UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday urged the international donor community to keep their pledges to donate over 20 billions US dollars for relief operations and reconstruction in countries hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami.

At a press conference in New York, Annan voiced his concern that governments and international financial institutions might fail to fully actualize their promises to aid survivors from the Dec. 26 tsunami.

"If we go by past history, yes, I do have concerns," he said. "We have lots of pledges ... but it is quite likely that, at the end of the day, we will not receive all of it."

Citing the 2003 earthquake in Iran's Bam region, he noted, "We go lots of pledges, but we did not receive all the money. And we have similar experiences."

On the same occasion, Under-Secretary-General Jan Egeland told reporters that survivors from the Bam earthquake are "frustrated" because they still live in temporary shelters.

But Annan said the international community has shown great determination to help millions of tsunami survivors rebuild their livelihoods and he believed that there will be "a better chance of getting a substantial portion of the pledges and the contributions which have been made."

"But I will not be surprised if we do not get all the money. That's the history we live with," he said.

Annan is to head for the Indonesian capital of Jakarta Monday night, where he will meet regional leaders on the effect of the tsunami disaster and the global relief efforts. He will also attend an international donors conference on Thursday and ask for "few hundred million dollars" to meet immediate needs.

After his stay in Jakarta, Annan will travel on to Indonesian's Aceh province, a region hardest hit by the tsunami disaster, and then Sri Lanka.

Annan hoped that his presence in the region will send a message of determination by the international community "to do whatever it can" to help give the survivors relief and to help them put their lives back together.

He also hoped to send them "a message of hope that they are not alone ... that we are all determined to pool our efforts to improve their situation and get them out of their misery."

According to Egeland, the United Nations will host a meeting of ministers from donor nations in Geneva on Jan. 11 to discuss financial assistance for the long-term rebuilding in the tsunami-ravaged nations.

Source: Xinhua