$194.5 million UN appeal highlights complex crisis

Basic issues of food security, health and nutrition, and protection will remain prominent among the humanitarian concerns in Sudan through 2002, according to the US $194.5 million Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal published by the United Nations on Monday, 26 November. The appeal for Sudan formed part of a larger request by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for $2.5 billion for 33 million people "in desperate need" around the world. The food security situation was particularly fragile in drought- and war-affected areas of Sudan, such that emergency situations could lead to a dramatic rise in malnutrition, according to the appeal document. The persistence of malnutrition among the very young and the elderly was also "of particular concern," it said. Armed conflict in Sudan (between the government and Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army, and other allied and non-allied militias) continued to threaten livelihoods, displace civilians, destroy infrastructure, obliterate assets and disrupt food production, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in presenting the appeal. Quality of life indicators continue to be discouraging, particularly in rural areas, it said, and conditions were particularly bad for those people affected by war in Unity (Wahdah) State and western Upper Nile region, the Nuba [Nubah] Mountains, northern and western Bahr al-Ghazal, and Eastern Equatoria. The appeal for 2002 is intended to provide a framework for continuing assistance in the context of the protracted emergency, as well as for more acute emergencies arising from specific outbreaks of armed conflict, droughts, floods and other natural disasters. It is structured around three themes: emergency preparedness and emergency response for acute emergencies; meeting the needs of displaced civilians and host populations; and facilitating peace-building and the promotion of human rights. Within those, the appeal is targeted at 39 projects in 11 areas, including: food ($93.1 million); agriculture and food security ($14.5 million); health and nutrition ($28.9 million); shelter and relief ($2.5 million); water and sanitation ($5.5 million); education ($4.9 million); protection, human rights and the rule of law ($16.9 million); coordination and support ($6.6 million); security ($3.8 million); mine action ($1.0 million); and multi-sectoral programmes ($16.6 million). Some $251.9 million was requested for this year under the 2001 Consolidated Appeal (and revisions), which was 61 percent funded as of late October. This does not appear to augur well for a $194.5 million appeal for January-December 2002. While food relief needs attracted a relatively healthy 77 percent funding (to the end of October) in this year's appeal, non-food aid projects received only 33 percent of funds requested, according to OCHA. Such fundamental areas of activity as improving household food security, nutrition, water and sanitation, education, and human rights and peacebuilding, suffered a severe lack of funding, which hindered efforts to move vulnerable people towards a cycle of recovery and rehabilitation, it said. Some agencies received scant funding for even modest interventions, such as reconciliation between pastoralists and farmers, resettlement and rehabilitation of displaced people, disease outbreaks and reproductive health - with the result that some activities were curtailed and others virtually non-existent, OCHA stated. In addition, critical security, support and coordination efforts were underfunded, sometimes with direct consequences on operational programmes, it added. The continuing imbalance between funding of the food and non-food sectors was identified by OCHA as "a fundamental constraint" to a balanced humanitarian programme. Despite this, food aid remains an important intervention and is budgeted for 47.9 percent of the total $194.5 million appeal for January to December 2002. OCHA also expressed concern about limited humanitarian access, especially in the Nuba Mountains and southern Blue Nile; slow progress in getting the warring parties to implement agreements on cross-line humanitarian assistance by road, rail or river; and that the current one-year planning and funding cycle constrained agencies' ability to help communities move towards recovery. The humanitarian assistance operation cannot and should not be expected to operate in the absence of political action to achieve a negotiated and lasting peace settlement, the UN emphasised in the appeal document. Implementation of the planned assistance programme for 2002 would also depend on the full cooperation of the government of Sudan and southern opposition groups, it said. "Humanitarian work must extend beyond life-saving activities to encourage and promote reliance and recovery," it added.