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UN seeks more aid for problem-plagued West Africa
30 Mar 2005 16:14:11 GMT
Source: Reuters
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By Clar Ni Chonghaile DAKAR, March 30 (Reuters) - West Africa faces a year of intense political danger and donors must remain committed to a region where disgruntled ex-fighters roam, locusts have wreaked havoc and war is a constant risk, U.N. bodies said on Wednesday. The plea came at the launch of an coordinated appeal by U.N. agencies and non-governmental groups for $190 million for the region, where a festering civil war in Ivory Coast and a string of potentially divisive elections threaten stability. "The year 2005 is like the year of all dangers," said Joel Boutroue, who heads the response coordination branch for the U.N. office of humanitarian affairs (OCHA). He listed elections in Togo, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast and Liberia as potential risks to stability. Last year, the U.N.'s coordinated appeal for West Africa sought $97 million and only received 59 percent of that. This year, the appeal has so far received 29 percent of its total. U.N. officials acknowledged they would have to battle for funds in the wake of the tsunami disaster in Asia and other headline-grabbing crises in places like Sudan's Darfur. "Whether we like it or not, there is competition," Boutroue said. The U.N. agencies listed deadlock in Ivory Coast's war, the slow reintegration of ex-fighters in Liberia, political tension in Guinea, the alleged presence of Islamic groups on the edges of the Sahara and last year's locust plague as risks in 2005. "The humanitarian situation in the West African sub-region remains fragile and could deteriorate further in the months to come," the agencies said in their appeal. They said xenophobic politics, profit-hungry governments and a culture of impunity all contributed to conflicts. At the appeal launch, the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) also presented a report on the region, highlighting Democratic Republic of Congo where 1.9 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition after five years of war. It also described Central African Republic, an impoverished country regularly rocked by coups, as "one of the world's forgotten crises" where 20 percent of children die before age five and less than 30 percent are immunized. The 2005 U.N. appeal was revised upwards to take account of the effect of last year's locust invasion, the worst in 15 years in the semi-desert Sahel region south of the Sahara. The U.N. agencies said nine million people in the region had been affected by the crop-munching insects. Mauritania and Niger were badly hit and millions of people face food shortages. Most of the funds sought for this year, just over $125 million, is earmarked for food aid. Another $36 million would help people affected by drought and locusts. "We need to raise our voices from West Africa because West and Central Africa are always forgotten," said Olivier Degreef of UNICEF.
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