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

Sudan

CONSOLIDATED APPEAL

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$)