US embassy cable - 04ROME2243

UNCLAS  ROME 002243 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
FROM U.S. MISSION IN ROME 
 
STATE FOR AS/PRM DEWEY, A/S IO HOLMES, PRM/P, EUR/WE, EUR/NE 
AND IO/EDA BEHREND/KOTOK 
USAID FOR DA/USAID SCHIECK, AA/DCHA WINTER, AA/AFR NEWMAN, 
DCHA/FFP LANDIS, PPC/DP, PPC/DC 
USDA/FAS FOR CHAMBLISS/TILSWORTH/GAINOR 
GENEVA FOR AMBASSADOR MOLEY, RMA AND NKYLOH/USAID 
NAIROBI FOR REFCOORD AND REDSO 
KAMPALA FOR REFCOORD AND USAID 
DAKAR FOR USAID/OFDA 
BRUSSELS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS AND USAID/LERNER 
NSC FOR JDWORKEN AND AFRICA DIRECTORATE 
OMB FOR TSTOLL 
USUN FOR TAMLYN AND MLUTZ 
 
E.O. 12958:   N/A 
TAGS: EAID, EAGR, AORC, PREF, KUNR, WFP, UN 
SUBJECT:  SECOND REGULAR SESSION OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM 
EXECUTIVE BOARD, ROME, MAY 26-27, 2004 
 
REF: (A) ROME 2196 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. In an abbreviated Board session (one and a half days), 
the Executive Board approved country programs for Sierra 
Leone and Madagascar, a budget increase for WFP's 
development efforts in Uganda, and protracted relief and 
recovery operations for Myanmar (Returnees and vulnerable 
groups in northern Rakhine state and Magway division), 
Ethiopia (Somali, Eritrean and Sudanese refugees), Great 
Lakes region, and Algeria (assistance to Saharawi refugees). 
Ambassador Hall informed the Board of his recent trip to 
Ethiopia commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the 
Great Famine of 1984-1985. USDEL conducted a number of 
productive side meetings dealing with WFP's relationships 
with southern Africa, HIV/AIDS, UN partnerships and updates 
on WFP emergency interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. In US 
Mission's view, WFP's work plate is full. The massive Darfur 
and eastern Chad crises will sorely test its already heavily 
stretched humanitarian outreach capacity. End Summary. 
 
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Sierra Leone and Madagascar Country Programs and budget 
increase for WFP development portfolio in Uganda 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
2. Sierra Leone: The Board endorsed the draft 2005-2007 
Sierra Leone country program with a funding approval 
amounting to USD 20.6 million (34,518 mts), targeting 
302,000 beneficiaries per year. USDEL lauded WFP's efforts 
to collaborate with the Consortium for Rehabilitation and 
Development (CORAD), composed of Africare, CARE, Catholic 
Relief Services (CRS) an World Vision International, in a 
three-year trasition assistance program beginning in 2004, 
focued on restoring livelihoods and improving the healh 
and nutrition status of rural households in 31chiefdoms in 
Bonthe, Tonkolili, Kono, Koinadugu nd Kailahun. WFP's 
regional manager commented tht his office plans to purchase 
70,000 metric tons of cereals in the West Africa region this 
year. 
 
3. Madagascar: The Board endorsed the draft 2005-2009 
Madagascar country program with a funding approval amounting 
to USD 24 million(47,523 mts), targeting 191,000 
beneficiaries per year. USDEL noted that Madagascar was one 
 
of the first sixteen nations selected to benefit from the 
new U.S. Millennium Challenge Account; and that, in a 
ceremony at the White House on May 10, President Bush lauded 
Madagascar for "aggressively fighting corruption." 
 
4. Uganda development budget revision: The Board approved a 
budget revision of USD 7.47 million, to extend the life of 
the country program by 18 months, from July 2004 to December 
2005. The extension will allow WFP's program to conform to 
the Government of Uganda's planning cycle. USDEL noted that 
the GOU had contributed USD 536,000 to WFP's developmental 
efforts in 2003, and nothing thus far in 2004 - and that the 
U.S. would like to see a growing GOU financial commitment in 
support of WFP development activities. The WFP Country 
Director responded that, in the proposed expanded school 
feeding undertaking, GOU intended to contribute 50 percent 
of the value of the program. 
 
