Aid agencies launch appeal

International humanitarian organisations and the government of Cote d’Ivoire have asked donors for US$56 million in 2007 to help four million vulnerable people in the country.

United Nations aid agencies said at the launch of their consolidated appeal on Wednesday that their top priorities included food security, nutrition, sanitation and resettling internally displaced people - currently estimated at 700,000.

“We must adopt a combat attitude to guarantee the affected people access to potable water, health and education for their children,” said Youssouf Oomar, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Cote d’Ivoire. “Let’s stop saying that we’re tired and rejuvenate ourselves to respond to the appeal of these hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced since the beginning of the crisis and who have now run out of their resources.”

In the consolidated appeal, aid agencies called for $19 million for health, $14 million for protection of human rights and rule of law, $5 million for education and the remaining $18 million for other sectors. The organisation appealing for the largest amount was the UN children’s agency (UNICEF) with $19 million, followed by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) with $13 million.

Cote d’Ivoire suffered a brief civil war after a failed coup in September 2002, leaving the country divided between a rebel-held north and government-run south. Some 11,000 UN and French peacekeepers monitor a buffer zone between the two sides.

UN and African mediators have failed to unblock the impasse between President Laurent Gbagbo and New Forces rebel leader Guillaume Soro. As a result, elections have been postponed twice. Direct talks between the two men are scheduled to begin on Monday in Burkina Faso under the guidance of President Blaise Compaore.

People living in the west and north of Cote d’Ivoire are suffering the most in the crisis and live in “dramatic” conditions, Oomar told reporters on Wednesday.

In the north people mainly struggle with poor sanitation and a lack of potable water, aid agencies say.

In the west, Oomar said lingering tensions between indigenous and immigrant populations have triggered nearly daily acts of violence since December. Nationality issues are at the heart of the Ivorian conflict as populations compete for resources and influence. As a result of the violence, he said, large numbers of people have been moving toward more secure areas.

Oomar, who is also UNICEF’s representative in Cote d’Ivoire, said that in the south of the country the displaced appear to have been left to fend for themselves. The government and host families have been helping them for two years but dwindling resources have forced families to turn them out, he said.

“The protection of displaced populations and host families, especially in government-controlled areas in the west and in the [buffer zone], remains one of the most urgent humanitarian challenges, as well as that of children associated with armed forces and children victims of violence and sexual abuse, or deprived of access to an education,” the UN humanitarian coordination office said in its appeal.

Clotilde Ohouochi, head of humanitarian and social affairs for President Gbagbo, called on the international community to help the displaced and host families.

“The host families find themselves in precarious neighbourhoods in Abidjan,” he said. “That which already has been given to them means something but let’s go further to [give them enough] to take charge of their lives and generate revenue,” Ohouochi said.

UNHCR launched a pilot programme on Monday along with the nongovernmental organisation Africa Emergency Assistance (ASA) to assess the number of displaced and their needs.

“This profiling operation aims to determine the number of displaced people and evaluate the problems they are facing and how to resettle them,” said Serge Digbeu of ASA.

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