SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES GENEROUS SUPPORT TO MEET ACUTE HUMANITARIAN NEEDS IN 2003 CONSOLIDATED INTER-AGENCY APPEALS

                                                                  SG/SM/8506

                                                                  IHA/748

                                                                  19 November2002

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES GENEROUS SUPPORT TO MEET ACUTE HUMANITARIAN NEEDS

IN 2003 CONSOLIDATED INTER-AGENCY APPEALS

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan concerning the Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals for 2003:

The Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals for 2003 seek $3 billion to provide food, shelter, medicine and other life-saving assistance to 50 million victims of conflict, natural disaster and other emergencies.

The countries and regions covered by this year's appeal are Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Indonesia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, the countries of southern Africa, Sudan, Tajikistan, Uganda, Chechnya and neighbouring republics (Russian Federation) and the occupied Palestinian territory.

These are all places where humanitarian needs are especially acute -- where there has been extensive violence and/or loss of life, prolonged drought, massive displacements of people, disruption of economic activities and widespread damage to infrastructure.  Such devastation and despair can only be addressed through large-scale, multi-faceted humanitarian assistance.

The Secretary-General calls on the international community to support all the appeals in their entirety.  He urges donor countries to contribute generously, on the basis of need, to ensure that aid is fairly allocated among countries and sectors.  And he calls for redoubled efforts to address the root causes of conflict and other crises, so that people gain not only relief from their most immediate distress, but also hope for full recovery, development and the resumption of normal life.

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