The Geneva-based humanitarian agency appealed for a total of 1.05 billion Swiss francs (682 million euros, 802 million dollars) in initial funding from governments for operations in 80 countries next year.

Some 895 million Swiss francs of the total is earmarked for field operations, an increase of 9.2 percent over this year's amount. The rest is used for headquarters management, including tracing missing people.

The ICRC warned in a statement that it faced an increasingly "daunting task" to help civilians whose lives were disrupted by violence.

Seven out of the top 10 situations involved internal conflicts or civil wars, where different sides have since splintered into a host of warring parties that make the task even more difficult for relief workers.

"If you do get access to all the different actors you can't be sure the message goes down all of the chain of command," ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger explained, highlighting the situation in Sudan's western region of Darfur.

"In many contexts it's becoming more and more difficult," he added.

Sudan will remain the largest operation, accounting for 127 million Swiss francs of the total, followed by Pakistan, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The devastating earthquake on October 8 is also forcing a 17-fold boost to operations in Pakistani Kashmir to 91.5 million Swiss francs, as the ICRC expands its aid for people caught up in the regional conflict with India.

Africa is still expected to account for a greater slice of aid than any other continent, 43 percent of the operational budget.

Apart from Sudan, the ICRC said it continued to be gravely concerned about the situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Somalia and northern Uganda.

The biggest cutback involves a one-fifth scaling down in relief aid in Iraq.

Other operations include Afghanistan, the Balkans, central Asia and Myanmar.

2006 will also mark the first full year for the ICRC's new regional delegation in Beijing, which is meant to spearhead operations in North and South Korea, Mongolia, and step up diplomacy in China.

Kellenberger said the agency would be opening a second orthopaedic treatment centre for amputees in North Korea following a request from Pyongyang.

The ICRC would like to do more in the closeted Stalinist state.

"We would like to be much more active in family reunification. I would certainly also like us to be in a position to do detention visits there," Kellenberger told journalists.

Aid can be topped up during the year if new crises occur or existing ones intensify. In 2005 the amount grew by more than 109 million Swiss francs.

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