The Sudan Work Plan will be launched on Dec. 11, and the total cost of this plan is estimated to be $2.2 billion, with the cost for the Darfur region hovering around $825 million. The costs include early recovery and development projects.
An IRIN report
states that United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes has said that the cost of providing humanitarian operations in Darfur during 2008 is estimated to be $825 million (US).
On Dec. 11, 2007, the Sudan Work Plan will be launched. The Sudan work plan which includes the UN and some non-governmental organizations will go beyond humanitarian relief and include early recovery and development projects.
The Sudan Work Plan covers the whole of the Sudan and its total cost is estimated to be $2.2 billion.
In 2007, the appeal for the humanitarian component was $1.8 billion US and to date $1 billion US has been received.
“We do want to see people return to their places of origin and resume their normal lives as early as possible,” Holmes said recently in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, at the end of a three-day visit to the country. “But returns should only take place where they are genuinely voluntary.”
The past few weeks have witnessed numerous violent actions, and government troops in November have been accused of attempting to force Internally Displaced Persons ( IDPs) to leave Otash camp in South Darfur.
The Wali, or governor, of South Darfur State, Ali Mahmoud Mohammed expelled the regional head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Wael Al-Haj Ibrahim shortly after the Otash incident. The reasons for this expulsion remain unknown.
The Sudanese government and the UN have been at odds when it comes to how secure the region is. Government officials are adamant that the area is becoming increasingly stable, while the UN and several NGOs feeling the security situation is declining.
“When we asked the IDPs whether it’s safe to return – including some of those I met yesterday – most of them said no; this is a very important part of the [security] discussion,” Holmes said.
This year to date, 128 vehicles belonging to the UN and NGOs operating in Darfur have been hijacked with 13 in November alone. Iin addition 74 humanitarian convoys have been attacked in one way or another.
