year life of the $64 billion oil-for-food program. But Kennedy dismissed concerns that donors might be worried about possible corruption in the tsunami aid program, noting that more than $2 billion in donations poured into U.N. coffers last year in response to various humanitarian appeals. "If there were real concerns on the humanitarian side about how monies were received and expended, I don't think we would have received over $2 billion," he told reporters. "We are reasonably confident with the procedures we have in place. However this will certainly enhance our ability to track money and make sure it is used wisely" Some $4 billion has been pledged to date for tsunami aid by governments, international agencies and private relief groups. But not all that money is tracked by the United Nations, Kennedy said. Donors, for example, funnel some funds directly to affected countries. While the relief effort continued to make "great strides," he acknowledged it had not yet met the urgent needs of many victims. The death toll from the disaster had already surpassed, 156,000 and eventually could go as high as 200,000, "but this will be seen in the coming days," he said. --SP 2349 Local Time 2049 GMT
