Crisp looking clothes, eh?
Posted on 01/06/2005 7:40:18 PM PST by Pikamax
Appeal shows UN determined to take dominant role in relief
NGOs unhappy at insufficient recognition
Owen Bowcott Friday January 7, 2005 The Guardian
Kofi Annan's appeal for $977m (£521m) to be channelled towards UN-led emergency aid programmes was welcomed yesterday as a sign that the organisation was getting to grips with the scale of the disaster. The detailed figures, presented to the one-day summit in Jakarta by the secretary general, mark the UN's determination to adopt a more dominant role in coordinating international relief operations.
Publication of the UN plans coincided with a decision by the Americans to disband the informal alliance - which had included India, Australia and Japan - assembled in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami crisis.
So far, between $3bn and $4bn has been promised in aid to repair the devastated coastal communities around the Indian Ocean rim. A significant slice of that money, Mr Annan hopes, will be handed over to UN agencies.
He praised the pledges made but pleaded that they should be honoured and quickly translated into readily available funds. "We also need more people and more material to get to those most in need, often in remote areas," he said.
"We have a duty to the survivors ... to treat the wounded, to prevent further suffering as a result of polluted drinking water, destroyed infrastructure, lack of food, clothing and shelter. [We must] stop the tsunami from being followed by a second wave of death, this time from preventable causes. And in the longer term, to prevent a third wave of despair, where people cannot recover their livelihoods, homes or communities."
The UN secretary general said that the $977m had to be delivered within the next six months to meet basic humanitarian needs for an estimated 5 million people injured, bereaved and made homeless. The money will in clude $229m for food and agriculture, $172m for healthcare, $61m for water and sanitation, $222m for shelter and $110m towards economic recovery.
British aid agencies, while broadly welcoming the UN's resolution, said they were worried that the role of NGOs had not been sufficiently recognised or integrated into relief plans.
"We think that a regional coordinating mandate for the UN is a good thing," said Judith Melby of Christian Aid yesterday. "It's crucial that money pledges are delivered. Once the international spotlight has gone, who will hold the governments to account?
"There was, however, no mention at the summit about the work of NGOs, yet we are the ones involved in distributing emergency aid and support for long-term rehabilitation. There should be far more coordination and more involvement with [voluntary] agencies."
Oxfam's policy director, James Ensor, who is in Indonesia, said: "Global leaders have rightly come to the table in Jakarta pledging substantial long-term aid. The real test will be to ensure that these promises are kept.
"Ordinary people around the world have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to assist the tsunami survivors. They have every right to be outraged if their governments' promises made in Jakarta do not materialise. Money pledged must be new money, not diverted from existing development programmes or humanitarian crises such as in Sudan."
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, who attended the Jakarta summit, agreed that "the ... difficult part is to ensure that the money pledged is first paid and secondly is then spent wisely and in a coordinated way".
"We have got a very good record on that," he told BBC radio. "We have been unwilling to get involved in a bidding war with other nations who may be able to make, as it were, better headlines."
The meeting also discussed extending debt relief to nations hit by the tsunami but reached no decision on what action to take. Tsunami-affected countries collectively owe the rich world in excess of $300bn.
I guess his latest entry implies Jakarta is his station not Colombo as some have said.
http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/
ping
http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/
They have a new article up..mentions the Guardian!
All this tells me is that Kofi has spent all of his oil-for-food money.
http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/
snip
"Along with my colleagues, I've spent the past several days dealing non-stop with various aspects of the relief effort in this tsunami-affected country. That work, unfortunately, has brought ever-increasing contact with the growing UN presence in this capital; in fact, we've found that to avoid running into the UN, we must go out to where the quake and tsunami actually hit. As we come up on two weeks since the disaster struck, the UN is still not to be seen where it counts -- except when holding well-staged press events. Ah, yes, but the luxury hotels are full of UN assessment teams and visiting big shots from New York, Geneva, and Vienna. The city sees a steady procession of UN Mercedes sedans and top-of-the-line SUV's -- a fully decked out Toyota Landcruiser is the UN vehicle of choice; it doesn't seem that concerns about "global warming" and preserving your tax dollars run too deep among the UNocrats."
snip
This is going to be the end for the UN.
Ping
Kofi arrives to announce "give me your money now". I bet he hasn't been within 10 miles of the beach.
All Kofi cares about his getting his money, he views natural disasters as nothing more than a huge opportunity to further enrich himself.
No it won't..Its fraud isn't really recognized by most and if they know..many consider it OK, because it had an idealistic goal..and it's the thought that counts..Others derive power from it that they will not give up..I am outraged.
Crisp looking clothes, eh?
I don't think so; as I said on another thread, he wanted to be in charge; well, now he is.
For all the world to see.
Lord, I hope so, but Holbrooke is trying to save Annan's bacon.
Ah yes, I watched Annan's presser this morning. Asking for a billion dollars like he actually expects countries are dumb enough to give it to him. Maybe france and germany will do it, but for the most part countries will do as Australia is planning on doing, administering their money themselves.
"Kofi Annan's appeal for $977m (£521m) to be channelled towards UN-led emergency aid programmes..."Just sad for the people that hurt from this complete sham.
On 101.5 NJ radio today.
They were talking about the orphans being black marketed for $50.00. Some freepers mentioned that on threads these past few days.
What I didn't know and heard on the radio is the Federal Gov gives US citizens $15,000 per year for 3 years to adopt international children over US orphans.
What I didn't know and heard on the radio is the Federal Gov gives US
citizens $15,000 per year for 3 years to adopt international children
over US orphans.
>>>>>>>>>>
Is there no end of the little acts to take over this country?
Now they are using babies.
This is too much, they want the American babies freely
aborted, so the "world's babies" will be adopted.
Kofi sees 100,000 people see dead as a profit opportunity.
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