The Hindu : International : U.N. launches $1-billion relief effort

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 07, 2005

International

International

U.N. launches $1-billion relief effort

By P. S. Suryanarayana

JAKARTA, JAN. 6. The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, today announced the launching of a new tsunami relief effort for "a focused set of programmes", estimated to cost about a $ 1 billion, and allayed concerns that the military assets, which the "core group" was now deploying in some of the disaster-hit areas close to the Straits of Malacca might remain in place even after the present crisis.

New initiative

The new U.N. initiative for specific projects in regard to Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, the Seychelles and Somalia, will supplement the current level of aid commitments that have already been made by a number of countries and organisations independent of the world body. The total of such aid pledges, made prior to the U.N.'s latest move, is variously estimated at between $ 2 billions and $ 5 billions.

Speaking at the one-day emergency summit on the tsunami crisis, being organised here as a major multilateral event under the auspices of the Association of South East Asian Nations, Mr. Annan unveiled the outlines of the new U.N. package and made an appeal to the international community for contributions.

India was represented at the summit by the External Affairs Minister, K. Natwar Singh. The other participants include the Prime Ministers of China and Japan, Wen Jiabao and Junichiro Koizumi respectively, and the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell.

Core group

Later responding to a question from The Hindu on whether the U.N. was now taking over the tsunami relief effort from the "core group" - the United States, India, Japan and Australia - Mr. Annan told a news conference that "the U.N. is in the lead". Seeking to clear the impressions about the "core group", he said a few countries, "which have assets in the region, military or otherwise, came together to support the relief effort" in the immediate context of the earthquake-tsunami disaster that struck several countries over a week ago.

"That is why you see the U.S. military, Australia, Singapore, India coming together to provide logistical support". Mr. Annan said: "Without that essential contribution, it would have been extremely difficult for us (in the U.N.) to get to those in need, particularly those in remote areas. So, we are very grateful to the core group. ... But, yes, the U.N. is in the lead".

Answering a question about the long-term implications of the military presence of the U.S. and others in the "core group" in the affected areas in South East Asia, Mr. Annan said those countries had made it clear "the group will disband" after its tsunami-related humanitarian job was done.

The top U.N. official reaffirmed the importance of donor countries keeping their aid pledges.

Mr. Annan told the summit leaders at the plenary session that a Special Coordinator, Margareta Wahlstrom, would oversee the U.N. humanitarian effort in the tsunami-struck region. The overall U.N. initiative would be led by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland. The Chair of the U.N. Development Group would coordinate the U.N. effort with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

He said today's appeal was "in addition to the $ 59 millions which our partners in the Red Cross and Red Crescent have asked for". The U.N. would need a total of $ 977 millions to cover the humanitarian emergency needs of an estimated five million people. Some of the sums needed for specific purposes were as follows: $ 229 millions for food and agriculture, $122 millions for health care, $ 61 millions for basic amenities, $ 222 millions for shelter and other non-food items and $ 110 millions for the early restoration of livelihoods.

Providing updates on the tsunami trail of destruction, the top U.N. official said the death toll was likely to exceed 150,000. At least half a million people were injured, more than a million displaced, nearly two million persons now stood in need of food aid and many more required basic necessities.

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