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— The United Nations asked Wednesday for $7 billion (5.5 billion euros) to fund its humanitarian work around the world in 2009 — almost double last year's appeal as a result of soaring food prices and crises in Africa, among other factors.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged donor nations and private groups to support urgent aid for 30 million people in 31 countries who need drinking water, emergency shelter, medicines and other basic necessities of life.
"Our aim is to help these most vulnerable people survive the coming year," said Ban, who left Geneva on Wednesday morning after visiting the European headquarters of the United Nations.
Aid agencies have to spend more money to buy food, and more people need food aid because they cannot afford it anymore, said Robert Smith, an official with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Worsening humanitarian situations in countries such as Congo and Somalia — where an increasing number of people have suffered from droughts and violence this year — also contributed to the increase of the appeal, he said.
Ban said the global financial crisis had raised inevitable concerns that there could be a decline in humanitarian funding for 2009.
"I urge (U.N.) member states and private donors not to let that happen," he said.
This year's appeal was made on behalf of 360 aid organizations, including specialized U.N. agencies, non-governmental organizations and other international bodies — 172 more than last year.
It includes aid programs designed for the Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Congo, Iraq and surrounding countries, Kenya, the occupied Palestinian territories, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, the West African region and Zimbabwe.
Sudan is by far the country with the largest funding needs, at $2.2 billion (1.7 billion euros), followed by Somalia, at $919 million (726 million euros) and Congo, at $831 million (657 million euros).
Smith said aid programs in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region "continue to be very expensive."
Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, and officials have been unable to protect citizens from violence or the country's poverty. Eastern Congo has been unstable since millions of refugees spilled across the border from Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
"Millions of people continue to struggle with long-running conflicts, natural disasters, the effects of climate change and high food prices," U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said.
"The $7 billion that we seek equates to, for every $100 of national income in the rich countries, only a few cents of aid," he said in a statement.
Last year, the U.N. originally appealed for $3.8 billion to support 25 million people during 2008.
Disasters, such as the Myanmar cyclone in May and growing numbers of uprooted people and refugees from Iraq, led the U.N. to increase its total funding requirements for this year to $7 billion. The U.N. said it has received 67 percent of the funding needs.
