PHILIPPINES: Government order to vacate IDP camps raises concerns

Photo: Jason Gutierrez/IRIN

A man carries a sack of food on his back at an IDP camp in the southern Philippine town of Pikit, on Mindanao Island

TALAYAN,� – A government order for tens of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) to move out of camps on southern Mindanao island could expose them to grave danger, as sporadic fighting between government troops and Muslim separatist rebels continues, according to aid workers.

While authorities have said they will not shut down evacuation camps across Mindanao, “there is an effort now to bring them [the displaced] back to their respective communities”, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno told reporters in Manila on 14 February.

The move is to enable government relief agencies to better serve those who still need assistance, he said, adding that the people being asked to move come from areas where fighting has ceased.

“The military and police authorities have been asked to ensure they are secure when they go back and they will be helped … with livelihood projects,” Puno said.

The order could affect more than 112,000 people in camps in two provinces, Maguindanao and Lanao del Norte, and seven towns, which are still under a “state of calamity” nearly six months after fighting erupted between government forces and two renegade factions of the MILF, official records show.

 Separately, over 200,000 others remain displaced but are staying with relatives or friends outside evacuation centres, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said in its report on 13th February.

Fighting erupted in August 2008 when two MILF senior commanders attacked several predominantly Christian towns and provinces across Mindanao after a court blocked a deal that would have granted them control over a large autonomous area. At the height of the fighting from August to September, more than half a million people were displaced.

Aid agencies told IRIN they were surprised and dismayed by the government’s move, stressing that in many communities, peace and order remained elusive, leaving returnees vulnerable to fresh attacks by MILF rebels.

“Many of these people have had their houses burned and destroyed. They can’t go back yet and there is nothing for them to return to,” said one foreign aid worker, who asked not to be named.

Safety concerns

Stephen Anderson, World Food Programme (WFP) country director in the Philippines, told IRIN that while the overall situation seemed to have improved, with local governments helping the displaced, people still feared being caught in the crossfire.

“Most of the people here are not keen to go back because they do not feel the security situation has improved,” Anderson said on 16 February. “In some cases people have lost their homes, and many have lost their livelihoods.
This is a big dilemma in fact, because large numbers remain displaced.”

Puno stressed that the IDPs were not being forced to return home, but that many have been returning voluntarily as the situation normalises. He conceded, however, that security would remain an issue as long as the two rebel commanders – Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdulrahman Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo – remained at large.

Talks

The government’s chief peace adviser, Avelino Razon, meanwhile, said he had already informed the Malaysian government that the Philippines was prepared to resume talks with the MILF and that some talks were taking place.
Malaysia has been brokering the negotiations, which began in 2003, but pulled out its peace monitors last year after hostilities erupted.

“Our government panel is ready to resume peace talks and we have requested the Malaysian government that this be conveyed to the MILF,” Razon said.

The hostilities are spilling over to the southern islands of Jolo and Basilan, where militants from the smaller Abu Sayyaf group have been holding hostage three aid workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) since 15 January, and a Sri Lankan aid worker from the international NGO Non-Violent Peace Force since 13 February.

While the MILF has repeatedly denied it was supporting the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, there have been cases when Abu Sayyaf fighters have sought sanctuary in MILF rebel camps, according to military intelligence.
More troops have been airlifted recently to Jolo, where clashes left at least eight civilians wounded and hundreds more displaced last week.

jg/bj/mw source.www.irinnews.org

DJIBOUTI: “We are not moving as fast as I would like”

Photo: Djibouti gov’t

Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh

DJIBOUTI,� – President Ismail Omar Guelleh leads a resource-poor country struggling with energy and food shortages. In an interview with IRIN, he explained how these and other pressing issues are being dealt with. Excerpts:

IRIN: What is your government doing to contain and mitigate the combined effects of the high food prices and drought?

