Print version Email to a friend

Humanitarian aid groups need $173 mln for Ivory Coast –UN

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:46 GMT

Source: alertnet // Loucoumane Coulibaly

A child carries his foster sister on his back at a temporary camp set up at a Catholic church in Diokoue, May 8, 2011. REUTERS/Thierry Gouegnon

By Loucoumane Coulibaly

ABIDJAN (AlertNet) – Aid agencies need $173 million for humanitarian activities in Ivory Coast, including for the return and resettlement of tens of thousands of refugees who fled 2010-2011 post-electoral violence there, the United Nations’ deputy emergency relief coordinator said on Monday.

Catherine Bragg, who is visiting the country to assess the humanitarian situation one year after a post-electoral crisis that caused widespread displacements, urged donors to respond to the appeals for humanitarian aid.

She said U.N. agencies and non-governmental organisations need the funds to run projects that would give people access to education, clean water, sanitation and for early recovery activities mainly in return zones.

There were 160,000 Ivorian refugees in neighbouring countries, 169,000 living with host families and in camps within the country, and about 65,000 children unable to access education as of the end of last year, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

“It is important to provide humanitarian assistance,” Bragg said.

The humanitarian response will focus on the west and south-western regions of the country that were hardest hit by violence and displacements during the conflict that between late 2010 and early 2011 killed more than 3,000 people.

Bragg will undertake a field trip to western Ivory Coast (including the localities of Guiglo, Blolequin and Duékoué) where she will visit internally displaced persons camps and villages where returnees from neighbouring countries have established their homes.

She has also urged Ivorian authorities to step up efforts to improve the security situation in the country.

There are still underlying tensions rooted in political and ethnic differences and disputes over land, particularly in the west and southwest of the country where there have been sporadic inter-communal clashes, although full-blown fighting ended in April.

Last year’s fighting was sparked by former president Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to cede power to Alassane Ouattara after losing an election in November 2010.

(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)