Humanitarian Aid Updates

Sri Lanka is forcing international aid workers to leave under strict new visa rules, claiming that the aid workers were sympathetic to the defeated Tamil Tigers.

The US has pledged an additional $200 million in aid for those displaced from Pakistan's Swat Valley.

Pakistan Emergency: UNHCR Increases Aid for Desperate Pakistani Civilians

An update from UNHCR's email list:

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SWABI, Pakistan, May 29 (UNHCR) – Abdulla, 45, is prematurely grey. He begins to cry as he unpacks a package of food and other relief supplies that he and his wife have just picked up from a "humanitarian hub" set up by UNHCR and other agencies to provide assistance to the hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis fleeing the bombs and mortar fire in the north-west.

He says he was grateful for the help from UNHCR and others. "But what we really want is to go back to our home." Abdulla was forced to leave his village in Buner district of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province along with his wife and nine children when fighting intensified nearby last week.

"I was afraid that my children would get killed. But I can tell you that when we were walking along the road and we arrived in Mardan district, all the inhabitants from Mardan were looking at us. I felt so ashamed that we had abandoned our land!"

He had little choice. Estimates provided by local authorities this week put the number of people displaced in and around north-west Pakistan's Swat Valley at 2.4 million, or more than 300,000 families, although the government is now cross-checking and verifying those numbers to ensure there is no duplication. Meanwhile, more and more people are being driven into Mardan and Swabi districts and beyond.

To help them, UNHCR is providing non-food aid. Some of that help is going to people, like Abdulla and his family, who are living outside of camps with host families. UNHCR is keen to reach more of these people with aid.

Many local families have seen the number of people living in their homes double or triple overnight as they provide refuge to new arrivals. Distribution began this week of the first batch of 5,000 tents for the most vulnerable families identified by UNHCR's sister agency, UN-HABITAT, in Swabi and Mardan districts. The tents are intended to be pitched in the grounds of individual homes. UN-HABITAT is also providing hygiene kits and latrines to households and helping with minor repairs to shelters and boundary walls, as well as to hand pumps and sanitation in local mosques.

At humanitarian hubs in Mardan and Swabi districts, UNHCR, through the local NGO partner Sarhad Rural Support Programme, is distributing plastic mats, buckets, jerry cans and kitchen sets to displaced people staying with host families. World Food Programme (WFP) is handing out food rations.

In camps, UNHCR is distributing material to its NGO partner, IDRAK, to provide some shade beside tents. IDRAK is providing the bamboo poles and tool kits for families so they can assemble the shade structures themselves.

Together with local authorities and other partners, UNHCR has identified two potential sites for new camps in Charsadda and Nowshera districts. Private citizens, for their part, continue to display generosity. Businessmen and others are buying food in bulk which volunteers then bundle into portable ration packages that include, for example, cooking oil, tea, sugar, cereal bars, beans and flour. "Drivers stop on their way into the city and give us 5,000 or even 10,000 rupees (US$123)" to buy more food for the displaced, explains one volunteer in Mardan, a local clothes dealer.

Relatively small numbers of families are still arriving in Jamala, Sheikh Shehzad and Sheikh Yaseen camps in Mardan, which are now mostly full. New arrivals are being moved to Yar Hussain camp in Swabi.

Some families say they were given only an hour to leave their homes and have no information about family members they left behind in their villages. They also talk about food and medicine shortages for the people still stranded in their home areas.
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Taliban Urge Displaced Pakistanis to Return to Swat Valley

The Taliban in Pakistan urged civilians displaced by fighting to return to the city of Mingora in Swat Valley. According to Pakistan's military the gesture was a ploy that would allow the militants to blend in with civilian. The military does not intend to hold off on its offensive in Swat Valley.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan told The Associated Press late Sunday and Monday afternoon that the Taliban's pledge was not a formal cease-fire offer and that the Islamist militia's "aides" would stay in the city.

