UN releases emergency aid reserves after 'brutal' cuts from donors

The UN has released $110m (R2.01bn) from an emergency fund to help neglected crises around the world, including Sudan, after donors such as the US ordered major cuts.

The UN forecasts funding levels, which were dwindling long before US President Donald Trump ordered foreign aid frozen in January, are projected to drop to a record low this year.

The Trump administration announced last month it was cancelling nearly 10,000 foreign aid grants and contracts worth almost $60bn (R1.1-trillion), ending about 90% of the US Agency for International Development global work.

Other donors such as Britain have also announced cuts as countries face growing pressure to boost defence spending.

“For countries battered by conflict, climate change and economic turmoil, brutal funding cuts don't mean humanitarian needs disappear,” said Tom Fletcher, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator.

The UN is seeking $45bn (R826.03bn) in 2025 to help about 185-million people fleeing conflict and battling starvation in what Fletcher described as “an unprecedented level of suffering”. So far it has received just 5% of this.

The money released from the Central Emergency Response Fund will go towards underfunded and neglected crises in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the UN said. About a third of the money will go to support Sudan, where nearly two years of civil war has triggered a huge displacement of people and a hunger crisis, and neighbouring Chad which has taken in more than a million Sudanese refugees.

Other recipients include Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Niger and Somalia.