UNICEF warns funding shortfall for children in Sudan’s Darfur

Mar 17, 2006 (UNITED NATIONS) — Nearly 2 million children in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region are threatened by severe funding shortfalls, with only 11 percent of the urgently needed 89 million U.S. dollars either committed or pledged, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported Friday.

Sudanese displaced children are seen from inside a tent in the Internally Displaced Persons camp of Drage in Sudan’s southern Darfur region in 2004 .

With only 10.9 million dollars committed or pledged, 89 percent is still outstanding of the total funding UNICEF needs to operate in Darfur for the remainder of the year, UNICEF said in a statement, adding that it will run out of its present resources in a matter of months.

“Without significant and immediate funding, and given existing problems with security and access, the humanitarian crisis that was averted only last year will return,” UNICEF representative in Sudan Ted Chaiban was quoted as saying.

“Conflict in Darfur has entered its third year and is no longer front page news. UNICEF is sounding the alarm that lack of funding for essential water and sanitation, health, education and protection programs is an additional threat facing children.”

“Nearly 2 million children depend on our efforts to protect them from disease, from the effects of conflict and to provide opportunities for schooling,” Chaiban said.

Increased insecurity has already prevented aid agencies from reaching over a half million people, he said, adding that the number will grow if the funding shortage continues.

Peace talks in the Nigerian capital of Abuja have so far failed to end the conflict in Darfur, where fighting between government forces, pro-government militias and rebels have left tens of thousands of people dead and uprooted more than 2 million others over the past three years.

(Xinhua/ST)