GENEVA: The head of the international Red Cross warned Tuesday that soaring food prices are exacerbating the misery of millions of poor people already suffering in war zones from Chad to Afghanistan.
The recent rise in food and fuel prices is making life even harder for poor people already struggling to cope with the effects of war and internal violence, said Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
This is especially the case in countries such as Chad, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Haiti, he added.
Despite price increases, Kellenberger said the ICRC intends to maintain its planned volume of relief distributions, supplies of drinking water and level of medical aid in the 52 countries where it helps civilian populations.
It is also extending aid to those left most vulnerable by the food crisis, for example by stepping up relief for conflict-affected communities in Yemen and Somalia.
The ICRC said it spent 944 million Swiss francs (?575 million) in 2007, with nearly half (45 percent) of field expenditure going to Africa and 21 percent to the Middle East.
Sudan was the largest single operation with a budget of 94 million Swiss francs, followed by Iraq (76.5 million), Israel and the Palestinian territories (61.4 million), Afghanistan (49.8 million) and Somalia (49.2 million).
It carried out water, sanitation and construction projects benefiting more than 14 million people, and supported healthcare facilities that treated nearly 2.9 million people, including supplies for large hospitals in Afghanistan, and the deployment of mobile surgical teams in Chad and Sudan.
The ICRC stressed the plight of internally displaced people, particularly in Iraq and Sudan but also Chad, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sri Lanka and Yemen.
In total the ICRC said that more than four million displaced people benefited from its activities in 2007. -AFP
