60% United Nations deficit to provide assistance to millions of Sudanese

Moatinoon
The Director of External Relations at UNHCR, Dominic Hyde, revealed a funding shortfall of more than 60% to provide assistance to about 18 million people inside Sudan.

At todays press conference at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Hyde said, "The appeal for separate and earmarked funding for humanitarian needs within the Sudan continues to be funded by a proportion not exceeding one third of the amount required. It seeks to reach 18.1 million people and requires US 2.6 billion in funding."

It revealed significant pressures on basic services in displaced persons camps owing to increasing numbers. She warned of the disastrous health situation of displaced people in shelter camps, noting that 1,200 children under the age of five had died in the White Nile State, which she had recently visited, due to the outbreak of measles and malnutrition.

The United Nations official noted that failure to provide urgent assistance to the civilian population within the Sudan would prompt them to continue crossing into neighbouring States, noting that failure to assist those States would lead refugees to endanger their lives by putting themselves at the mercy of people smugglers and making dangerous, long and dangerous journeys.