slavery. To this end, we offer a brief overview of the evolution of the notion of corporate social responsibility: what are its origins; why are private companies today increasingly concerned with it, and; what is being done about trafficking? We're equally pleased to be able to offer an interview with Saskia Dieleman-Jamin, Compliance Manager at furniture manufacturer IKEA, on its corporate social responsibility approach, and how it is working to address the issue of trafficking in persons.

Second, we offer some reflections on trafficking in persons in conflict situations, and the impact of the Libya crisis on migration patterns and the exacerbated risks being faced by migrants. We encourage you to read, in particular, Simona Moscarelli's very interesting perspectives from the small Italian island of Lampedusa, and how trafficking trends have changed since the Arab Spring. We also look at the situation of Niger, which borders both Libya and Mali, two countries that have recently experienced conflict.

This issue also looks at the efforts being made in the Americas to combat contemporary forms of slavery. Aurélie Hauchere Vuong from the ILO's Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour has given us our cover story, and provides a summary of the innovative work being done in Brazil to eliminate slave labour, including the creation of the so-called ‘dirty list'. We also hear from IOM's own Chissey Mueller on the challenges being faced by governments in the Caribbean in addressing trafficking among the islands, as well as some of the successes. Moving away from the Americas, Issue no.12 also looks at Turkey, a key destination country for victims of trafficking in its region, which is now looking more closely at demand-focused initiatives.

If you haven't yet heard of Walk Free, you will soon. In our NGO profile, CEO Nick Grono writes for the Global Eye to describe this new movement and the four-pronged approach Walk Free is pursuing to make a difference in the fight against modern slavery.

Has the spotlight shifted away from sex trafficking? We conclude with an opinion piece by Dr. Sverre Molland from the Australian National University who argues that the spotlight has not shifted, but broadened in a helpful way. We also offer an article on public health and trafficking by Dr. Jonathan Todres, a law professor at Georgia State University in the United States.

NIAMEY, 8 avril 2013 (IRIN) - Le Niger tente d'enrayer les pénuries alimentaires chroniques grâce à un projet ambitieux de transformation agricole, mais le projet devra répondre aux besoins d'une population en pleine expansion qui vit dans un pays désertique et qui doit aussi se protéger contre l'insécurité.

Lorsqu'il est arrivé au pouvoir en 2011, le président Mahamadou Issoufou a déclaré : « Comme en témoignent les dernières élections, notre peuple a conquis la liberté politique. Il lui reste maintenant à s'affranchir de la faim ». Quelque 6,4 millions de Nigériens ont souffert de la faim lors de la crise alimentaire au Sahel en 2011-2012.

Un an après, le gouvernement de M. Issoufou a lancé l'initiative 3N appelée « Les Nigériens nourrissent les Nigériens », une stratégie globale touchant l'alimentation, l'environnement, l'énergie et la transformation industrielle, et dont le coût de la phase initiale 2012-2015 est estimé à deux milliards de dollars.

Les organisations humanitaires présentes au Niger soulignent que l'approche proactive prise par le nouveau gouvernement vise à combattre aussi bien l'insécurité alimentaire que la malnutrition, la présentant comme un exemple pour d'autres pays du Sahel menacés par la crise.

Le prédécesseur de M. Issoufou, Mamadou Tandja, qui a été renversé par un coup d'État en février 2010, avait été vivement critiqué pour sa gestion des crises alimentaires dans les années 2000. Certaines critiques ont fait état de son refu d'accepter qu'il existait de graves pénuries alimentaires par fierté et à cause de sa profonde méfiance envers les organisations non gouvernementales (ONG).

La sécheresse s'abat au Niger tous les deux ans. Même pendant une bonne année, une partie de la population reste vulnérable. La sécheresse est la principale menace pour l'agriculture dans notre pays. Elle est responsable de 80 pour cent des pertes en termes de production agricole », a affirmé Amadou Allahoury Diallo, haut-commissaire à l'initiative 3N.

Une tâche gigantesque

Seul 12 pour cent du territoire nigérien est cultivable. Mais avec un taux de croissance de 3,3 pour cent, la poussée démographique du pays compte parmi les plus rapides du monde. La population a doublé de 1988 à 2010, passant de sept millions à 15 millions de personnes, selon les statistiques officielles. Seul un pour cent du territoire (à l'extrême ouest) reçoit plus de 600 mm de pluie par an.

« La production des 3-4 mois de la saison des pluies est ce qui nourrit la population pour les 12 mois de l'année. Cela doit changer », a déclaré à IRIN M. Diallo. « Quatre-vingts pour cent de la population dépend de l'agriculture. Nous n'avons pas d'autre choix que de développer l'agriculture ».

Certains observateurs affirment qu'il sera impossible pour le Niger d'atteindre la sécurité alimentaire à cause de la rudesse du climat, de la pauvreté et de la pression démographique. La liste des objectifs de l'initiative 3N comprend l'adoption de la technologie moderne, la fourniture de graines de meilleure qualité aux agriculteurs, ainsi que des équipements pour améliorer le financement agricole et la gestion du marché.

