UNITED NATIONS ISSUES APPEAL FOR $28.6 MILLION FOR GUINEA-BISSAU
Press Release
IHA/678
UNITED NATIONS ISSUES APPEAL FOR $28.6 MILLION FOR GUINEA-BISSAU
19981214 GENEVA, 11 December (UN Information Service) -- United Nations agencies today issued an appeal for $28.6 million to meet the urgent needs of some 385,000 internally displaced persons in Guinea-Bissau and their vulnerable hosts, whose lives and livelihoods have been devastated following the military rebellion in June 1998.The ensuing military conflict in June, which flared up again in October, created massive displacement, destroyed an already limited infrastructure and severely disrupted food production and distribution. Critical social services have been devastated and normal economic activity has stopped altogether.
Over recent weeks, a level of calm has returned to Guinea-Bissau following the signing of a peace agreement on 1 November 1998. With the assumption that hostilities are over, the United Nations Disaster Management Team for Guinea-Bissau, comprising the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), World Health Organization (WHO) and Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in collaboration with other humanitarian partners, have developed a Common Humanitarian Action Plan, which aims to provide aid that will enable the people of Guinea-Bissau to recover and return to the path of development.
In the immediate term, the provision of emergency medical assistance is critical to minimize the risk of disease and epidemics. The availability of clean water and an improvement of sanitary conditions in urban and heavily populated areas are vital to protect the lives of the most vulnerable. Given the key role of agriculture in Guinea-Bissau's economy, urgent support to this sector is essential to support food production capacity and to reduce dependency on external food aid. The appeal requests international donor funding to address these areas of humanitarian concern.
Copies of the appeal document may be requested from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs/Complex Emergency Response Branch, by e-mail on: erlinda.umali@dha.unicc.org. The document is also available on OCHA's website: http://www.reliefweb.int/.
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