UN launches US $200 million inter-agency appeal

The UN has launched a US $200 million inter-agency appeal for the Sudan for 1999. It covers the emergency and rehabilitation needs of more than four million war and drought-affected people in the south, the “transitional zone” and the displaced camps and settlements in the greater Khartoum area. The appeal includes 24 projects aimed at meeting the survival needs and strengthening the resiliency of communities through a combination of short and medium-term interventions.

The appeal document says that during the next 12 months, humanitarian conditions in some of the areas worst hit by famine are expected to slowly stabilise. However, renewed hostilities or natural disasters could tip the region back into crisis, and create new emergencies. Bahr al-Ghazal and western Upper Nile remain of particular concern. “No real progress on humanitarian issues can realistically be achieved unless the conflict ends,” the appeal emphasises.