Le dernier projet n'est pas sans précédent ; les gouvernements nigériens avaient déjà élaboré des stratégies d'autosuffisance par le passé. Cependant, M. Diallo a avancé que la ferme volonté politique du gouvernement de M. Issoufou, de même qu'une meilleure coordination gouvernementale, fait que l'initiative 3N se distingue des stratégies passées.

« Avant, la sécurité alimentaire était plus le fer de lance des partenaires au développement que du parti au pouvoir, et chaque ministère travaillait avec des partenaires différents. Il n'y avait pas de commandement centralisé », a-t-il souligné.

Le Niger est passé de l'état de producteur de nourriture en quantité suffisante, et même d'exportateur de céréales dans les années 1960, à un état de pénuries chroniques dues aux sécheresses récurrentes de plus en plus rapprochées au cours des dix dernières années.

Les invasions de criquets, l'instabilité des prix alimentaires et l'instabilité politique ont aussi contribué à l'insécurité alimentaire dans le pays. Au Niger, comme dans la plupart des régions du Sahel, les prix des céréales de base se situent au-dessus de la moyenne établie sur cinq ans. Le prix du millet, l'aliment de base des foyers nigériens, se situe à 30 pour cent au-dessus de la moyenne établie sur cinq ans, selon le Réseau des systèmes d'alerte précoce contre la famine (FEWSNET) qui attribue la cause de cette augmentation à la forte demande de la part des institutions et des autres acheteurs privés.

« De bonnes récoltes ne signifient pas forcément une sécurité alimentaire. Il y a la question de l'accessibilité. Les familles pauvres réservent la plus grande part de leurs revenus à l'achat de la nourriture et, quand les prix augmentent, cela a un impact terrible », a déclaré Wim Fransen, le chef de bureau de l'Office d'aide humanitaire de la Commission européenne (ECHO) au Niger.

« Il devrait y avoir une diversification et une amélioration de la production alimentaire, de la gestion des ressources naturelles, notamment de l'eau, ainsi qu'une amélioration du système de marché pour une meilleure distribution de la nourriture », a déclaré Vincenzo Galastro, directeur de programme du Fonds international de développement agricole (FIDA) pour l'Afrique occidentale et centrale.

« Le gouvernement nigérien a fait de la sécurité alimentaire une de ses priorités. Nous pensons que c'est une avancée très positive », a-t-il ajouté.

Durabilité

Néanmoins, le Niger a également dû faire face à la crise qui a touché le Mali voisin en envoyant des troupes dans le cadre d'une force de stabilisation d'Afrique de l'ouest et en renforçant la sécurité intérieure, des mesures qui ont des répercussions économiques sur sa stratégie de sécurité alimentaire.

« Le gouvernement a promis d'utiliser la plupart des ressources provenant des [recettes] de l'uranium et du pétrole pour financer le secteur agricole. Malheureusement, le Niger est aussi en proie à des problèmes d'insécurité dus à la guerre au Mali qui mobilisent certaines de ces ressources pour la sécurité », a déclaré M. Diallo. « L'insécurité et la sécurité alimentaire sont les deux grandes priorités du gouvernement ».

À l'instar des stratégies précédentes au Mali, l'initiative 3N pourrait seulement durer tant que le régime qui l'a créée est au pouvoir, mais M. Diallo a affirmé que le gouvernement travaillait sur une législation pour protéger les objectifs d'autosuffisance des changements politiques.

« Nous allons élaborer une politique agricole qui sera adoptée sous forme de loi afin qu'elle soit appliquée même après un changement de gouvernement", a-t-il expliqué.

Le représentant de l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture (FAO) au Niger, Aboubakar Doualé Waïss, a affirmé que la sécurité alimentaire était un problème incontournable pour tous les gouvernements au Sahel, ce qui signifiait que la participation de M. Issoufou à l'initiative 3N ne devait pas limiter le programme à la durée de son mandat.

« Il doit y avoir une forte mobilisation au plus haut niveau du gouvernement. En outre, c'est l'une des politiques pour lesquelles le président a été élu. Il est normal qu'elle soit au cour de sa stratégie », a déclaré à IRIN M. Waïs.

« Nous sommes convaincus que ce programme continuera quel que soit le nom qu'il lui sera donné. Dans tous les pays du Sahel, la question de la sécurité alimentaire est cruciale. Quels que soient les dirigeants qui accèdent au pouvoir, la sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle fera partie des problèmes qu'ils auront à résoudre ».

ob/rz-fc/amz

[FIN]

Researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders working under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project from Mali, Benin, Ghana, and Nigeria have converged on the campus of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan to develop work plans towards rapid dissemination and adoption of drought tolerant maize.

The meeting in Ibadan, which ended on Friday, also provided participants the opportunity to take a retrospect of the past and chart a way forward.

Addressing participants at this year’s annual planning meeting, Dr Tsedeke Abate, Coordinator of the DTMA Project, reminded stakeholders that the project provided a platform for researchers to demonstrate to donors and policy makers in Africa the benefits of research.

“This is an opportunity for us to show our policy makers that with the right kind of approach, we can make a difference,” Dr Abate added.

According to him, increasing the cultivation of drought-tolerant maize varieties in Africa will bring the necessary transformation and the needed boost for maize production in the continent.