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Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) - Myanmar - 
Assistance to Muslim (Rohingya) Returnees and Vulnerable 
Groups in North Rakhine State and Magway Division 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
5. WFP'S Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) for 
Rohingya returnees and vulnerable groups in North Rakhine 
State and Magway Division, (July 2004-June 2006), valued at 
USD 12.07 million (provision of 38,100 metric tons and 
assisting 416,000 beneficiaries), was approved by the Board. 
USDEL commented that: 
 
-As a rule, USDEL is supportive of efforts by the UN to 
expand humanitarian assistance to ethnic minority areas and 
we encourage development of plans for post-conflict 
reconstruction; 
-As per the U.S. State Department's 2003 Human Rights Report 
"Forced labor of Muslims continued to be widespread in 
Rakhine State." USDEL noted the May 2003 agreement between 
the host government and the UN's International Labor 
Organization (ILO) related to an action plan to eliminate 
forced labor and suggested that WFP make special efforts to 
strengthen its coordination with ILO. 
 
6. WFP spoke of working constraints in Myanmar. WFP is 
obliged to buy rice only from a government controlled 
commercial agency, and has experienced delays in deliveries 
due to transport restrictions to North Rakhine State imposed 
by the State authorities. 
 
 
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Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) - Algeria 
10172.1 - Assistance to Western Sahara refugees 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
7. The Board approved a September 2004-August 2006 WFP PRRO 
to assist Western Sahara refugees (158,000 beneficiaries) at 
a total cost to WFP of USD 39.5 million. The operation 
benefits from funding by UNHCR, the European Community 
Humanitarian Organization (ECHO), NGOs, and private 
donations. The Algerian Red Crescent plays a key 
implementation role. USDEL's intervention stressed the 
following: 
 
-U.S. Government was pleased to participate in the January 
2004 assessment mission that visited all four camps in the 
Tindouf region. UN personnel assured us that, after 
reviewing child vaccination records, primary school 
attendance levels, the UN Mission for the Referendum in 
Western Sahara (MINURSO) list of eligible voters, the last 
general registration exercise, etc., that the UN was quite 
confident that the number of refugees living in these camps 
(165,000) was accurate. Nevertheless we continue to urge all 
relevant parties to undertake soonest a new refugee census; 
-Both UNHCR and WFP have stepped up their physical presence 
in the four camps. WFP is conducting post-delivery 
monitoring, albeit to date on a modest scale. We urged that 
post-delivery monitoring be intensified; 
-Far too many children have not been vaccinated and are now 
at high risk to the lethal combination of malnutrition, 
acute respiratory infections and diarrhea. UNICEF is 
strongly encouraged to establish a presence in the camps 
focused on supporting health, public nutrition and disease 
surveillance systems. 
 
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Budget increase to Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation 
(PRRO)- Great Lakes Regional 10062.1 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
8. The Board approved a budget increase of USD 26.34 million 
in food aid for Relief and Recovery in the Great Lakes 
Region, covering an additional 196,400 beneficiaries (47,022 
metric tons). USDEL encouraged UNHCR/Burundi and the GOB to 
improve transportation of returnees from transit centers in 
 
Burundi to the returnees' place of origin. Due to lack of 
transportation, returning refugees are reportedly selling 
some or all of their return rations to pay for transport, 
sadly threatening their already precarious position. 
 
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Ambassador Hall intervenes on Protracted Relief and Recovery 
Operation - Ethiopia 10127.1 - Food Assistance to Somali, 
Sudanese and Eritrean Refugees 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
9. The Board approved the Ethiopia PRRO for two years, 
January 2005 - December 2006, at a total cost to WFP of USD 
26.74 million. The total food requirement is 50,085 metric 
tons (93,350 beneficiaries). Having toured Ethiopia in 
April, Ambassador Hall commented: 
 
"I am pleased to report that we saw an Ethiopia that has 
improved since last year - it even rained on us while we 
were there.  But, the country is still in trouble.  Last 
year, working together, we averted a major famine.  There 
was no repeat of the Great Famine of 20 years ago, despite 
the fact that 13 million people were seriously threatened - 
50 percent more than in 1984-85.  Food aid was necessary and 
absolutely essential in preventing another famine.  I am 
proud of what the United States and all of us did through 
WFP, the government and NGOs, to save the lives of millions 
of Ethiopians. 
 
This year, things are better, and there are ONLY seven 
million people at risk. We cannot spend too much time 
patting ourselves on the back, when ten percent of the 
population will struggle to meet their families' minimum 
food needs. 
 
