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| Friday, 07 January 2005 |
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UN in total control of relief work UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appealed Thursday for almost one billion dollars in cash to tackle the immediate aftermath of the tsunami disaster, as the United States agreed to hand the world body total control of the relief effort. At an emergency world summit in Jakarta which brought together leaders from 26 nations and international organisations, Annan told them that 977 million dollars was required now to implement specific programmes to deal with the catastrophe which has killed at least 146,000 people and left millions more homeless and hungry. More than four billion dollars in aid has been pledged by individual governments but with humanitarian groups warning the death toll could double unless help urgently reaches those most in need, Annan said the offers must become reality soon. "Many of the pledges have come to us in cash and in kind. We need the rest of the pledges to be converted into cash quickly," said Annan. "We also need more people and more material to get the aid to those who are most in need, often in remote areas." "For the United Nations, it is the largest natural disaster the organisation has had to respond to on behalf of the world community, in the 60 years of our existence," Annan said. The December 26 earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island triggered giant waves which battered the coast of 11 Indian Ocean nations. The worst hit area was Indonesia's Aceh province, but tens of thousands of people also died in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States was dissolving the "core group" of nations it formed last week to expedite aid for victims of the disaster. The group - comprising the US, Japan, Australia and India - would now work under the United Nations after having "served its purpose" in catalyzing relief efforts, he said. "It will now fold itself into the broader coordination efforts of the United Nations as the entire international community works to support the nations who have suffered this tragedy," Powell told the summit. The group had been criticised by some for usurping the UN's relief co-ordination role, but Powell said Annan "can count on our full support". The United States' top diplomat also said Washington would likely boost its aid commitment from 350 million dollars already promised. The international outpouring of generosity since the tsunamis battered coastlines around the Indian Ocean continued unabated. The European Union Thursday pledged an extra 350 million euros, or 461 million dollars, bringing to roughly two billion dollars the bloc's total commitment, while the Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced 350 million dollars in new aid. The world's richest nations have been falling over each other to offer the largest pledges for tsunami victims, but there are fears the rather unseemly bidding war will fail to produce actual aid. |
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