Geneva, Dec 14, 2012 (AFP)
The United Nations on Friday appealed for $8.5 billion to help some 51 million people engulfed in 16 major crises around the world during 2013, not including the civil war in Syria.
In 2012, the U.N. had appealed for $7.7 billion (5.9 billion euros) to help about the same number of people, although the world body increased its appeal mid-year to $8.9 billion.
While formidable, Friday’s appeal falls short of the more than $10 billion requested for aid in 2010, a year marked by the devastating Haiti earthquake and massive flooding in Pakistan.
In 2013, the three countries set to receive the largest chunks of the pot are Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, which suffered severe underfunding of aid projects this year.
“Mali is affected by an unprecedented political, security and humanitarian crisis,” the U.N. said Friday, stressing it would need $370 million for the country next year — 73 percent more than it asked for in 2012 — to help nearly four million people.
Other countries set for U.N. aid next year are: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Yemen, Chad, Afghanistan, Niger, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, the Central African Republic and the Philippines.
The occupied Palestinian territory is also on the list.
Aid for Syria, ravaged by a 21-month conflict that according to activists has killed at least 42,000 people, was not included in Friday’s appeal.
The U.N. is set to launch two separate appeals next week to help the people inside the war-torn country, where an estimated 2.5 million people currently need aid, and to assist that swelling number of Syrians fleeing the country.
More than a half million Syrians are now registered as refugees in neighboring countries and North Africa.
