UNITED NATIONS SEEKS $17.7 MILLION FOR EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE TO THE REPUBLIC OF CONGO

10 November 1997

Press Release
AFR/28
IHA/636

UNITED NATIONS SEEKS $17.7 MILLION FOR EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE TO THE REPUBLIC OF CONGO

19971110 GENEVA, 10 November (Department of Humanitarian Affairs) -- The United Nation today launched the Consolidated Inter-Agency Flash Appeal for the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), requesting $US 17.7 million to meet the priority needs of 650,000 internally displaced persons for an initial period of three months. It is expected that this initial request will be followed by a longer-term assistance programme. Following five months of armed conflict, the country's infrastructure is in ruins. Casualties are estimated at well over 5,000 and there have been massive displacements of urban populations to rural areas. The city of Brazzaville was emptied of practically all of its population, who sought refuge in the southern districts, in Pointe-Noire, as well as in villages in the north and south of the country. The effects of war, displacement and overcrowding have been magnified by the lack of food and other basic necessities, and by the resulting malnutrition and outbreaks of communicable diseases. There has also been widespread looting and destruction of shops, homes, offices and warehouses. The Appeal will address the needs of families who have been displaced as well as those residing in the capital. Priority will be given to the provision of food and nutrition, shelter, basic health care -- particularly immunization and essential drugs to prevent epidemics and malnutrition -- water and sanitation, as well as limited distribution of seeds and tools to assist internally displaced persons and host families to restore and improve food security conditions. Particular attention will be given to single-parent families, female-headed households, unaccompanied children and those traumatized by the armed conflict. The main requests are for $5.9 million for the World Food Programme (WFP), $4.9 million for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), $3 million for the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS/Habitat), $1.5 million for Medecins Sans Frontiéres, $1 million for the World Health Organization (WHO), $1 million for the Food ad Agriculture Organization (FAO), $858,000 for the Catholic Relief Services and Caritas, $250,000 for Merlin, $215,300 for the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs, and $176,000 for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The international community is calling upon donors to respond generously and without delay to this appeal, which should facilitate the return of the displaced to their communities of origin.

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