Military

DATE=4/12/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=U-N / SUDAN APPEAL (L-O)

NUMBER=2-314974

BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN

DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The United Nations has quintupled the amount of its humanitarian aid appeal for Sudan. From U-N headquarters, Peter Heinlein reports as many as a million people have been forced to flee their homes in three war-ravaged regions of western Sudan.

TEXT: Six months ago, U-N agencies asked for 23-million dollars for relief supplies to Sudan. But with conditions in the western Darfur region of the country steadily deteriorating, that figure was revised upward Monday, to 115-million dollars.

Stephanie Bunker, spokeswoman for the U-N's Humanitarian Affairs office, says visits to previously inaccessible parts of western Sudan have revealed a far worse picture than previously believed.

/// BUNKER ACT ///

As we have gained a little more access to Darfur, which is still incredibly imperfect, we have gotten more and more information about the numbers of people who have been affected by the situation in those three districts of Sudan. Because now we estimate there are probably close to one million people affected, and something around 700-thousand internally displaced just within Darfur itself.

/// END ACT ///

Ms. Bunker said donor countries have already pledged 32-million dollars for Sudan, nine million more than the original request. The main donors are the European Union, Japan, Australia and the United States.

U-N humanitarian affairs office chief Jan Egeland told the Security Council last week that Arab militias are conducting a "scorched earth" campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur. Mr. Egeland will head a ten-member team on a fact-finding tour to the region later this week.

U-N officials have described Sudan as the world's greatest humanitarian and human rights tragedy. Aid groups say dangerous conditions in western Sudan are making deliveries of food and other humanitarian goods impossible. Only about one-third of those in need are said to be receiving help. (Signed)

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