UN relief efforts for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kachin State are suffering from a major funding shortfall, according to a UN bulletin and a Democratic Voice of Burma report. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said last week that the UN has raised only US$14.6 million out of the $50.9 million needed to implement its emergency response plan, which would help about 87,000 IDPs affected by the Kachin conflict in northern Burma. Eri Kaneko, spokesperson for UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon, told DVB that the UN Central Emergency Response Fund provided $3 million last week to buffer “the serious funding shortfall.”