United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Sudan

United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Sudan

January - December 1999

OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS (OCHA)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The 1999 Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Sudan describes the emergency needs of the more than four million war and drought-affected Sudanese living in southern Sudan, the transitional zone and the displaced camps and settlements in the greater Khartoum area which United Nations (UN) Agencies will attempt to meet during 1999. The aim of the 24 projects, totaling US$ 198,430,939 which are presented in the Appeal is to meet the survival needs and strengthen the resiliency of war-affected and displaced persons through a combination of short and medium-term interventions.

During the next twelve months, humanitarian conditions in some of the areas worst hit by famine are expected to slowly stabilise. The crisis, as of 1998 however, could rapidly develop again if renewed hostilities or natural disasters were to result in massive displacement and crop failure. In the areas served by Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), the number of vulnerable people is projected to decline slightly from 1998 although the number of areas suffering acute needs or on the threshold of crisis will rise. During 1999, more specific locations are at risk of developing into disaster zones than at any previous time in OLS history.

Of particular concern is the Bahr Al Ghazal region where hundreds of thousands of famine victims who lost all of their assets last year and were unable to cultivate have no visible means of livelihood. In western Upper Nile, persistent insecurity caused by intra-factional fighting has caused mass displacement and limited the presence of humanitarian agencies. Conditions in this area are fragile and could deteriorate into famine unless populations are stabilised and humanitarian coverage expanded.