Aid chief: Rest of world needs help, too:

Aid chief: Rest of world needs help, too

LEYLA LINTON, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNITED NATIONS -- As pledges for the tsunami crisis passed $3 billion, the U.N. humanitarian chief said Wednesday that he feared tens of thousands of people dying of starvation elsewhere in the world would be forgotten.

"I am afraid that we may see now not the same degree of generosity in other parts of the world, and that would be the ultimate irony if money in the end were taken from equally poor and devastated (people)," Jan Egeland said in an interview.

More than 30,000 people around the world die each day from starvation, disease and neglect, he said, adding that since the tsunami struck Dec. 26, about 300,000 people have died in humanitarian emergencies elsewhere.

"Many more have died from lack of assistance in the rest of the world than on tsunami-affected beaches, and this is the perspective we have to bear in mind," he said.

Last year, rich nations gave $5.8 billion to help 100 countries, 20 of which were facing humanitarian emergencies.

"We should realize the money put at the disposal of international assistance last year was too little. There should be more overall money. I try to be a strong advocate for the neglected and the forgotten and I want to continue that and we need to say we have set a standard and we should keep it."

Egeland repeated remarks he made last month -- which irritated President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell -- that wealthy nations do not do enough to help those in need.

"I have called the rich world's response to the poorest of the poor inadequate, and I said 'stingy,' " he said. "It should change. I hope it is going to change."

Egeland has promised to remind people of the pledges they made. "I believe we will need follow-up mechanisms, and I believe there will be follow-up mechanisms."

A little more than a year ago, donors promised Iran more than $1 billion in relief after an earthquake killed 26,000 people there. Iranian officials say only $17.5 million has been sent, and some survivors remain in temporary shelter.

But he welcomed the amounts raised for the tsunami -- so long as they were in addition to what countries had been planning to give to other humanitarian emergencies.

"I do not share the view of those who say, 'This is too much, this is wrong, this is too much good.' I don't agree. I think this is great because this shows how it should be."

And he predicted none of the money would be wasted. "All can and will eventually be used because these are vast areas and vast populations. It sounds like three, four billion dollars is a lot of money but divided amongst 5 million people, it's not much money and it will be spent over a long period of time."