Ivory Coast needs cash bail out
2011-10-19 21:42
Geneva - Ivory Coast's recovery from post-electoral violence which killed more than 3 000 people and ruined the world's top cocoa grower is compromised by a cash crunch, UN officials said on Wednesday.
Appealing to donors for more aid, they stressed that there were more than 194 000 internally displaced people in the west African nation of whom over 25 000 were living rough in camps.
The United Nations estimates that more than 187 000 Ivorians are sheltered in neighbouring countries, and nearly 160 000 of them in neighbouring Liberia which is emerging from two devastating back-to-back civil wars spanning 14 years.
"The international community's backing is essential to meet the needs of the displaced and create conditions so that refugees can return with dignity and security," Ndolamb Ngokwey, the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator in Ivory Coast, told a news conference.
Max Hadorn from the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said "We have to have the means to react immediately."
Ivorian Employment Minister Gilbert Kafana Kone also appealed for urgent funding. He is on a European tour to get donations.
The UN had initially sought $292m and the United States has so far financed 31% of the entire sum.
- SAPA
