United Nations issues Appeal for $1.7 Billion for "Forgotten Humanitarian Crises" by UN News 1:57pm 12th Nov, 2004   NEW YORK, 11 November    The United Nations Secretary-General has requested $1.7 billion to help people survive a web of forgotten humanitarian crises, mainly in Africa. "We are here today to sound an alarm on behalf of 26 million people struggling to survive the ravages of war and other emergencies", Kofi Annan told North American, European and Japanese donor Governments in New York today.    "Responding to this appeal will enable countries to work together, help millions of people in need, and make a vitally important investment in our common future", said Kofi Annan.  The United Nations Secretary-General has taken the unprecedented step of writing to donor aid ministers asking them to meet the requirements and state their funding intentions by mid-January 2005.    "Twenty-six million people in war-affected regions need aid to stay alive, and large numbers of them hope for improved conditions in the year ahead", said Jan Egeland, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.  "Hopes for recovery are growing in places like Burundi, the Central African Republic and Somalia, hanging in the balance in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Côte d’Ivoire, and have diminished in the occupied Palestinian territory."    "Through this Humanitarian Appeal, 104 relief agencies together propose principled and effective action to save lives and reduce suffering", said    Mr. Egeland.  "This Humanitarian Appeal for 14 emergencies is based on rigorous needs assessments, prioritization and coordination.  Average requirements per appeal are 15 per cent lower this year.”    "Humanitarian donor nations must work together to make sure that populations in need are not ‘forgotten’", said Mr. Egeland, adding that donors can get more for their money by contributing it early.  "The previous Humanitarian Appeal received only 52 per cent of the funding required and just 12 per cent of it within four months.  The overall shortfall also reflects a downturn in global humanitarian funding of 50 per cent compared to 2003 and of 18 per cent compared to 2002, when contributions to Iraq and Afghanistan peaked.
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