UN Humanitarian Agencies Seek $69 Million for Liberia

NEW YORK, New York, August 7, 2003 (ENS) - United Nations humanitarian agencies requested $69 million in emergency assistance for Liberia Wednesday at UN Headquarters in New York. "Liberia's civil war has degenerated into a human catastrophe of horrific proportions," the agencies said in their appeal for funds.

They described the situation as a "total breakdown in law and order, indiscriminate shelling of crowded urban areas, gross human rights abuses, rape, forced conscription of children, abductions and killings. Severe shortages of food, water, medicine, sanitation and shelter persist and communicable diseases, such as cholera, are increasing," the appeal states.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan responded in a message read out by his Special Representative Jacques Klein, saying, "The logic of this emergency appeal is simple: without urgent action more lives will be lost."

Today, the number of Nigerian peacekeeping soldiers in Liberia neared 500 as the UN Mission in Sierra Leone airlifted 40 soldiers, vehicles, tents and ammunition into the war torn country. The airlift program began Monday, and is expected to continue as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leads the efforts to enforce a ceasefire and clear the way for the distribution of food and medicine to hundreds of thousands of people, the UN said.

Liberian man injured in the fighting rests at the JFK hospital complex in Monrovia, the only hospital still operating in the city. (Photo courtesy International Committee of the Red Cross)

The appeal sets forth a plan to reduce malnutrition, restore supplies of clean water, provide basic shelter and health care, curb the spread of deadly diseases such as cholera, and protect fundamental human rights.

It provides for additional needs caused by recent hostilities, as well as outstanding requirements of the original appeal launched in November 2002. With the exception of food aid, less than 22 percent of the original has been received. New projects, including water trucking, health promotion and the reintegration of former child combatants, have been added to respond to increased humanitarian needs.

Carolyn McAskie, the deputy to the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and deputy emergency relief coordinator, said, in view of the seriousness of the current Liberian situation, it is critical that the international community respond to the renewed appeal as urgently as they had done in Iraq, where $2 billion was raised.

"Can we also raise a modest $69 million for Liberia?" she asked.

Displaced women and children in Liberia (Photo courtesy UN Development Programme)

McAskie said the deployment of humanitarian assistance had begun as of Wednesday, involving United Nations agencies as well as other government and non-governmental humanitarian organizations such as the United Nations Children's Fund, representatives of the U.S. government, the Committee of the International Red Cross, and Doctors Without Borders.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported that its supply ship arrived off the coast of the capital Monrovia today, carrying three tons of high protein biscuits and six humanitarian workers - five from WFP and one from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

An assessment by Secretary-General Annan of the recently imposed timber sanctions on Liberia released today in New York has determined that the embargo will have an impact on the country only when the security environment does not already preclude logging and timber exports.

Annan reports that a newly reconstituted timber industry in Liberia - built on pillars of accountability and transparency - could be a driving force for economic growth and sustainable development in the country. "This however will be feasible only in the absence of widespread conflict," he writes, adding that the current sanctions could provide necessary "breathing space" for the reorientation of the industry.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (Photo courtesy UN)

The ban was prompted because the Liberian government had not shown that revenue from the timber industry was used for legitimate social, humanitarian and development purposes.

The timber sanctions will have an impact on the national economy and the job market, Annan writes. His report estimates that the timber industry paid $13 million to the Liberian government in 2002, 18 percent of its revenue. Some 5,000 to 8,000 timber workers would lose their jobs under the sanctions and secondary employment opportunities the industry created in the logging and port areas where timber companies operated would likely be curtailed.

Annan notes that in the health sector, timber sanctions will eliminate the limited health care that was provided by some of the logging companies. The sanctions will probably result initially in reduced food security at the household level for timber employees and their dependents affected by the ban.