UN warn of hunger and unrest if donors fail to deliver

The failure of donors to contribute a promised US$ 540 million is slowing post-war reconstruction in Liberia and could disrupt food supplies and lead to unrest, the United Nations said on Friday. "Thousands of Liberians, including internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, still have limited access to humanitarian assistance and basic services, including health, education, water, communication and electricity," the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement from New York. OCHA warned that without the promised pledges, made in February at a New York donor conference, the food aid programme would run into trouble next month. "Unless more pledges and resources are received, a food pipeline break will result in a shortfall of 14,432 metric tonnes of cereals, 2,218 of pulses, 1,470 of vegetable oil, 405 of salt, 2,073 of corn Soya blend and 24 of sugar, from August to December 2004," OCHA said. "Unrest and agitation is expected to rise if the food ration is .... reduced due to the pipeline problems," it added. Donors promised US$ 540 million for projects providing shelter, staging elections, restructuring Liberia's security forces, alleviating poverty, repatriating and resettling refugees, repairing telecommunications and power networks as well as construction and harbour repairs. On Thursday, the head of Liberia's broad-based transitional government Gyude Bryant said that only US$180 million out of the promised US$ 540 million had been received so far. Speaking in the capital, Monrovia, he declined to clarify which sectors were suffering the most severe shortfalls.