Presenting its annual report for 2008, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the global economic crisis and worsening humanitarian situation in some parts of the world had put more people in need and overstretched the group's budget.

"Millions of people affected by armed conflict have become more vulnerable because of the combined effects of war, natural disasters and continued high food prices," ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger told a news conference.

He named Somalia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo as examples of particularly hard-hit countries.

Red Cross worried about remittances drying up

The economic crisis has dented international relief efforts, Kellenberger said. He warned that the impact of the global recession on the world's most vulnerable people would be severe and that remittances sent home by migrant workers from poor countries could dry up.

Aid agencies estimate that these remittances account for more than the total annual spending by governments in poor nations on development assistance.

"The effect of the economic downturn on the level of remittances upon which the weakest very often depend in conflict areas like Afghanistan and others is something we have to observe very closely," he said.

The Geneva-based humanitarian organization spent a whopping $1 billion in 2008 on aid programs in 49 countries. The group expects this year's budget to exceed that amount.

Sudan, Somalia top aid list

Sudan was its biggest operation last year, accounting for $102 million in spending.

The ICRC is one of the few international groups operating in Sudan's Darfur region where famine, disease and ethnic conflict have displaced more than 2.7 million people and killed up to 300,000.

Somalia made up the Red Cross' second largest aid operation last year, followed by Iraq and Afghanistan.

Kellenberger said another reason for the group's record expenditure was the ICRC's success in gaining access to conflict zones that other aid agencies have difficulty operating in - Iraq, Somalia and Georgia, for example.

According to the report, Red Cross hospitals treated almost 3.5 million victims of war last year. ICRC delegates visited half a million prisoners of war and detainees in 83 countries.

Despite those high numbers, Kellenberger said Red Cross Workers were still being denied access to detainees and political prisoners in Somalia and Ethiopia.

Kellenberger said the ICRC was also still seeking access to all relief camps for displaced people and detainees in northeast Sri Lanka. He warned that humanitarian needs there were not being met.

sp/dpa/afp/reuters

Editor: Susan Houlton