Sudan has only fraction of pledged aid-diplomat

Dec 5, 2005 (ADDIS ABABA) — Sudan has received only a fraction of the $4.5 billion in aid pledged by international donors for post-war reconstruction for the south, a Sudanese diplomat said on Monday.

Taib Ali Ahmed, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference on aid held in Ethiopia, said only $130 million had been transferred and he urged the foreign community to honor the full pledge.

“So far the government of Sudan has received only $130 million out of the pledge of $4.5 billion for the 2005-07 first phase,” said Ahmed, referring to a so-called first phase of post conflict development in southern Sudan in 2005/07.

“This is too little to bring comprehensive development to war-wrecked south Sudan. We hope the international community will honor its pledges and speed up assistance,” said Ahmed, a senior Sudanese envoy in Ethiopia.

Sudan is expected to raise an additional $5.3 billion from internal sources to rebuild southern Sudan, according to a document circulated at the conference of 53 member states of the African Union (AU).

Conference sources said the two-day meeting would develop a strategy to guide AU member states’ contributions towards south Sudan’s post-conflict reconstruction.

A peace agreement signed in January ended a 21-year civil war pitting mainly black animist and Christian southerners seeking greater autonomy against the Arab-dominated Muslim government of the north.

The conflict, in which an estimated two million people were killed, largely through fighting and war-induced famine, was complicated by competition for oil and other resources.

(Reuters)