GUELLEH: We have begun to sign agreements with friendly countries, with more opportunities in terms of agriculture, like Ethiopia and Sudan. We are going to start a 3,000ha wheat farm in Ethiopia. In Sudan we have 7,000ha and the first crop of sorghum and vegetables to produce oil has already arrived.

We have also signed an agreement with our Arab partners to develop agriculture. They are building greenhouses to produce vegetables across the country. They are also helping us in producing animal feed. We have large programmes of water conservation and are building small dams. We are putting a lot of effort into tackling the food security problem. We also have a donor conference in Paris next month and we will present all these projects.

This land [in Sudan and Ethiopia] is leased by Djibouti and will be used to produce crops for Djibouti?

Yes, exactly.

Have you had the support and aid you need from your partners?

Yes, we have had some support from Arab brothers who mitigated the burden of high oil prices last year. It is very important for us because we could not have survived without that help.

There is a lot of economic activity, such as construction. Where is Djibouti going?

We are not moving as fast as I would like. There are a lot of projects here and a lot of people coming to invest, but I blame myself or my people for the bureaucratic delays. I would like us to move much faster so that you see much more development and growth three years later.

Is economic growth reaching all the population and do they have the necessary skills to take advantage of it?

We have started vocational training centres in almost all towns in the country. We have sent many young people to train in India, Cuba, France, Morocco and many other countries. Still we lack a skilled workforce, which is why you see foreigners working here. I favour more skilled foreigners, so our people can obtain and gain the necessary training and experience to assume these jobs, but right now the percentage is low.

EritreaWe have our troops there and they [Eritrean troops] are occupying Djiboutian territory. They are trying to drag us into conflict. But we have other ideas – development, poverty alleviation and many other challenges – so we have gone to the UN Security Council to resolve the issue. The Security Council has issued a resolution giving Eritrea five weeks to leave our territory. Two weeks have passed already and we are still trying to resolve things through the UN.

What is the border situation with Eritrea?

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Is the border problem simply a quarrel between Eritrea and Djibouti, which can be solved by the two sides? Have you tried to solve it bilaterally?We have tried through Qatar, with Iran and with all his [Eritrean President, Isaias Afewerki] friends to resolve this. I don’t know what he wants. He is linking this problem with the Ethiopian border problem.

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How would you then describe relations, in general, with Eritrea?

Very bad. The leader there has problems not only with us but with all the neighbours.

Are you concerned that the situation, if not resolved properly, may get out of control?

Yes, I am concerned but we shall avoid it and we will do everything to make sure we are not obliged to go to war, because it is not in our interest.

Somalia

You have just hosted another Somalia reconciliation conference where a new president was elected. How optimistic are you that this time Somalia will have an effective and functioning government able to deal with the current crisis?

It is the third time we have hosted a conference and I hope that this time the Somali people have reached a limit and that [the] population is ready to accept peace.

I think this time compromise is possible, consensus is possible and stabilisation of the country is possible. But all that will depend on whether the security situation is resolved. This will require assistance, support and solidarity from the friends of Somalia. So, to answer your question, I am more hopeful and optimistic than I have been in the past.

In your opinion what does the new president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed need to do to succeed?

First is security and forming an effective security force. He also must continue with the reconciliation process to bring in everyone. He also must tackle the problem of youth unemployment which is a big part of the problem.

Do you think that neighbouring countries will give the new government the space it needs to operate or will they interfere?

Somalia has three neighbours – Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. We had an IGAD [Inter-governmental Authority on Development] summit in Addis Ababa [in early February]. The new president [of Somalia] had direct talks with Ethiopian leaders. He also had direct talks with Kenyan authorities. He is going directly from Mogadishu to Kenya. He is willing to launch a policy of good neighbourliness and cooperation with his neighbours. That is a sign of leadership which should be praised and supported. The neighbours said they would support [him] and I have no reason to doubt [them].

How serious do you think the international community is in finding a lasting solution to the Somali crisis?