Other drivers of adoption of drought tolerant varieties, he noted, include increasing the participation of women in maize projects and also the creation of new/strong partnerships.

Dr Abate said that the focus on women was strategic considering their invaluable contributions to agricultural development in Africa.

Dr Ylva Hillbur, IITA Deputy Director General (Research), commended the researchers for their efforts in developing and dissemination of DT maize.

She noted that the DTMA project is important to Africa as it is addressing one of the most important constraints (drought) to maize production in the continent.

Launched in 2007, the DTMA project provides insurance against the risks of maize farming, using conventional breeding to develop and disseminate varieties that can provide a decent harvest under reduced rainfall.

Dr Baffour Badu-Apraku, IITA Breeder who is also the West Africa Coordinator of the DTMA project said that the project had so far recorded impressive milestones, mostly through the development of new varieties. For instance, between 2007 and 2010, Nigeria released 18 drought tolerant maize varieties while Ghana released 13 under the same period.

Dr Badu-Apraku is hopeful that regional governments would support efforts to make these varieties available to farmers.

Participants from Mali, Nigeria, Ghana and the Republic of Benin said farmers in their respective countries love the varieties.

To effectively make the varieties available to more farmers, they proposed the strengthening of community seed producers to complement efforts of seed companies in the region.

“We cannot but bring in the community seed producers if we want more farmers to have access and adopt drought tolerant maize,” said the Acting Director General, Nigeria Seed Council, Dr Olatokun Olusegun.

Implemented by CIMMYT, IITA and national partners in 13 African countries of sub Saharan Africa; the third phase of the DTMA project will end in 2016. . ###

For information, please contact:

Godwin Atser, g.atser@cgiar.org

Communication Officer (West & Central Africa)

The situation in Syria continues to revolve around insurgents and Government troops bitterly fighting for the control of the main accesses to the capital Damascus. Meanwhile, the conflict has also intensified around other urban centres such as Aleppo, Homs, Deir-ez-Zor and Idleb. As of 7 April, the overall number of Syrian refugees in the neighbouring countries continued to rise, reaching over 1.25 million people, according to the UNHCR.

In Mali, concerns regarding the ability of regional African troops to assume France’s armed intervention resurfaced, as the latter reiterated its intention to start withdrawing its military at the end of the month. A UN peacekeeping force is being assembled to fill the gap and South Africa has already committed to an intervention. Following the high profile attack and infiltration of Timbuktu by the Islamists, the risk that the rebels will definitely switch to mostly terrorist attacks to harass the coalition forces is high.

In the Central African Republic, Michael Djotodia who claimed the Presidency after the coup that ousted Francois Bozizé agreed - under the pressure of the international community - to hold elections within 18 months including the appointment of an interim leader in the meantime.

Global Emergency Overview web interface

As does the risk of a mass polio outbreak

28 March 2013 - The harvest has come and gone but the Sahel region of west and central Africa remains in crisis. OCHA estimates that more than 10 million people will remain food insecure throughout 2013, including 1.4 million children under five suffering from acute malnutrition. At the same time, insecurity in Mali is pushing people to flee their homes and their country; and for those that remain (particularly in the North), the price of food is rapidly rising.

In the midst of this crisis are the polio-affected countries of Chad, Niger and Nigeria. Niger, which saw a case of polio in November last year, is not only affected by the crisis itself, but has thousands of refugees crossing its borders from neighbouring Mali. In this region that forms part of what is known as the “wild poliovirus importation belt” – because it has been repeatedly reinfected with polio – mass population movement, malnutrition and refugee camp conditions are creating the perfect opportunity for communicable diseases like polio to spread. And with vaccination rounds scaled back in 2012 due to a funding shortfall, too many children remain vulnerable to this disease.

There is hope, however. Aid agencies are working together to provide a more holistic approach to the crisis, assisting the countries of the Sahel region to become more resilient to future droughts and food shortages. On top of providing food aid, agencies are providing agricultural assistance and, importantly, delivering water, sanitation and health services as well.

Part of this approach is to ensure that children in refugee camps receive the protection of vaccines. So the oral polio vaccine is being delivered alongside vaccines protecting against TB, hepatitis B, tetanus toxoid, pertussis (whooping cough) and other diseases. And as new camps arise, sometimes completely spontaneously, health workers are getting there as soon as they can to ensure the residents receive the vaccines’ protection. The camp of Ingui, in western Niger, for example, popped up just a week after the insecurity in Mali began. Yet it didn’t take health workers long to visit the camp, giving 163 children their two drops of polio vaccine.

Ultimately, these children should receive the polio vaccine either through routine immunization services or, if that’s not possible, during mass vaccination rounds. But last year a lack of funds meant some of those rounds didn’t happen. And while the world is currently seeing the fewest cases of polio in history, the hard work of the past 25 years could all be undone by another mass outbreak. Only so many vaccination rounds can be cancelled due to a lack of funds before polio resurges once more. That is why the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and its partners are calling on the global community to come together to fund the soon-to-be-released Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018 upfront. Global polio eradication efforts are too close to success to let the whole project fail now.