Togo: crisis funding falls short as refugees continue arriving in Benin

A $5.95 million six-month emergency appeal, launched more then four weeks ago to respond to the Togolese refugee crisis, has thus far failed to garner significant interest from international donors even as refugees continue arriving daily in neighbouring Benin, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.

The crisis began more than six weeks ago when disputed presidential elections prompted the first wave of displacements, the OCHA statement said.

Benin is currently housing some 21,000 Togolese refugees – nearly half of them children. To meet their needs, the Government of Benin, together with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, called for urgent humanitarian assistance on 13 May 2005. But to date there has been no response under the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP), OCHA said.

CAP is an emergency response programme cycle used by agencies working with relevant authorities at field level, coordinated by the UN, and supported by donors, to give people in need the best available protection and assistance when they need it most.

Some support has materialized outside the CAP however. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reported that the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO) has committed 1.05 million euros to its work. However, UNHCR has already had to allocate $1.5 million from its operational reserves to meet refugee requirements, the OCHA statement said.

It said outside contributions have also been recorded for Egypt, France and Sweden.