Int'l Red Cross Strapped For Cash

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday that it is facing a 20 percent funding shortfall, with relief operations for victims of conflicts in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Sudan's Darfur region among the worst hit.

The Red Cross said it lacks $103 million of the $627 million it needs for relief programs worldwide. The neutral, Geneva-based agency works in 80 countries, mostly conflict zones.

Such a shortfall is not unusual for many aid agencies, which often solve money problems by launching renewed funding appeals in the fall.

Aid groups often chastise donor governments for tardy giving when it comes to so-called "forgotten crises" — such as those facing Uganda or Somalia — and for focusing on headline-grabbing emergencies.

But the current gap at the Red Cross is particularly worrying because much of it affects high-profile conflict zones, said spokeswoman Antonella Notari.

The Red Cross is $15.6 million short of the $61 million it needs in Darfur — dubbed the world's worst humanitarian crisis by the United Nations and many aid groups. About 1.2 million people in Darfur have fled their villages because of attacks blamed on government-backed militias.

The Red Cross also is one of the few aid groups working throughout Russia's northern Caucasus region, where a conflict centers on the breakaway republic of Chechnya. It has collected less than half the $28 million it appealed for to help people there.

In Afghanistan, Colombia and Palestinian areas, the organization has received only around one-third of the money it needs.

Humanitarian aid does more than deal with the immediate consequences of a crisis, Notari said. "It can also help bring peace," she told The Associated Press.

The largest Red Cross donors are the United States, the European Union and individual EU government — notable Britain — as well as Canada and Japan.