I am encouraged that Ethiopia's government has recognized 
the severity of the situation and formed the Coalition for 
Food Security - with donors, UN Agencies and NGOs.  It is 
only by working together in true partnership, based on 
mutual trust, that we can defeat the tragedy of hunger that 
looms over this country so often.  As I said at our final 
press conference in Addis Ababa, they are on the right 
track.  Now, they must stay the course. 
 
(In addition to visits to the Oromiya and SNNPR region), I 
also met people living with HIV/AIDS in Addis Ababa and AIDS 
orphans at a home run by Mother Theresa's Missionaries of 
Charity.  It warmed my heart to see people in their home for 
 
 
the sick and dying eating American food, donated through a 
program administered by Catholic Relief Services. 
 
I was also touched by the young AIDS orphans they cared for 
at their new "Gift of Love" home.  All of them were 
sentenced to die before they became teenagers, but they all 
demonstrated the dignity of children who knew that they were 
loved. 
 
Unfortunately the stigma of AIDS is just as deadly as the 
disease.  An Ethiopian poster illustrated the situation best 
- when it comes to AIDS, people do not want to see it, speak 
about it or hear about it.  It is not as simple as "see no 
evil, speak no evil, hear no evil."  AIDS will not simply go 
away.  In fact, it will just get worse if it is not 
addressed forcefully on all levels. 
 
In addition to supporting this WFP operation, I am working 
with my government to ensure that ending hunger and breaking 
the cycle of famine in the Horn of Africa receives 
particular attention in a couple of weeks at the G-8 Summit 
in the United States. 
 
It is clear that each time famine strikes, the number of 
hungry and destitute rises, along with the toll of human 
suffering and disease. To rectify this, the Ethiopian 
government needs to undertake substantial policy change (and 
has begun to do this) and the donor community needs to 
address the underlying causes of famine. We hope to work 
with WFP and their UN partners in support of actions that 
better track potential famines and streamline responses. For 
2005, USAID's development assistance request alone for 
Ethiopia in over USD 80 million. 
 
Ethiopia is close to my heart.  I long for a time when they 
are self-sufficient and their people are able to feed 
themselves.  Until that point, we must all do whatever we 
can to provide adequate food aid and more.  We have to think 
more about preventing famine, because we cannot prevent 
drought.  We cannot fix all of Ethiopia's problems 
overnight, but we can help them get closer to where they 
need to be." End of Ambassador Hall's intervention. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
USDEL side meetings - southern Africa, HIV/AIDS, UN 
partnerships and updates on WFP emergency interventions in 
Africa and DPR Korea 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
 
10. On southern Africa, the food security situation in 
Lesotho is most precarious with the cereal harvest there 
estimated to be about 50 percent down from 2003 and 60 
percent less than the five year average. Malawi and 
Swaziland have suffered poor harvests. Zambia, on the other 
hand, has had a windfall harvest, and WFP has purchased 
almost 50,000 mts of cereals there in the first four months 
of 2004. 
 
11. In northern Uganda, brutal attacks on civilians by the 
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have resulted in a 
current displacement of approximately 1.6 million people. 
These individuals have been forced to flee from their homes 
and farms and to seek security in 104 overcrowded camps that 
lack adequate water, sanitation and health services.  The 
number of displaced people has tripled over the past two 
years. WFP urgently requires additional contributions to 
meet needs under its relief operation.  In total, 106,000 
metric tons of food valued at USD 56 million will be 
required from now until the end of the year. 
 
12. WFP has received less than half the funding needed for 
its West Africa program, which covers Liberia, Sierra Leone 
and Guinea. Contributions to date amount to USD 32.4 
million, against the requested USD 77.7 million. Unless 
further donations are forthcoming soonest, WFP will be 
compelled to start cutting food rations to beneficiaries in 
Liberia as early as July. WFP's Air Support Service for the 
West Africa Coastal Region is also seriously underfunded, 
with a 60 percent shortfall. Note. WFP beneficiaries 
assisted in the region as of April 2004 follows: Liberia, 
318,500 internally displaced and 13,300 refugees from Sierra 
Leone; Sierra Leone, 61,000 refugees from Liberia and 7,300 
returnees; and Guinea, 108,000 refugees - 90,000 (from 
Liberia), 11,000 (from Sierra Leone), and 7,000 (from Cote 
d'Ivoire). End note. 
 