The positions of most of the international community, Europeans, Americans, Arab league and Islamic conference, are that all are willing to see Somalia on the international stage. They are ready to support it if the leadership is serious and showing willingness and ability to manage the country’s problems. It is not just lip service; I am confident that financial support will come.

ah/eo/am/mw source.www.irinnews.org

BURKINA FASO: WFP debuts vouchers

Photo: Jason Gutierrez/IRIN

When a robust harvest does not translate into more food on the table – food vouchers instead (file photo)

DAKAR,� – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has begun distributing food vouchers in Africa for the first time, targeting 120,000 cash-strapped residents in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, where food prices remain high despite record harvests.

“Sometimes it makes more sense to give people vouchers than bags of food,” said Burkina Faso’s WFP country director, Annalisa Conte. On 13 February, residents lined up to receive coupons worth US$3, which they can spend on maize, sugar, cooking oil and soap in stores under contract with WFP.

WFP launched a three-year plan in 2008 to buy more food from local farmers and give vouchers that can be redeemed for food in urban areas where there is little risk that increased food purchases would hike up prices or lead to food scarcity.

Despite surplus agricultural production in 2008 farmers in Burkina Faso have increased cereal prices by up to 20 percent in recent months, prompting officials’ fears of renewed riots. Ministers have told IRIN they are using agricultural incentives rather than threats to bring down prices.

WFP is expected to distribute vouchers to 60,000 more people in Burkina Faso’s second largest city, Bobo Dioulasso, in March. Each family is allowed six vouchers per month for six months.

pt/np source.www.irinnews.org

SOUTH AFRICA: Gift Dube: “Loxion management happens when you are unemployed and chilling on the streets”

Photo: Laura Lopez Gonzalez/IRIN

Gift Dube: Managing stress

JOHANNESBURG,� – In the run-up to South Africa’s general elections in April, job creation has become a hot political topic in a country where analysts have put the unofficial unemployment rate as high as 40 percent.

In Vosloorus, a township – or in slang terms “location”, or “loxion” – about 20km east of Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, 20-something Gift Dube runs an informal car wash next to the local soccer pitch.

Creating your own opportunities – car washing, selling scrap metal, cutting hair, or sometimes turning to crime – is part of what is known as “loxion management”, a way of coping with the lack of formal opportunities in the townships. Dube spoke to IRIN about the lifestyle.

“Before I was working [at the car wash] I was basically doing nothing, just chilling around in the ‘hood. Things are better now because at least I can do most of the things that I want to do with the small income.

“After getting your matric [school-leaving diploma], most guys want to get a job but most of them can’t [and they don't] have money to go further with their studies – that’s where loxion management starts.

“Loxion management happens when you are unemployed and chilling on the streets or on the corner watching the ‘hood, playing dice or smoking. You play cards, you play ludo [a dice game], you talk but you do get bored. Sometimes you even walk around and you don’t even know where you’re going. It’s very stressful.

“You go through hell and you end up being angry. Every day, when you wake up in the morning, you’re angry because you know you have nothing. You have to make a plan: what you are going to eat in the morning, what you are going to eat during the day because, obviously, in your house, they are going to complain that when they buy bread, it’s not for you, it’s for your younger brothers and sisters.

“You can’t even chill in your house during the day because your family is going to [scold] you, you know? They’ll say, ‘People your age are working, they have their own places and you are still chilling around here doing nothing. Get a job.’

“I think that’s why most guys they end up committing themselves to crime – that and seeing your friend; you know he’s working, he’s driving a car – you also want the same thing, so you start stealing.

“It’s really hard to find a job nowadays so most guys, they go for the easy way and start doing crime, stealing cars and that kind of stuff, start smoking drugs. With loxion management, you get bored, you start doing other stuff, hanging around with the wrong crowd.”

llg/oa/he
source.www.irinnews.org

SRI LANKA: “We did not know where to run”

Photo: Sri Lanka Defence Ministry/Army

Thousands of civilians have risked their lives fleeing the conflict zones in the past three weeks. Many were injured or killed escaping

COLOMBO,� – Life started changing in April 2008 for Kanagavel, a 40-year-old Tamil living in Kilinochchi District, who worked as a driver in a government department, when the Vanni became the latest battlefield between Sri Lankan government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Vanni is an area encompassing the two districts of Kilonochchi and Mulaithivu and parts of Mannar and Vavunya districts in the north.

