International community gives cold shoulder to Togo refugee crisis funds

Accra, 15 June, GNA - The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) on Wednesday said the international community had shown apathy towards a 5.95 million dollars emergency fund launched to support the Togolese refugees. It said the appeal had failed to garner interest from international donors.

The appeal launched more than four weeks ago by the Government of Benin, together with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which called for urgent humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of the refugees, had receive no response under the Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP).

A statement from the United Nations Information Centre said Togolese refugees continued to arrive daily in neighbouring Benin. Benin is currently housing some 21,000 Togolese refugees, with nearly half of them being children.

According to the statement, the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO) had committed 1.05 million euros, while the UNHCR had allocated 1.5 million dollars to meet refugee requirements. Other contributors are Egypt, France and Sweden.