UN, gov't urge help for nearly two million people

The Eritrean government and the UN on Friday appealed for over US $145 million to help nearly two million needy people in the country next year. The 2004 humanitarian plea, known as the Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal (CAP), asked for US $147.2 million in food and non-food assistance to assist over 1.7 million Eritreans from displaced, returnee and vulnerable communities affected by war and drought. Speaking at the launch in Asmara, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Simon Nhongo said despite earlier optimism that the rains would yield a higher cereal output, this year's rainy seasons were "inadequate and unevenly distributed". "So the need for humanitarian assistance in 2004 will be about the same as 2003,” he said, according to a press release from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The press release also noted that malnutrition rates, both acute and chronic, continued to increase especially among women of reproductive age posing unacceptable risks for maternal morbidity and mortality. Lack of safe access to clean water was still a major threat to the health and lives of many communities in Eritrea. Eritrea's Labour and Human Welfare Minister Askalu Menkerios, who officiated at the launch, expressed the government's appreciation for the donors' support. But she also urged them to give "early and more generous support" for next year to avoid a further deterioration in the humanitarian situation and to keep up the momentum of interventions.