The UN refugee agency UNHCR launched an appeal Tuesday for 90 million dollars to assist millions of internally displaced people (IDPs) in six African countries and Colombia in 2008, reported dpa. The organization, set up principally to help refugees forced from their country, was increasingly coming to the assistance of IDPs, displaced within their own territory. Spokesman Ron Redmond said out of an estimated 24.5 million IDPs, UNHCR helped 12.8 million in 2006 and into 2007 in 25 operations including most recently in Kenya, compared with 9.9 million refugees as at the end of last year. The money was intended for DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), Chad, Uganda, CAR (Central African Republic), Liberia and Cote D'Ivoire as well as Colombia. The agency shares IDP work with other international organizations. The bulk of its appeal, 23.5 million dollars, was destined for DRC where UNHCR intended to help 200,000 of the 1.3 million IDPs. In Colombia, the agency planned to spend 18.7 million dollars to help 470,000 of the 3 million people displaced by decades of internal conflict. In Uganda, peace talks had raised hopes of a return home of some 500,000 IDPs out of 1.3 million uprooted in 20 years of fighting.
