UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS WARNS OF SUDAN DISASTER; 600,000 PEOPLE AT IMMEDIATE RISK OF STARVATION

UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS WARNS OF SUDAN DISASTER;

600,000 PEOPLE AT IMMEDIATE RISK OF STARVATION

GENEVA, 23 February (OCHA) -- The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Kenzo Oshima, today expressed deep concern about the very poor response so far of the international donor community to a critical humanitarian situation developing in the Sudan, as a result of continuing conflict and the onset of severe drought.

Mr. Oshima noted that, in addition to the pressing survival needs of several million persons from displaced and vulnerable communities affected by war and conflict, widespread drought was now threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of others with possible further displacement.  This included pastoralists and farmers in central, western, and southern Sudan.

The Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for the Sudan, launched almost three months ago and recently revised to take account of the drought in central and western Sudan, had called for an amount of $244 million in food and other assistance to meet the emergency needs of these war- and drought-affected communities.  More than 600,000 of a total targeted population for the appeal of more than 3 million are assessed as being at immediate risk.  This will require urgent funding of at least $60 million.

Mr. Oshima noted that the response so far from the donor community amounted to little more than 1 per cent of this amount, and carry-over funds and supplies from the previous year were fast running out.  The World Food Programme (WFP) will have no food supplies to assist populations in need after March, with the critical hunger period beginning in April/May.  The United Nations Children's Fund will be unable to continue for much longer with present levels of emergency intervention in water/sanitation and health sectors.  A vital seeds distribution programme planned by the Food and Agriculture Organization is also threatened.

The Government of the Sudan was itself taking a lead in responding with available resources to a worsening humanitarian situation in respect of drought. But the potential scale of the emergency was such that the assistance of the international community was imperative if a human disaster were to be averted.

For further information, please contact:  Phyllis Lee, Tel. (212)963-4832 in New York, or Donato Kiniger-Passigli, Tel. 9172653 in Geneva.

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