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Emergency assistance to the Sudan

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolutions 35/56 of 5 December 1980, the annex to which contains the International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade, and 42/169 of 11 December 1987 on an international decade for natural disaster reduction,

Recalling further the Substantial New Programme of Action for the 1980s for the Least Developed Countries, in particular the section concerning disaster assistance for least developed countries,

Deeply concerned by the extensive and unprecedented damage and devastation in the Sudan caused by torrential rain and floods in August 1988,

Extremely concerned about the destruction of hundreds of thousands of buildings and dwellings and by the fact that large sectors of the nation's infrastructure have been completely disrupted, in particular, roads, railway lines, water supplies, electricity supplies, hospitals and health centres, schools and other public utilities and communication systems,

Considering that over 120,000 hectares of cultivated land and over 7,000 small farmers' schemes were inundated, and about 600 villages and islands have completely disappeared and thereby over 1.5 million persons were left without shelter or food,

Fully cognizant of the economic difficulties already faced by the Sudan, particularly resulting from its high level of indebtedness and compounded further by a massive influx of refugees and 2 million displaced persons,

Recognizing that the Sudan has shouldered the major part of the burden in dealing with the disasters, but that, the magnitude of devastation and damage is far beyond the means and abilities of the Sudan alone to rectify,

Reaffirming the need for the international community to respond fully to requests for emergency humanitarian assistance as well as rehabilitation and reconstruction of a least developed country, facing grave and compounded disaster situations,

Noting with appreciation the response to date of various countries and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in emergency relief operations,

Noting that the Secretary-General has sent an inter-agency mission to the Sudan to assess emergency conditions and that a United Nations Development Programme/World Bank multi-donor flood recovery programme mission is currently in the Sudan, at the request of its Government, to assess the impact of floods and to prepare a two-year reconstruction programme,

1.         Expresses its solidarity with the Government and people of the Sudan in facing the complex disaster situations;

2.         Expresses its gratitude to the States and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations that rendered support and assistance to the Government of the Sudan in its relief and rehabilitation efforts;

3.         Expresses its appreciation to the Secretary-General for the steps he has taken to co-ordinate and mobilize relief and rehabilitation efforts;

4.         Calls upon all States to contribute generously and respond urgently and effectively to the needs of relief operations, rehabilitation and reconstruction;

5.         Requests the Secretary-General, in close co-operation with the Government of the Sudan, to co-ordinate efforts of the United Nations system to help the Sudan in its emergency, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts, to mobilize resources for the implementation of those programmes and to keep the international community informed of those needs;

6.         Also requests the Secretary-General to apprise the Economic and Social Council at its first regular session of 1989 of his efforts and to report to the General Assembly at its forty-fourth session on the implementation of the present resolution.