EMBARGOED TO THE MEDIA UNTIL TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER 2003, 1100 HRS NEW YORK TIME

Sudan

Consolidated Appeal
(Summary of 2004 Consolidated Appeal for the Sudan Assistance Programme, launched in November 2003)

Remaining Humanitarian requirements for Sudan until 31 December 2004

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This document, Remaining humanitarian requirements for Sudan until 31 December 2004, consolidates and summarizes the United Nation’s programmatic requirements for the remainder of 2004 to address the following three priorities:

• Provide life-saving and life-sustaining assistance and protection to IDPs and host communities in Darfur;
• Provide assistance to spontaneous returnees and immediate reintegration in South Sudan;
• Ensure that remaining life-saving and life-sustaining humanitarian needs in the rest of Sudan are met.

The total amount sought for priority projects is US$ 722 million of which US$ 434 million is still unmet as of August 2004. Overall requirements for each of the three priorities are outlined in the table below (see Annex V for further details).

Revision of the Sudan Assistance Programme (ASAP 2004): Darfur crisis

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Since the issue of the Greater Darfur Special Initiative (GDSI) on 15 September 2003, the humanitarian situation in the region has deteriorated due to the breakdown of the ceasefire in December 2003 and the resulting intensification of the conflict and impunity for abuses of International Humanitarian Law. These resulted in increased displacement in the region and to neighbouring Chad, as well as a rise in the overall level of vulnerability of the entire population. The situation of the affected population has not been adequately addressed by the international aid community because of a very restrictive policy of travel permits for aid workers, further exacerbating the situation.
Against the backdrop of these worrying trends, this March 2004 ASAP Revision: Darfur Crisis presents a situation analysis and additional planned programmes with requirements in the amount of US$ 136,039,595¹ to meet assessed humanitarian needs in Darfur that have emerged since the submission of the ASAP in October 2003. These requirements complement and update existing projects and programmes with targeted interventions in Greater Darfur already included in the ASAP 2004.
Because of the urgent additional assessed needs for the worsening Darfur crisis, the original requirements in the Consolidated Appeal for the Sudan Assistance Programme of US$ 465,480,905 (since increased to US$ 503,654,447) now increase to a total of US$ 639,694,042.²

Footnotes:
1 This figure is greater than the originally published new requirements for Darfur (March 2004) because of the addition in April 2004 of a new UNICEF/WFP project for $22,528,000, described below on p. 28.
2 Humanitarian needs are evolving elsewhere in Sudan as well. A further ASAP revision for humanitarian activities outside Darfur is expected in the coming weeks, which together with this revision for Darfur will bring the total revised ASAP 2004 requirement to an estimated US$ 665 million.
 

SUMMARY

Vulnerable, awaiting peace

The people of Sudan continue to face widespread and multi-faceted insecurity. The fragility and vulnerability of the country are highlighted by the sharp escalation of the conflict in the Darfur region. The impact of this violence on the civilian population has been disastrous. Over 1 million people have been affected since August 2003, including over 600,000 who have fled their homes for other parts of Darfur, and almost 100,000 refugees who have arrived in neighbouring Chad. With limited access and insufficient resources, humanitarian needs in Darfur are overwhelming and largely unmet, while the future situation looks increasingly grim unless immediate action is taken to cease violence, and protect and assist civilians.

Darfur is the latest chapter in Sudan’s long history of conflict and natural disasters that have strained the coping mechanisms of the most vulnerable. This follows two decades of conflict between the Government of Sudan (GoS) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement / Army (SPLM/A), alongside secondary conflicts and periodic natural calamities.

Although an additional one million needy people received help in 2003 following a cessation of hostilities and an agreement on humanitarian access in 2002, these important gains are at risk of being offset by the worsening humanitarian situation in the Darfur region, which serves to reflect the extreme fragility of the humanitarian situation in the country. 

Expectations for peace between the GoS and the SPLM/A are high, as the ongoing conflict has been the principal source of suffering of Sudanese people. Except for a brief peace from 1972 to 1983, Sudan has been plagued by civil war since independence.

An estimated two million people have died as a result of the fighting between the two parties, and an incalculable number have suffered from associated disruptions to their livelihoods and denial of basic services.

Sudan has the largest displaced population in the world with some 3-4 million IDPs and an additional 500,000 Sudanese refugees abroad.

Human rights violations are widespread, and a large majority of Sudanese women are victims of female genital mutilation.

These conditions have been compounded by consecutive years of drought and periodic flooding, which have destroyed many lives and livelihoods.

'Normal' conditions in Sudan, particularly the large areas of southern Sudan worst affected by conflict, fall well below accepted global norms of vulnerability and poverty.

The national average for acute malnutrition is 19 per cent, and in areas worst affected by conflict and drought it can reach 40 per cent.

Comprehensive plan

In this context, the Consolidated Appeal for the Sudan Assistance Programme for 2004 offers a comprehensive assistance package designed to achieve real progress toward internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals.

The programme is the culmination of collaborative efforts of international partners and Sudanese counterparts to offer a prioritized and broadly defined strategic plan.

Recognizing the evolving context, assistance interventions have been designed to meet urgent humanitarian needs (such as in Darfur) as well as to support transitional recovery and thereby help consolidate peace. In particular, the appeal includes special initiatives designed to strengthen Sudanese participation and capacity.

Priorities in 2004 will be to:

• Meet ongoing basic survival needs and expectations through parallel humanitarian action and quick start / peace impact initiatives as well as support transition to sustainable recovery through capacity building
• Focus on reducing extreme poverty and hunger (Millennium Development Goal 1) as well as supporting human rights, peace building and governance.

The Consolidated Appeal for 2004 will feed into the Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) which will be undertaken in two parts from January – May 2004. The JAM, which will be co-led by UNDP (on behalf of the UN system) and the World Bank, will provide an assessment of rehabilitation and transitional recovery needs focused on the first two years of the Interim Period, and an outline framework for reconstruction and recovery over the full Interim Period based on progressing toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  

Request  

The agencies request a total of US$ 465,480,905 to implement 160 projects. Donors may wish to fund projects and programmes included in this Appeal bilaterally, or through the Transition Funding Modality (TFM). Recently established, the TFM involves a Capacity Building Trust Fund handled by UNICEF for SPLM areas and a Transition Recovery Trust Fund handled by UNDP for GOS areas.

 For further information on the UN system in the Sudan (and in particular the JAM and the TFM) please visit: www.unsudanig.org.

Funding Requirements in 2004
(US$)