UN releases $100m for aid operations in 9 countries

United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon on Friday, released 100 million dollars from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for severely underfunded aid operations in nine neglected emergencies.

Ban Ki Moon

The funds will enable life-saving help for millions of people forced from their homes in Central and Eastern Africa.

It is also for those affected by conflict and food insecurity in Libya and Mali, and the most vulnerable who are at risk of malnutrition in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Ban in a statement said: “I am allocating 100 million dollars from the Central Emergency Response Fund to meet critical humanitarian needs in nine underfunded emergencies.

“This funding is a lifeline for the world’s most vulnerable people. It is a concrete demonstration of our shared commitment to leave no one behind,” Ban said.

According to the statement, CERF is one of the fastest and most effective ways to support rapid humanitarian response.

“The Fund pools donor contributions into a single fund, so that money is available to start or continue urgent relief work anywhere in the world at the onset of emergencies.

“The fund is also for crises that have not attracted sufficient funding,” the statement added.

The UN said that some 64 million dollars from the CERF allocation will allow humanitarian partners to respond to the displacement crises in Central and Eastern Africa caused by conflict.

“The money will allow the partners reached people displaced by violence in South Sudan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“The funds will help an estimated 1.7 million refugees, internally displaced people and host communities in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda,” the UN said.

According to the UN, a further 28 million dollars will help relief agencies address the humanitarian needs of up to 350,000 people affected by conflict and food insecurity in Libya and Mali, where an estimated 300,000 people will be assisted, especially in the North.

An allocation of 8 million dollars will support urgent life-saving humanitarian assistance for more than 2.2 million vulnerable people in DPR Korea, including 1.8 million children who need urgent nutrition assistance.

“With so many crises competing for attention around the world, many people in need are forgotten,” said the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien.

Since 2006, the report says that the 125 UN member States and observers, private-sector donors and regional governments have supported the Fund.

To date, the report says that CERF has allocated almost 4.2 billion dollars for humanitarian operations in 94 countries and territories.