"I would like to appeal to the people of Mingora to get back to their homes and start their routine life as we will not fire even a single shot," Khan said in a phone call from an undisclosed location.

Text SWAT to 20222 to Donate $5 to UNHCR's Efforts in Pakistan

An announcement from UNHCR on making donations to help displaced people from Pakistan's Swat Valley.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has asked the American people to join in the world-wide humanitarian effort in Pakistan:

"Now, Americans can use technology to help, as well. Using your cell phones, Americans can text the word "swat" -- to the number 20222 and make a $5 contribution that will help the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees provide tents, clothing, food, and medicine to hundreds of thousands of affected people. And before I came over here, we did that in the State Department. So we are making some of the first donations to this fund."

As the number of men, women and children uprooted this month by the current conflict in north-west Pakistan is now greater than 1.45 million, the UN Refugee Agency stated that it is "absolutely essential" that the international community mount an immediate and massive humanitarian response.

Text the word SWAT to the number 20222 to make an immediate $5 donation to the UN Refugee Agency's life-saving work in Pakistan.

The UN Refugee Agency has been quick to respond to the crisis, but the unfolding emergency requires a quick response by donors. Tents, sleeping mats, and blankets are desperately needed to shelter those innocents whose homes and possessions have been destroyed by war.

The 1.5 million displaced people so far registered this month by authorities and UNHCR are in addition to another 550,000 uprooted people who have fled fighting since last August. According to the latest figures, 987,140 people have been registered from the current influx, including 907,298 outside camps and 79,842 in camps.

According to Guterres "Most of [the displaced] are currently depending on relatives and friends for help and are not in camps, thus creating huge social and economic pressures. But if these people - both the displaced and the many Pakistanis trying to help them - do not receive rapid international support, I fear there is a very real possibility of further destabilization."

$5 can register 15 displaced Pakistanis for assistance and protection.
$50 can register 150 displaced Pakistanis for assistance and protection.
$100 can pay for a survival kit including blankets and cooking stoves.
$200 can provide an all-weather tent to shelter a displaced family.
$500 can sink two wells to provide clean water for refugees.

On Tuesday, May 12 UNHCR airlifted 120 tons of additional relief supplies from its regional stockpile in Dubai. The chartered aircraft carried 10,000 mosquito nets, 14,000 plastic sheets for emergency shelters, 1,500 plastic rolls to build walls and privacy screens in camps, and two portable warehouses.

But, for these nearly 1.5 million displaced persons, the needs are far greater.

Check out Secretary Clinton's comments at: http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entries/text_disaster_relief/
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A previous post that mentions the donation system is here.

$110 Million in Aid from US for Pakistan

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the US is providing $110 million in emergency aid for people (as many as 2 million) who have fled the Swat Valley.

"We face a common threat, a common challenge, and now a common task," Clinton said in a White House briefing. "We have seen an enormous amount of support and determination out of the Pakistani government, military, and people in the last weeks to tackle the extremist challenge."

At least since last year, some members of Congress and a growing number of Pakistan and counterterrorism experts have concluded that a crucial missing ingredient in US policy was closer contact with the Pakistani people. This new aid package, while addressing a particular crisis, is also a "first step" in that new policy, some experts in the region say.

"For the last year, the consensus in Washington has been that we needed to create a stronger link to the Pakistani people, that that was in fact the missing link in our relations with a critical part of the world," says Frederick Barton, co-director of the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. "This is a terrific first step to show we do care about the Pakistani people and not just about Afghanistan or terror."

America's image suffers from particularly low ratings in Pakistan. That has put the Pakistani government in a tight spot as it has come under US pressure for action against the Taliban, which this year has advanced beyond its traditional strongholds along the Afghan border. The Swat Valley, where fighting is now concentrated, is 70 miles outside the capital of Islamabad.

Americans can also get in the act, she said. By texting the word "swat" to the number 20222, anyone can make a $5 donation to the UN High Commissioner's Office for Refugees for use in the Swat Valley crisis. Clinton said she tested the donation system before announcing it, and it worked.

