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Ethiopia Situation Report No. 22 as of 30 April 2019

Countries
Ethiopia
Sources
Govt. Ethiopia
+ 1 more
Publication date

This report has been prepared under the auspices of the Federal Disaster Risk Management Technical Working Group, co-chaired by the National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC) and OCHA with participation of cluster cochairs (Government Line Ministries and Cluster Coordinators). It covers the period from 1 to 30 April 2019.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Delayed and poor performance of the spring rains this year is impacting the food and nutritional security of vulnerable communities in affected areas.

• Concerns are rising over pipeline breaks in emergency supplies and interruptions of lifesaving operations. Delays in relief food assistance have a cascading impact on the nutrition situation of vulnerable groups, particularly children and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, increasing the risk for higher morbidity and mortality.

• The 2019 HRP of US$ 1.314 billion is currently 31 per cent funded, including $149.6 million carried over from 2018, $176.7 million in Government pledge and $74.8 million in international donor funding.

8.86M affected people
8.3M targeted for assistance 3.2M
internally displaced 900,000 refugees

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The humanitarian landscape of Ethiopia continues to be dominated by challenges posed by inter-communal violence and the resultant mass internal displacements. Assessments have identified 3.2 million internally displaced people (2.6 million conflict-induced, 500,000 climate-induced, and 72,000 from other causes) across the country. However, spontaneous as well as organized returns have been registered since August 2018. While some of the returns were successful, others culminated in re-displacements due to renewed insecurity or the lack of recovery support in areas of return. It should also be noted that the majority of the organized returns are to collective centers in kebeles of origin, pending full recovery and rehabilitation of damaged houses, properties and livelihoods. Government-led organized returns are being carried out at full scale across the country, the full details of which will be featured in the next issue.

The Government and humanitarian partners have been addressing the needs of the displaced, returnee and host communities, but the scale and quality of the response is still inadequate compared to needs. Of special concern is the pipeline break of emergency supplies and interruptions of lifesaving operations, particularly in the three most critical sectors:
Food, Nutrition and Health. In the Food Cluster for example, there are still significant gaps in NDRMC and WFP relief food pipelines, including resources required for Round 1. The two operators are making every effort to ensure uninterrupted food deliveries, but urgent additional funding is required to fill the gap. Delays in relief food assistance have a cascading impact on the nutrition situation of vulnerable groups, particularly children and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, increasing the risk for higher morbidity and mortality. Of the US$ 1.314 billion annual humanitarian requirements, $332.9 million was prioritized for April-June to prevent further interruptions of ongoing assistance and pipeline breaks of humanitarian supplies.
The humanitarian appeal is currently at 31 per cent funded.

While addressing the immediate humanitarian needs of the displaced population, the Government’s primary goal is to facilitate durable solutions where and when feasible. Accordingly, on 8 April 2019, the Government, through the Ministry of Peace (MoP) and the National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC) presented a draft Strategic Plan to Address Internal Displacement in Ethiopia and a costed Recovery/Rehabilitation Plan to donors and international agencies.

The overall objective of the Plan is to ensure the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return/relocation of conflictdisplaced population. The Government has devised a three-phased, sequenced approach in the process of advancing durable solutions for IDPs, and some 800,000 IDPs were identified in the first phase for return.

The international community affirmed its support towards this Plan, in accordance with international humanitarian principles. Regular protection monitoring missions are being conducted to assess conditions of IDPs in displacement sites and areas of return, and to ensure the voluntariness of returns. These, and other partners’ go-see missions in areas of return highlight the need for increased recovery and rehabilitation support for the returnees, and the need to further deepen efforts to guarantee the peace and security in areas of return.

Meanwhile, communities who suffered consecutive years of severe drought and who lost productive assets continue to be dependent on humanitarian assistance and recovery support. In addition, delayed and poor performance of the spring rains this year is impacting the food and nutritional security in affected areas. In Afar region for example, the delayed sugum/spring rains and its poor performance with an average of 1 to 2 days of rains received in most parts of the region has caused water shortages and associated impacts. Of 28 water trucks required in 14 drought-affected woredas in the region, the regional Government deployed 11 water trucks. Poor rain was also reported in East and West Hararge zones of Oromia region. If the dry spell continues through May, large numbers of already vulnerable people will see a deterioration in their food security and nutritional conditions. An increase in severe malnutrition was already reported in East Hararge zone and several other areas.

While the delayed rainfall and its suboptimal performance is cause for concern in some areas; above average rains have caused flooding in other areas particularly in SNNPR. On 23-24 April, heavy rains caused flooding in seven kebeles of Lanfuro woreda in Silte zone. More than 1,500 people were displaced as a result, while significant loss of property and livestock were reported, including nearly 14,000 hectares of farmland damaged. Flooding in six kebeles of Silte woreda also displaced some 5,615 people. There are similar flooding reports from Halaba, Dawuro and Wolayita zones of SNNPR; as well as from at-risk areas in Amhara, Tigray and Gambella regions. IDP-hosting areas at risk of flooding require special and urgent attention given the lack of rain-proof shelter materials distributed for IDPs and the congested living condition that poses a high risk for morbidity. There are reports of malaria cases in IDP sites in West Wollega zone for example, and bed nets have not been distributed so far.

The Government, through NDRMC, has issued a Flood Alert in April based on the National Meteorology Agency (NMA) forecast for the spring season to inform mitigation, preparedness and response measures. The seasonal outlook forecasts mostly normal rainfall in western, north western and south eastern Ethiopia; normal to above normal rainfall in southern, south western, central and eastern Ethiopia; and normal to below normal rainfall in the north and north eastern parts of the country. The Alert will be further updated based on revisions in NMA forecast for the season and the development on the ground.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.