Nairobi, 9 September, 1998 -- Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) and the Sudanese Relief and Rehabilitation Association (SRRA) today announced they are taking new measures to help ensure relief food is reaching the neediest people in famine-stricken Bahr el Ghazal region. These measures have been introduced following indications that not all of the neediest people are receiving enough food and other relief. The measures are being implemented as a matter of urgency and are designed to correct the problems in the systems of relief distributions identified by the Task Force.

The new measures are being adopted as a result of an intensive, three-week assessment conducted by a joint Task Force comprising OLS agencies, the SRRA, and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the SPLM-controlled areas of Bahr el Ghazal. Senior managers in OLS and SRRA immediately responded to the findings, preparing a plan of action for all parties to address the problems.

OLS, the SRRA and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) worked together to establish the Task Force after several field reports indicated some of the region’s neediest people were not receiving adequate food. The Task Force found that the humanitarian intervention is restricted and constrained by a complicated set of interrelated social/anthropological, political, economic, military and humanitarian factors.

Throughout the various phases of the current crisis, different factors have had varying degrees of impact. Initially those factors included: funding problems, the flight suspension and restrictions in February and March, lack of capacity and inadequate planning in the early phases of the crisis, including an initial underestimation of the extent of the crisis.

More recently, the Task Force concluded that previous systems of relief distribution had worked very well but that these systems were breaking down under the stress of the famine and increased levels of input. In addressing the famine, the Task Force found that chiefs were redistributing food to people within their community who they perceived to be in need. As a result, the food was not always being distributed to people with the highest immediate needs and some groups were being missed out altogether. The Task Force also found that communities were applying a modified version of the traditional practice of "tayeen" (a contribution by the community to the "authorities") to relief food, a practice which the Task Force considered "unjustifiable". In addition, difficulties with law and order have led to problems at some distribution sites.

"To continue reducing the number of hunger-related deaths, food aid must reach the mouths of those intended -- the hungriest and the poorest", Task Force members said. " It is ultimately up to the southern Sudanese to ensure that relief assistance reaches the people."

In relation to the need to improve distribution systems, Task Force members said, "With at least 12 months of this crisis still ahead, it is essential that distribution methodologies and practices are critically reviewed. If not, famine conditions in Bahr el Ghazal will persist."

The measures which the parties are taking to immediately address the problems identified by the Task Force include:

• Further increasing the number of food distribution and monitoring staff, with priority given to recruiting Sudanese field assistants. WFP, which had 25 field staff at the beginning of the year, will further increase their number from the current 85 to 125. Training for all field staff will be improved and staff will be assigned responsibilities within a limited region to better follow the operation’s progress.

• Maintain the quantity of food distributed in Bahr el Ghazal at the targeted level of 9,000 Mts per month for as long as appropriate: the number of distribution centres will continue to be expanded to facilitate more decentralised simultaneous distributions.

• Quickly expanding the number of wet feeding centres where food is prepared and given as a meal for immediate consumption. Wet feeding centres are considered an effective means for ensuring that the most needy people consume the food intended for them.

• Distribution of general rations to families as they leave the child feeding centres to help avoid the problem of exclusion from the general ration process.

• Increasing the number of supplementary and therapeutic feeding centres to raise the coverage from 40,000 to 80,000 children.

• Distributing food more frequently, where possible on a weekly basis. Receiving smaller rations of food will help people maintain better control over their entitlement.

• Establishing a system to report on and compile misuses of food aid and other relief items. Where misappropriations persist after all parties have had the opportunity to take all remedial actions possible, it may be necessary to review the continued input of relief to a particular location.

• Strengthening coordination at every level between all agencies, NGOs and civil authorities involved in the relief effort. This includes UNICEF action to assign Regional Project Assistants to facilitate coordination activities at the field level.

• Review of existing targeting methodologies and practices.

• The SPLM/A are taking strong and significant steps to disarm and arrest bandits, armed civilians and military deserters engaged in looting and robbery.

• The SPLM civil authorities are moving large numbers of cattle in from the cattle camps close to the civilian populations most in need in order to provide extra milk and meat.

• The SRRA should strengthen supervision and monitoring capacity. The SRRA are deploying four senior staff members from their headquarters to the Bahr el Ghazal region, including deploying their most senior County Secretary to Ajiep to deal with the most acute crisis.

The Task Force noted the extreme difficulties of providing relief assistance in areas of high insecurity. In the long run, there are limitations on what humanitarian assistance can achieve. The Task Force emphasized that in order to address the root causes of the famine, a political solution must be found to the conflict.

For more information contact:

Gillian Wilcox/OLS Tel 622403

Brenda Barton/WFP Tel 622594

Luka Biong/SRRA Tel 440156