Humanitarian community appeals for US $538 million to help continent's poorest

The humanitarian community in Nairobi, Kenya, launched on Tuesday its annual appeal for funding, requesting almost US $538 million for victims of war in the Great Lakes region and Central Africa. The theme for this year's consolidated inter-agency appeal, known as CAP, is ‘Hope for the Future’ - despite the ongoing conflicts in several of the region's countries. Some 3.3 million people were displaced in the region by mid-2002, the UN reported, while 1.2 million were refugees. In the Democratic Republic of Congo alone, where the largest percentage of funding is being sought (over US $268 million), the UN estimates that 20 million people are food insecure. "The fragility of the current regional situation cannot be over-emphasised," the UN said in its appeal document. The appeal was launched simultaneously in several world capitals, among them Brussels, Belgium. Speaking in Brussels on this occasion the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Viera de Mello, said: "The situation in the DRC is catastrophic, notably in Ituri where access is impossible. My colleagues and myself have continuously tried to obtain from the Security Council measures to be taken for re-establishing a minimum of security in the east. We also try to get the cooperation of the neighbouring countries in order to get the restraint from all these groups [to the conflict]." The DRC, Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda rank among the world’s 20 least developed countries, according to the UN's Human Development index for 2002. Tanzania ranks among the bottom 49 countries, and continues to host Africa's largest refugee burden. Burundi, which ranks third worst in the world on the Development Index, has the largest displaced population in the region, with at least 13 percent of its estimated 6.4 million people dependant on external aid to survive, and less than 50 percent able to attend primary school. Despite this, sufficient funding is not always forthcoming. Burundi received less than 33 percent of funding sought in 2002, the UN reported, a shortfall it described as "startling" and "alarming". Uganda continued to face funding shortfalls because it was widely, but erroneously, perceived to be a success story in rehabilitation and recovery, the UN said, adding that the humanitarian crisis there was "far from over". United Nations agencies, NGOs, the Red Cross Movement, international organisations and donors launched the CAP.