GENEVA : A Disappointing Effort
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Faced with a disastrous deficit in contributions of both money and food for United Nations relief operations in the Persian Gulf region, Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar will convene top officials of the flagging rescue effort in Switzerland on Wednesday.
Of $64 million in food requests, only $1 million has been pledged, Philippe Boulle of the New York office of the U.N. Disaster Relief Coordinator, reported last weekend. Only $4.5 million in cash had been received toward a goal of $35 million needed to send 400 to 500 U.N. guards to the Kurdish areas in northern Iraq. Without the guards, relief workers fear that Kurds may flee their homes again and seek refuge on the Turkish border.
The session will also include the heads of major voluntary relief agencies such as the International Red Cross.
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