The first sign was when food and other necessities transported into the area became scarce as supply trucks were delayed by the fighting.

“The situation changed suddenly in April with supplies becoming increasingly limited,” Kanagavel, who asked that his real name not be used for fear of retribution, told IRIN by telephone. He and his wife and two dozen relatives are now living at a welfare centre in the northern town of Vavuniya after escaping the fighting in early February 2009.

Before fleeing they scrounged for what scant food crops and chickens remained. By August 2008, Kanagavel said they could hear distant artillery fire and the first civilians who fled fighting in the south-western parts of the Vanni began to arrive in Kilinochchi town and its outskirts.

By December 2008, the fighting had reached the town limits of Kilinochchi and Kanagavel and his family fled deeper into the Vanni. He told IRIN that thousands sought shelter in a narrow swathe of land east of Kilinochchi town.

Photo: Sri Lanka Defence Ministry/Army

Tens of thousands of civilians are still trapped in the conflict zones living out in the open with little food, poor sanitation and the constant fear of being caught up in the fighting

The civilians were barred by the LTTE from leaving the conflict zones and moving across the front lines into army-controlled areas, Kanagavel said.

“They [the LTTE] did not let us get out. We were asked to go deep into the Vanni. We did as they told us,” he said. “We knew that there was fighting but did not know what exactly was going on in the battlefield. We did what we were ordered to do.

“The situation was pathetic. We did not have sufficient food, no proper sanitation, not even a place to bathe or change clothes. Everyone was running from the fighting,” he said. “We lived in fear every second, not knowing from where the next artillery attack would come.”

The UN estimated there were 250,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Vanni by December 2008. The Sri Lankan government puts the figure at between 100,000 and 120,000.

Jungle escape

Kanagavel said that as fighting got closer, civilians were caught up in the artillery fire. He told IRIN he saw many civilians killed and injured trying to flee the fighting.

“The people did not know where to run for safety. We were so helpless,” he said. “One day I was moving on the main road and saw maybe 100 people injured or dead.”

Photo: Sri Lanka Defence Ministry/Army

Civilians escaping to government controlled areas travel through the jungle, attempting to avoid being injured by artillery fire and trying to avoid the Tamil Tigers, who do not want them to leave the conflict zones

Kanagavel took his wife, mother and 25 other relatives to a place near the town of Visvamadhu in December 2008. Finally in early February as fighting encircled the area where they were staying, he and his relatives decided to risk death to flee the conflict zone and cross the frontline into the army-controlled area.

They travelled through the jungle to avoid getting caught in the fighting or being confronted by Tamil Tigers who were preventing civilians from fleeing.

“We spent one full day trekking through the jungle. It was hell,” he told IRIN. “You can’t describe the fear. Every sound makes you feel like you are about to die.”

They successfully crossed into the army-controlled area on 10 February, but not unscathed. “Artillery fire fell near us at one point and both my hands were injured. I don’t know how I made it out,” he said. His mother was also injured and is still receiving treatment.

Despite not knowing when he and his family will be able to return home and work again, Kanagavel feels lucky: “We did not die on the road. We were the lucky ones, we made it out … Thousands of others are still trapped with nowhere to run.”

By 13 February, according to figures released by the Sri Lankan government, at least 34,000 civilians had fled the combat zones to army-controlled areas since December 2008. More than 24,000 made the risky journey since 6 February alone.

The Sri Lankan government said it had already begun distributing assistance to the IDPs with the help of UN agencies.

ap/bj/mw source.www.irinnews.org