Central African Republic: Donors promise increased attention
(New York: 23 February 2006):
At a donor meeting for humanitarian aid to the poverty-stricken
Central African Republic (C.A.R.) many Governments present made assurances
that they would pay greater attention to the crisis, although no new financial
commitments were made. The meeting was held in the Cameroonian capital
Yaoundé on 20 February 2006. "We knew that funding decisions are
not made in the field, and were sceptical that new pledges were going to
be made on this occasion," said Maurizio Giuliano of the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). He added,
however, that assurances received from several traditional donors, who
promised to advocate for their Capitals to allocate funding to the crisis,
were a positive sign.
The meeting focused on the Humanitarian
Appeal 2006 under the OCHA-led Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP), which
requests just over USD 46 million. Donors to past appeals, launched
since 2003, included Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands,
Norway, Sweden, the United States, and the World Bank. Nevertheless,
appeals have always been funded below 40%. In 2005, the largest donors
were UN agencies themselves, through the allocation of unearmarked funds
- meaning that essential humanitarian projects could not take off unless the UN made internal financial contributions, which occurs in cases of extreme need, when donors fail to meet funding requirements.
In a display of attention by the international community, some non-traditional donors including Israel and Saudi Arabia participated in the meeting. Israel made an in-kind donation of medical supplies during the August 2005 floods, while the United Arab Emirates made a similar commitment in December 2005.
Hosted by the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Cameroon, Sophie De Caen, and chaired by acting Humanitarian Coordinator Joseph Foumbi of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), the meeting was attended by six UN agencies based in Bangui as well as Yaoundé-based UNESCO, twenty governments, and a number of other entities and NGOs. A media briefing was held after the event.
"The ongoing refugee outflow from C.A.R. is alarming, and funding is urgently needed to respond to their immediate needs," stated United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative Bruno Geddo. "In the meantime, the UN Country Team has agreed to provide food and non-food items to an initial 2,000 people displaced by violence, and to facilitate their return to their villages if they feel it is safe to do so," he added.
For further information, please contact:
Maurizio Giuliano, Public Information
Officer, Office of the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, C.A.R.
Email: giuliano@un.org; Tel: +236-031825
Stephanie Bunker, Spokesperson, Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), New York
Email: bunker@un.org; Tel: +1-212-9175126
Elizabeth Byrs, Spokesperson, Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Geneva
Email: byrs@un.org; Tel: +41-22-9172653