Donor shortfall means basic needs not being met

UN agencies in Burundi said on Wednesday that even though the country had now overcome many of its political problems, international donors were not providing enough funds to meet people's basic humanitarian needs. Only 45 percent of the agencies' US $121 million 2005 Consolidated Appeal has so far been funded, Jean-Sébastien Munié, the programme coordinator at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said at a news briefing in Bujumbura, the capital. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization coordinator of agricultural emergency operations Jean-Pierre Sanson, said Burundi was currently facing a food deficit of around 280,000 tonnes. The UN World Food Programme country director, Zlatan Milisic, said it had requested funds to provide food aid to 2.75 million people but only received enough to help 1.8 million. Even those who are benefiting are receiving less food rations than they were supposed to, he said. Milisic said 16 percent of Burundians were now living on 1,200 kilocalories a day, well below international recommendations. Of the $65-million requested by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, so far only $29 million has been received, Ahmed Baba Fall, the UNHCR senior reintegration officer, said. Thousands of Burundian refugees are now returning home, Fall said, but "not all of them will have shelter, school kits for their children or health services". The shortfall is occurring as donors hail Burundi for recently holding successful elections. The donors took part in a special mini summit for Burundi in New York on 13 September in which they issued a statement "affirming the need to support the government as it addresses the challenges ahead, while noting the importance of reinforcing bilateral and multilateral assistance".