Somalia.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 12 January launched a $1.2-million project to protect civilians in Somalia, which was to set the stage for an extensive three-year civilian protection programme involving demining, the reintegration of ex-militia into society and the strengthening of law enforcement. The chief goal of the programme was to promote the country's social and economic recovery by re-establishing a secure and stable environment.

The World Food Programme (WFP) on 10 February appealed for $17 million to maintain deliveries of food and other vital supplies to flood victims in Kenya and Somalia. The appeal to the international donor community was for funding airdrops to help more than 1 million people in flooded areas that were inaccessible by road. The flooding killed more than 1,980 people and affected hundreds of thousands of others. The new appeal covered the cost of delivering food, materials for shelter, medicines, water purifying substances and other relief assistance for more than 650,000 Somalis and 390,000 Kenyans.

In a separate appeal, WFP sought more than $2 million to airlift food to 125,000 refugees in the camps at Dadaab in northeast Kenya.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 10 February launched an appeal for $2.5 million to fight livestock diseases. The combined effects of flooding and livestock diseases recently killed tens of thousands of animals in northeastern Kenya and southern Somalia. FAO predicted that it would lead to milk shortages in areas where crops were devastated by floods. In addition to being linked to death in humans, Rift Valley Fever - a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes - especially affected goats and camels.

FAO began rushing assistance to flood victims in Somalia in early December 1997. About 20,000 farm families were to receive $400,000 worth of emergency agricultural supplies and farm implements from FAO, which bought 2,000 packs of assorted vegetable seeds that were airlifted to Somalia. The assistance also included small hand tools manufactured by blacksmiths in the stricken districts.

RELATED ARTICLE: A Million Still at Risk

In its situation report on Somalia floods, the Department of Humanitarian Affairs on 6 January said the United Nations Coordinator for Somalia confirmed that, as of 31 December 1997, 1,855 people died and approximately i million were still at risk. More than 33,360 livestock were killed in the floods. Severe diarrhoea, malaria and respiratory infections were reported to be widespread and have taken a heavy toll. Cholera outbreaks were confirmed in Mogadishu and Merca, with sporadic cholera cases in Kismayo. United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations appealed for $12.8 million to move their joint operation from the first phase of emergency rescue and relief into a new phase of continued relief and rehabilitation. That phase was expected to last until at least June 1998.