Funding gap for regional humanitarian appeal

Nearly half of a UN appeal to cover the humanitarian needs of West African countries in 2006 has yet to be received, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Fifty-one percent of the appeal has been funded but there is a gap of nearly US $119 million, OCHA said on Tuesday. “West Africa is one of the poorest regions of the globe and the countries of the Sahel are about to relive a very worrying period in terms of nutrition,” said Herve Ludovic de Lys, director of OCHA”s regional bureau for West Africa. “As UNICEF warns that 300,000 children risk dying of malnutrition in the Sahel in 2006, we must react immediately to respond to their needs and those of millions of other people who don’t eat enough,” he said. OCHA revised its consolidated appeal for 2006 downward from US $244 million to about US $243 in its annual mid-term review. The funds aim to cover food, water, health, agriculture, education and other humanitarian needs. OCHA said it was imperative to provide assistance to the Sahel, where seasonal rains have been late and where a food crisis last year put tens of thousands of lives at risk. Aid is also destined to prevent epidemics of yellow fever and cholera in the region during the rainy season, assist Togolese refugees living in camps in Benin, and help Liberia recover from 14 years of civil war. The UN Development Programme says that 10 of the world’s poorest countries are in Africa and five of them are in West Africa. cs/ccr