NEWSBLOG: Behind the headlines - 21 March 2006

Nepalese children paint their faces to celebrate the Holi festival in mid-March. REUTERS/Shruti Shrestha

Tim Large here, with a quick run-down of issues that snagged our attention in today&${esc.hash}39;s AlertNet newsplanning meeting.

First up, signs of more trouble in four humanitarian hotspots:

The worst violence in several years has erupted in the volatile border region between Guinea Bissau and Senegal. Guinea Bissau&${esc.hash}39;s army is trying to flush out southern Senegalese rebels holding villagers hostage there. Senegalese separatists have been fighting a low-intensity war for years but it&${esc.hash}39;s only in the past week that they&${esc.hash}39;ve crossed over the border into Guinea Bissau after being attacked by rival factions and GB&${esc.hash}39;s army. IRIN reports that the fighting has forced more than 4,500 from their homes, with entire towns and villages deserted. More displacement could be on the cards. The BBC&${esc.hash}39;s Monitoring Africa service picks up a report from Radio France Internationale that the army has called on the civilian population to evacuate the region as soon as possible.

In Chad, government troops have attacked rebels in the east as President Idriss Deby seeks to get a grip on the country ahead of a May 3 presidential election. The push comes a week after the government announced it had foiled a coup plot against Deby, whose 16-year rule has been weakened by a wave of high-level military desertions. Government sources say more offensives will follow. Analysts fear the threat posed to Deby by the rebels, who appear to be able to operate from Darfur, risks increasing the conflict already spilling over from Sudan, where ethnic and political violence has killed thousands and displaced more than 2 million.

Officials in the Philippines say communist guerrillas have stepped up attacks outside Manila, ransacking a police station and torching a commuter bus. The Philippines is on increased alert for more rebel raids ahead of the founding anniversary of the Maoist-led New People&${esc.hash}39;s Army on March 29. The insurgency has killed more than 40,000 people and is active in 69 of 79 provinces.

Violence is also escalating in Nepal, where at least 21 Maoist rebels and 10 police have been killed following the end of a six-day rebel-led blockade that choked supplies and disrupted transport across Nepal. The U.N. had sounded the alarm over the humanitarian impact of the blockade, which local media said was driving up prices of essential goods in one of Asia&${esc.hash}39;s poorest countries. In the Kathmandu Valley, vegetable prices were reportedly up 80 percent.

Empty bird flu promises highlight flagging appeals

U.N. bird flu supremo David Nabarro said Monday that little of the ${esc.dollar}1.9 billion promised by major donor nations to help developing countries deal with the disease has materialised. So African states and the U.N. system will now have to step into the breach.

It&${esc.hash}39;s the second major funding disappointment this year -- the U.N.&${esc.hash}39;s Central Emergency Response Fund, set up as a rapid response fund in the wake of the tsunami was launched earlier this month with just ${esc.dollar}188 million rather than the planned half a billion.

So which other of this year&${esc.hash}39;s appeals are struggling? The U.N.&${esc.hash}39;s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs gives the following figures:

Least supported humanitarian appeals Requirement (US${esc.dollar}) Received

Great Lakes Region

154,537,282

0%

Guinea

32,874,581

1%

Republic of Congo

30,542,581

1%

Zimbabawe

276,503,174

1%

Chad

167,069,799

2%

Cote d&${esc.hash}39;Ivoire

40,534,324

2%

Democratic Republic of Congo

682,273,248

2%

Sudan

1,519,779,82

2%

Uganda

222,603,257

3%

Liberia

120,991,657

6%

Katrina controversy

Louis Farrakhan, the controversial Nation of Islam leader, is visiting communist Cuba this week to learn a trick or two about disaster relief. He says the visit was prompted by the U.S. government&${esc.hash}39;s failure to cope with Hurricane Katrina and blasted Washington for refusing a Cuban offer to send doctors to New Orleans last August.

What can Farrakhan learn from Cuba about disaster reduction? Quite a lot, say hazard experts. The country often seems like a bull&${esc.hash}39;s eye for hurricanes but deaths are rare thanks to effective early warning systems and well-laid evacuation plans. Compare and contrast near-by Haiti, where dire poverty, lack of governance and extensive deforestation turn just about every natural disaster into a humanitarian catastrophe.

Across the water in New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin has finalised a sweeping reconstruction plan aimed at reviving communities, repairing the economy and reviving the city&${esc.hash}39;s famous cultural scene. One of the most interesting parts is what&${esc.hash}39;s left out. The plan is based on a bunch of recommendations by The Bring New Orleans Back Commission, which in January angered some residents with calls to replace badly damaged and flood-prone areas with parks. Nagin tossed that bit out, urging people to make their own decisions about rebuilding their homes.

Deciding won&${esc.hash}39;t be easy. Some residents may be less than reassured by Nagin&${esc.hash}39;s warning that some of the worst-hit areas, New Orleans East and Lower Ninth Ward &${esc.hash}39; which still lie in ruins today &${esc.hash}39; will flood again if another hurricane hits.

Deadline looms in Kashmir quake zone

The end of March spells the welcome approach of spring in quake-hit Kashmir, but for thousands of survivors who have weathered the brutal Himalayan winter it also spells looming upheaval. In North West Frontier Province, authorities have announced that official camps will close by March 31.

Aid agencies say that while the feared second wave of winter deaths was averted, the challenge is now to get people back to their homes to rebuild shattered lives. &${esc.hash}39;Thousands face the prospect of suffering from inadequate shelter, food and water and basic health care,&${esc.hash}39; says International Medical Corp.

Germany to take the lead in Congo

It&${esc.hash}39;s easy to forget that only a few years ago the idea of Germany&${esc.hash}39;s sending troops abroad was a diplomatic no-no. These days it has substantial peacekeeping numbers in Afghanistan and the Balkans, and the country now says it&${esc.hash}39;s ready to lead a European Union mission to help overstretched U.N. forces safeguard key elections in Democratic Republic of Congo in June.

Germany&${esc.hash}39;s role will be to command the overall mission from headquarters in Postdam, near Berlin, while France will take charge on the ground in the capital, Kinshasa. Germany is already a big player in the U.N., contributing the third largest amount to U.N. regular budgets. Could its actions in Congo strengthen its claim for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council? Time will tell.

UNHCR gets its marching orders Uzbekistan

has gained the dubious honour of becoming one of the few countries to kick out the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR. On Monday, the agency that has helped relocate hundreds of Uzbek refugees who fled across the border to Kyrgyzstan in 2005 got its marching orders amid rising diplomatic furore over a crackdown on dissent in the Central Asian country.

Human Rights Watch

says the decision will deprive refugees of international protection and set a &${esc.hash}39;terrible precedent&${esc.hash}39;. Here&${esc.hash}39;s what HRW Executive director Kenneth Roth had to say about it: &${esc.hash}39;If a government can get away with expelling UNHCR every time it objects to the agency assisting its nationals abroad, the international refugee protection regime will fall apart.&${esc.hash}39;

That&${esc.hash}39;s it for now.

Best wishes, Tim Large AlertNet Deputy Editor

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