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UN Donors, Afghan Ministers To Focus on Lack Of Funds - UN Finance - Global Policy Forum UN Donors, Afghan Ministers To Focus on Lack Of Funds
Agence France Presse
July 10, 2002UN donor countries are due to hold talks here on Thursday with Afghan ministers on a 838-million-dollar funding shortfall for humanitarian aid for Afghanistan.
Although the UN has appealed for 1.8 billion dollars for the war- and drought-stricken country, so far only just over 52 percent of the figure has been funded, the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. Ross Mountain, the UN's assistant emergency relief coordinator, has warned that despite a recent pick-up in contributions a humanitarian crisis could be looming if strong action is not taken urgently.
"Although funding has picked up slightly to our calls over the past six to seven weeks, the funding situation remains precarious enough to warrant strong and concerted efforts from donors and agencies if we are to avoid a humanitarian crisis in the coming months," he said in a written statement.
Norway is chairing the 15-nation 'Afghanistan Support Group', which will also meet representatives from Afghanistan's neighbouring countries, UN organisations and other intergovernmental and private humanitarian organisations.
Lakhdar Brahimi, special representative for Afghanistan of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and his deputy Nigel Fisher, as well as UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers are due to take part.
So far the United States has been the biggest single donor for overall humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan, with 398 million dollars.
Japan has given 116.7 million dollars and the European Commission 65.6 million dollars.
Thursday's meeting has been convened as an extraordinary meeting of the Afghanistan Support Group to focus on immediate needs. The group is scheduled to meet again in September, possibly in Geneva or Kabul, to look at the longer-term picture.
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