UK donates 40 mln pounds in Darfur aid

Dec 21, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Britain will donate a further 40 million pounds to aid efforts in Darfur to help the world’s largest aid operation suffering from daily attacks and government restrictions in Sudan’s remote west.

Britain is the second largest donor to Darfur, where almost four years of conflict has forced 2.5 million to flee their homes and killed an estimated 200,000 in violence Washington calls genocide. Khartoum denies genocide.

“As we head towards the new year, it is of critical importance that the international community provides early and adequate finance to sustain the massive humanitarian response needed in Darfur,” said Hilary Benn, Britain’s international development minister, in a statement on Thursday.

This week the United Nations launched an appeal for some $653 million in 2007 to fund emergency aid and development in Africa’s largest country, torn apart by multiple civil wars.

(Reuters)