DUBAI, 24 July 2007 (IRIN) - IRIN, the award-winning humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), launches its Arabic service http://arabic.irinnews.org today to provide original coverage on a wide range of humanitarian situations in the Middle East as well as parts of Africa and Asia.

The news and analysis service is initially based on translations of IRIN's English-language output (http://www.irinnews.org) and is available via e-mail and on a newly-developed website. IRIN Arabic also provides first person testimonies, TV documentaries, short video features and photos. All these services are made available free of charge to the humanitarian community, media and academia.

"We are delighted to be able to offer this new service to the Arabic-speaking world, which will contribute to wider understanding and better response to humanitarian needs worldwide," said Pat Banks, IRIN Director.

IRIN was first launched in English in 1995 to bridge the gap in humanitarian reporting, especially in neglected or forgotten crises. As a key project of OCHA, IRIN's mandate was to improve the flow of vital information to those involved in relief efforts in the African Great Lakes region following the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Its geographical coverage has increased steadily since then and it has today an output in English, French and Arabic. It also runs an HIV/AIDS information service, PlusNews, in English, French and Portuguese. It has an estimated readership of one million.

IRIN's major donors are Australia, Canada, Denmark, European Commission (ECHO), Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the USA (USAID).

For further information, contact:

Pat Banks, IRIN Director, banks@irinnews.org, +254 20 7622147 Ben Parker, IRIN Editor-in-Chief, ben@irinnews.org, +254 733 626131 Dana Hazeen, IRIN Arabic Reporter, Dubai, dana@irinnews.org

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