U.N. needs 434 million dollars for Sudan’s humanitarian relief

NEW YORK, Aug 25, 2004 (dpa) — The United Nations said Wednesday it still needs 434 million dollars to meet the most urgent humanitarian demands by the Sudanese people through the end of the year, including those in the conflict areas in the western region of Darfur.

The U.N. coordinator for humanitarian affairs in Sudan, Manuel Aranda Da Silva, said international response to the original appeal for 722 million dollars for 2004 has come up short by 434 million dollars.

Da Silva said the urgent needs include providing basic food supplies, protecting the more than 1.2 million people displaced by fighting in Darfur and the returning of refugees and their integration into society.

He said a programme to assist other Sudanese affected by war in southern Sudan is in peril because governments have given a mere 17 million dollars of a total of 153 million dollars. That amount is part of the total appeal for 722 million dollars.

Da Silva said an estimated 100,000 Sudanese who took refuge in the north have returned to the south in advance of a peace agreement between Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). Their conflict is decades-old.

The U.N. reported that 50 refugee returnees died from starvation this month in the south as they have had to share the scarce resources available. It said more returnees are expected next month when the rainy season will end.