News Roundup

Graduation was this past weekend so blogging has been slow! Here are some quick updates:

Tamil Tigers Admit Defeat

1.4 Million People Displaced in Swat Valley, according to the UN

Burmese Democracy Leader Aung San Suu Kyi goes to trial

Darfur Rebel Commander Faces International Criminal Court

Nigerian Civilians Trapped as Army Takes on Rebels

A roundup on the Indian elections

I'll be back to the regular blogging schedule soon!

Civilians Trapped in Mingora

Taliban fighters have taken control of Mingora, a town in Pakistan's Swat Valley, and have executed seven people on suspicion of being army informers. They have left the bodies unburied in the main square. Civilians cannot flee because the roads around the town have been blocked by the Army to prevent the Taliban from running and hiding in the surrounding tribal regions.

"Please, please, please, do not call me again – they will cut my throat and say that I was spying," whispered one resident still inside Mingora, when contacted by the AFP news agency.

A shopkeeper pleaded: "People are becoming mentally ill, our senses have shut down, children and women are crying. Please tell the Government to pull us out of here.

"Just imagine how we are surviving. Forget the lack of electricity and other problems – the Taleban are everywhere and heavy exchanges of fire are routine at night."

When the security cordon around Mingora was lifted briefly two days ago, another 100,000 surged to escape on motorbikes, carts, rickshaws and on foot, a tide of humanity clogging the roads in their desperation to reach the squalid and overcrowded refugee camps where more than a million have already fled.

(Image: Rashid Iqbal/EPA, from the Times Online story.)

UNHCR Emergency Airlift Update

UNHCR has sent out a new update on Pakistan. Yesterday's post on the airlift of emergency supplies is here and the UNHCR announcement is here.

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 12 (UNHCR) – The number of registered, displaced people uprooted by the current conflict in north-west Pakistan surpassed half a million on Tuesday as a UNHCR-chartered cargo jet delivered 120 tonnes of additional relief supplies for immediate distribution to those fleeing the fighting.

The aid plane arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday afternoon with 10,000 mosquito nets, 14,000 plastic sheets for emergency shelters, 1,500 plastic rolls to build walls and privacy screens in camps, and two portable warehouses from the refugee agency's stockpiles in Dubai. The supplies were loaded onto seven trucks and taken to UNHCR's warehouse in Peshawar, and then distributed to various sites hosting displaced people in North West Frontier Province.

Minister for State and Frontier Regions Najamudiin Khan, who was at the airport when the aircraft landed, thanked UNHCR for the aid consignment and for its work in helping the needy. "We are making an appeal to the UN and to other countries to help us with our IDP (internally displaced people) crisis," he added.

Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) facilitated the emergency flight, as well as the provision of an additional 10,000 tents to UNHCR, for the emergency operation.

The airlifted consignment will bolster the thousands of relief supplies such as tents, kitchen sets, jerry cans, sleeping mats and blankets, either locally procured or from UNHCR's existing stockpiles in Pakistan, which UNHCR is currently distributing alongside non-government partners and local authorities, as part of a joint UN response.

"UNHCR is responding as quickly as possible to meet the basic needs of the displaced people. But we need to support them morally, psychologically and materially and ensure they can feel the solidarity that is being extended to them. The speed of our response is critical," said Guenet Guebre-Christos, UNHCR's representative in Pakistan.

As of late Tuesday, a total of 501,496 displaced people from the new influx had been formally registered by authorities, with UNHCR's help, since May 2. Of these new arrivals, 72,707 are staying in camps and 428,789 people are staying with relatives, friends or host communities – including locals who have opened their doors to receive people fleeing the fighting.

People are being registered in camps and in 38 registration points that have been established by the Directorate of Social Welfare with UNHCR's help in Swabi, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda, Kohat and Peshawar. More are being set up daily.

