It is a blueprint of the activities my Office has identified and the funding it expects in order to protect and seek solutions for refugees and other displaced people in 1999. However, I also present the 1999 Global Appeal with great concern. How much of it remains a blueprint or becomes a reality depends on the decisions of most of you here today. In the next year my Office will confront complex challenges as we carry out our mandate. Many problems we addressed in 1998 are ongoing, or have even deteriorated further.
Conflicts continue or have re-ignited in regions such as West Africa, Central Africa, and Kosovo.
Renewed conflicts have often triggered fresh displacement. Fragile peace agreements reached in some conflicts have led to equally fragile conditions for return. Immediate humanitarian assistance is necessary in many situations to which return is taking place. They require urgent assistance to facilitate their repatriation and to ensure that, once back home, conditions do not force them to flee again. Our activities on behalf of returnees in these situations require careful analysis.