06 August 2003
U.N. Requests More Money for Humanitarian Assistance to Liberia
U.N. official says situation has "deteriorated into a human catastrophe"
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- Responding to the realization of "worst case scenarios" in Liberia, representatives of more than 75 nations and humanitarian organizations agreed August 6 to increase an earlier U.N. appeal for assistance to that troubled country, boosting the amount from $42 million to $69 million.
The appeal asks for $22.5 million for food; $8.5 million for health; $3.7 million for shelter; $3.4 million for water and sanitation; $1.9 million for education; and $1.6 million for agriculture. Also included are requests for funds for demining programs, refugee protection and human rights efforts, security, and new projects such as trucking water, health promotion, and reintegration of former child combatants.
To date, less than $10 million has been pledged in response to the original appeal, made in November 2002. "If we can collect $2 billion for Iraq, of which $1 billion was direct voluntary contributions from the traditional donors, surely we can come up with $69 to $70 million for Liberia," Carolyn McAskie, deputy emergency relief coordinator, said at a press conference after the session
"It is not often that worst case scenarios come to pass," she said.
The $69 million appeal, she said, is "based on a situation which mirrors exactly what we predicated as a potential worst case scenario when we wrote the original appeal for 2003. That worst case scenario was described as continuous conflict; civilian injuries and deaths; massive displacements to impromptu sites in and around Monrovia; total lack or serious shortage of all basic requirements of food, water, health care, shelter, etc.; and extreme insecurity with looting, attacks, and rapes affecting both the civilian population and humanitarian agencies."
Jacques Klein, U.N. special envoy for Liberia, added that the "civil war in Liberia has deteriorated into a human catastrophe of what can only be called horrific proportions. The number and real conditions of the people in Liberia are not even known to us because we haven't had access to a good part of the country for a number of years."
"Humanitarian conditions in Monrovia -- one of the few areas to which humanitarian workers have had access -- clearly demonstrate what the problems are and they almost defy description: 450,000 internally displaced are now scattered among 90 impromptu settlements around the capital," Klein said.
Klein read a message from Secretary General Kofi Annan in which the official said that "the logic of this emergency appeal is simple: without urgent action, more lives will be lost."
"I urge the international community to support the United Nations Revised Consolidated Appeal for Liberia, to seize the opportunity to alleviate unnecessary suffering, to avert preventable deaths, and to let Liberians know that they are not alone in their quest for development and peace," Annan said.
The secretary general also demanded that the parties to the conflict "cease their fighting immediately and allow humanitarian aid to reach the people who so desperately need it."
"In Monrovia alone, meeting humanitarian needs will require wide-ranging interventions to save people from life-threatening shortages of food, water, shelter, sanitation and, most of all, security. Addressing the humanitarian situation in the rest of the country, 70 percent of which has been cut off from aid for months, will present equally formidable challenges," Annan said.
Klein pointed to Liberia's strong ties with the West, citing World War II alliances and the fact that Liberia is a founding member of the United Nations. Politically, he said, Liberia is a key to the survival and stability in West Africa and if the appeal is met with indifference much of the good done in the region risks coming to nothing.
"This is not a country that one should leave in the lurch," he added. "It is a country that demands our assistance and we hope the pledging conference will do the right thing."
The deployment of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) multinational force has begun with a few hundred troops and some supplies already on the ground. A U.N. humanitarian assessment team has arrived at Roberts Field, and a small U.S. liaison unit is also at the airfield to liaise with the U.S. fleet offshore, the U.N. officials noted. A World Food Program (WFP) ship is expected offshore August 7 with more supplies and accommodations for aid workers. One ton of high-energy biscuits from WFP was being delivered to the needy in Monrovia August 6 by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has remained in the city throughout the intense fighting.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=August&x=20030806180746atiaj0.8404505&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html
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