unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (08/23/89)
Refugee Flood Engulfs Camps (Christian Science Monitor, August 16, DATELINE: HARTISHEK) 'I was a building contractor. I had a lot of houses and trucks. Now, in this camp, my children are nearly naked. I'm not used to it.'' As Somalian Mohamed Abdillahi Youssef - one of the world's more than 14 million refugees - tells his story, a dozen pairs of eyes peer in from under the burlap and plastic walls of his hut. His green-and-white scarf, a lingering touch of affluence, hangs down to frayed, gray-and- white-striped slacks. His plight illustrates the disruption in the lives of most refugees, and the challenges in helping them, especially in desolate, desert areas such as this one, miles from food and water. Water to the Somali camps, for example, is trucked in from wells 50 miles away. Though Africa's approximately 4 million refugees constitute less than a third of the world's total, they absorb almost half the budget of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR). ''Everything has to be brought in, from food to tents, to cooking utensils,'' says Meryem Amar, a UNHCR spokesperson in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. ''Sometimes we have to build roads,'' she says. The number of African refugees continues to climb, with civil wars continuing in Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Mozambique, and Angola. And a border dispute between Senegal and Mauritania has forced the exodus of thousands from both countries. As the escape door for people fleeing violence in both Sudan and Somalia, Ethiopia - among Africa's poorest nations - has become the unintended host to more refugees than any other African country, about 800,000, according to the UNHCR. Several hundred people continue to arrive daily from both countries, says a UNHCR official. Last summer, several thousand Somali civilians trekked in daily as Somali troops fought fiercely against Somali rebels, especially in the city of Hargessa, in northern Somalia, Mr. Abdillahi's home. As Abdillahi continues his story, the curious crowd outside the hut swells to scores. But beyond the circle, camp life rolls slowly on in a routine mixed with desperation and fear, but also enterprise and hope. While some camp residents claim they are nearly starving for lack of food, others, according to camp officials and some refugees, claim more than their share of rations by using multiple ration cards obtained by registering several times under assumed names. ''Some refugees happen to have five, six, 10 ration cards,'' says Albert-Alain Peters, UNHCR representative to Ethiopia. ''Others, the most vulnerable ones, have one, maybe two.'' In an interview at a food distribution site, a Somali refugee says fear of not getting enough food drives some refugees to sign up for more than one ration card. ''The problem of rations is the frequency of distribution is not right,'' says the refugee. ''It always comes late. Sometimes we don't get a ration for one month.'' The food distribution witnessed by this correspondent was the first in more than a month, according to Ethiopian and UNHCR officials. Items such as wheat flour and cooking oil, do not always arrive in the camps at the same time from various international donors. Rather than hand out part of the ration, everything is held until the package is complete, a UNHCR official said. There are also not enough trucks to keep up with timely food distribution, says another UNHCR official. One result: ''Those people with one ration card may starve,'' says an Ethiopian official at the camp. ''They're getting about one third of what they should get.'' Willard Pearson, Jr., is the representative to Ethiopia of the US * Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501) --- Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-