The Mardan, Sheikh Yasin, Sheikh Shahzad and Jalala camps are now full and people are being directed to other camps where there is room, such as Jalozai in Nowshera, or the soon to be opened Shah Mansoor site in Swabi. UNHCR site planners are assessing the suitability of land for additional camps, and working to improve conditions and capacity in existing ones.

On Tuesday, UNHCR field teams were also assessing conditions in the hundreds of spontaneous settlements that have sprung up in the districts of Mardan and Swabi – in schools, colleges, flour mills, stadiums, parks, private land and other sites – to identify the most urgent needs.

In Geneva, High Commissioner António Guterres said the speed and scale of the crisis was posing huge challenges for the government and the humanitarian community. More resources were urgently needed and UNHCR was calling for international solidarity to help Pakistanis uprooted in the crisis. Guterres said Pakistanis in the north-west region had for decades been extremely generous to millions of Afghan refugees and now that they themselves were uprooted, they deserved international help.

As part of a joint UN response, UNHCR is providing shelter and other relief supplies to the latest influx of displaced people from Swat, Buner and Lower Dir. UNHCR is also assisting the local authorities to register people, and has set up reception centers on the main routes out of the conflict zones into the safer areas in Mardan and Swabi.

These reception centers,are providing information and transport to camps and other areas to those who need it. Food and water are also being provided by individuals and local organizations.
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UNHCR Airlifts Emergency Aid to Pakistani IDPs

The UN refugee agency is airlifting emergency supplies to northwest Pakistan.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres appealed for international support for the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by fighting between the government and Taliban in the Swat Valley.

The fighting has sparked a civilian exodus from the former tourist destination. In recent days 360,000 people have left their homes and in all about 500,000 are expected fo flee, joining about 600,000 people displaced earlier from Swat and other areas.

Guterres said many people were arriving with only what they could carry on their backs.

"These are the same people who for decades showed great generosity to millions of Afghan refugees," he said.

"Now it is time for the international community to show them the same generosity by supporting humanitarian programmes for the Pakistani displaced," the former Portuguese prime minister said in a statement.

The agency is setting up three new refugee camps and helping the Pakistan Red Crescent set up a fourth, and looking for suitable sites for further camps. It is also working with the authorities to expand the number of registration centres for displaced people.

BBC News has three first-hand accounts from IDPs who have fled the Swat Valley.
(Image from BBC story.)

Update On Pakistan from UNHCR

An announcement I just received:

There is now a situation of massive displacement in north-west Pakistan, as the confrontation between government forces and militants becomes more widespread
and people take advantage of the partial lifting of curfews to move into safer areas.

The provincial government estimates between 150,000 to 200,000 people have already arrived in safer areas of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) over the last few days; with another 300,000 already on the move or about to move.

Those fleeing the latest escalation of hostilities in Lower Dir, Buner and Swat join another 555,000 previously displaced Pakistanis who had fled their homes in the tribal areas and NWFP since August 2008 and who had already been registered by UNHCR and NWFP authorities. The vast majority of the earlier arrivals -- more than
462,000 people - are staying in rental accommodation or with host families. Another 93,000 staying are staying in 11 camps supported by UNHCR, other UN humanitarian agencies, non-governmental organizations and the Red Cross and Red Crescent family.

The new arrivals are going to place huge additional pressure on resources. To date, more than 83,000 people from Buner, Dir, and Swat have been registered from the new influx, including almost 5,000 staying in three new camps and more than 78,000 people who are staying outside of camps, renting houses or staying with host families. However, registration in the new camps is continuing and the figures
will rise quickly. There are also reports of people from Buner arriving at the existing camps in Lower Dir. In Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and other urban centers of the Punjab, UNHCR has registered a further 40,000 displaced people mainly from Bajaur, Mohmand and Swat over the past two weeks.

UNHCR field teams report the roads out of Swat and Buner, as they converge in the districts of Mardan and Swabi, are full of traffic. A journey to Mardan, which normally takes two hours, now can take twice that long because the road is
jammed.

The Jalala camp in Mardan district is one of the three camps established six days ago in response to the influx of people fleeing fighting in Buner and Lower Dir. In the last two days, an increasing number of families from Swat have gone to the
camp, traveling in rickshaws, cars, small trucks and buses. Most carry little more than the clothes on their backs.

New arrivals told UNHCR staff in the camp yesterday that they had trouble finding transport and had to pay steep prices to hire vehicles. One family of 20 from Buner
reported paying 30,000 rupees ($350) to travel to the camp from their home. Another man from Mingora, Swat, drove with his family in his rickshaw a harrowing seven hours to reach the safety of Jalala camp. He was in tears when he arrived yesterday.

As part of a joint UN response to the newly displaced people from Lower Dir, Buner and Swat over the past week, UNHCR has helped to establish three new camps,including Jalala and Shiekh Shehzad camps in Mardan and Yar Hussain in Swabi
district. We are helping the Pakistan Red Crescent set up a fourth camp in Swabi.

UNHCR site planners are currently assessing the suitability of land for additional camps in the region already identified by the government. Meanwhile, further south in NWFP, plans are underway to further expand the existing Jalozai camp,
Nowshera, currently hosting some 48,000 displaced people who have fled the tribal areas since August last year.

Over the past week, UNHCR has worked with the government to set up 12 registration centers, including six in Mardan, five in Swabi and one in Charsadda districts. However, given the massive influx of people, this is not enough. We are currently discussing with the authorities plans for 75 centers in the region to speed up registration, and will also expand the number of humanitarian hubs as a key part of our strategy to help people staying outside of camps.

Yesterday, a new reception center opened on the main Malakand Road at Jalala to give people food, water and information about the camps and registration centers. It
is the first of four such centers planned on the major routes of influx to assist people as they arrive in the safer areas. Plans are also underway to provide medical care and transport assistance at the reception centers, as part of the joint UN response.

UNHCR is currently responding to the emergency with relief supplies (tents, plastic sheets, buckets, jerry cans, and kitchen sets) for 100,000 people, while procuring
additional supplies for an additional 200,000.

check out a BBC news video at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8039916.stm
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More on IDPs in Pakistan

A post from the blog Chup! (Changing up Pakistan).

The military’s recent push against the Taliban means this number will increase at a rapid pace. According to a spokesperson at the UNHCR office in Islamabad, the organization had registered 4,000 more displaced persons by May 5. Moreover, media reports yesterday and today estimate that 500,000 more people in Swat Valley are expected to flee their homes as fighting between the military and Taliban militants intensify. According to BBC News today, “Officials say that more than 40,000 people have so far fled from clashes between the army and militants in Swat.” NPR, in its coverage, described the scene in detail, reporting, “Buses carrying the residents of Mingora, the region’s main town, were crammed inside and out. Refugees clambered onto the roofs after seats and floors filled up. Children and adults alike carried their belongings on their heads and backs — all of them fleeing the fighting they fear is about to consume the region.”

(My last post here.)

Thousands Fleeing War Zone in Pakistan

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes in the Swat Valley in the northwestern part of Pakistan.

The ramshackle convoys were rolling up hours later at a string of camps set up by Pakistani authorities and the U.N. in the city of Mardan and neighboring towns. Hospitals in Mardan treated dozens of civilians with serious gunshot and shrapnel wounds, children among them.

At the Tuberculosis Hospital in Mardan, hundreds of the displaced jostled before desks manned by hard-pressed volunteers to register for a tent and a handout of emergency supplies.

Yar Mohammad, a 50-year-old stone mason, told an Associated Press reporter that he had "poured his blood" and his best years into the development of Swat, once a haven for tourists drawn to its Alpine-like scenery.

"Now I am seeing the buildings that I have helped to construct being blown up and destroyed," he said, blaming both the Taliban and the authorities.