13. In Cote d'Ivoire, WFP was assisting (April 2004) a total 
of 595,100 beneficiaries as follows: refugees, 22,000; 
internally displaced, 7,600; returnees, 25,500; curative 
interventions, 4,800; emergency school feeding, 470,000; 
institutional feeding, 5,200; and self-reliance activities, 
60,000. WFP reports a political stalemate in the 
implementation of the Marcoussis peace accords, noting that 
Fources Nouvelles and other parties have pulled out from the 
reconciliation government. WFP concludes that the crisis in 
Cote d'Ivoire and other conflicts in West Africa (Liberia, 
 
 
Guinea and Sierra Leone) are inter-related. The factors of 
instability, particularly the circulation of, and 
trafficking in, small arms and light weapons, the phenomenon 
of child soldiers and the use of mercenaries, all have a 
regional dimension. 
 
14. On HIV/AIDS, WFP is working with World Health 
Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS on the recently launched 
"Three by Five" campaign, calling for life-saving anti- 
retroviral (ARV) drugs to 3 million people in developing 
countries within 2005.  WFP will be starting work this 
summer with WHO on the `3 by 5' in the following countries: 
Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe. 
 
15. On Angola, due to the low level of contributions 
received, the return and resettlement caseload was put on 
half rations from April 1. The Food for Education program is 
assisting only 40,000 children compared with the build up to 
220,000 that WFP was planning by the end of 2004. 
 
16. Sudan's Darfur region. WFP is in the process of 
deploying 52 international and 251 local staff into the 
Darfur region. WFP has opened new field offices in Kutum, 
Kabkabiya, Zalengi, Mornie, Mukjar, Jebel Mara, Tina, 
Kulbus, Habila and Ed Daein. WFP storage facilities are 
being set up in each area. WFP has received for Sudan USD 
59.7 million towards its USD 200 million appeal for two 
million displaced Sudanese people.  Contributions so far are 
from: the United States (USD 46 million); EC-EuropeAid (USD 
4.7 million); UK (USD 4 million); Canada (USD 1.5 million); 
Australia (USD 1.4 million); Germany (USD 1.2 million); New 
Zealand (USD 637,000) and Luxembourg (USD 118,000). 
 
17. Eastern Chad. WFP's partner UNHCR is reportedly 
seriously underfunded which has limited their field 
deployment to date. At present, the total approximate camp 
caseload in Chad amounts to 81,280. Access to water and 
tensions with the host community has hampered the 
identification of campsites.  Lack of water continues to be 
problematic in the existing camps, with UNHCR supplying the 
minimum of six liters per day to refugees compared to the 
recommended daily intake of 20 liters. For Chad, WFP has 
received USD 12.7 million towards its USD 19.4 million 
appeal. A budget revision to cover the needs of an 
additional 80,000 beneficiaries is under issuance. Note. 
These numbers are admittedly tentative given the extreme 
isolation of the area, the continuing violence, the fact 
that many of the refugees are not in camps, the lack of 
 
 
substantive UN presence on the ground, etc. End note. 
Contributions so far are from: United States (USD 6.5 
million); UK (USD 1.8 million); Canada (USD 1.6 million); 
Switzerland (USD 800,000); Germany (USD 609,000); Norway 
(USD 593,000) Japan (USD 405,000); and Finland (USD 
248,000). 
 
18. Finally, for North Korea, reportedly more than two 
million beneficiaries, including pregnant and nursing women 
and children in kindergartens and primary schools on the 
west coast, will be without cereal rations in June and July. 
The situation will temporarily improve in August with the 
expected arrival of 34,000 metric tons of wheat. By October 
however, distribution cuts will again affect three million 
beneficiaries. Unless additional contributions are pledged 
immediately, by November, cereal distributions to all 
beneficiaries and FFW programs for the autumn season will 
have to be suspended. Only USD 23.5 million has been 
received to date, out of a total requirement of USD 170 
million for 2004 (15 percent). Note. WFP reports talking 
with the DPRK Government, explaining that the government 
also has a responsibility for raising resources and that 
WFP's ability to do so depends partly on government 
flexibility toward WFP monitoring and operating criteria. 
End note. 
 
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Comment 
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19. WFP's work plate is full. The massive Darfur and eastern 
Chad crises will sorely test its already heavily stretched 
humanitarian outreach capacity. 
 
20. Khartoum and Bujumbura minimize considered.  Hall 
 
 
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2004ROME02243 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED