EU provides EUR 165M for humanitarian crises in Africa

Dec 26, 2005 (BRUSSELS) — The European Union Monday earmarked EUR165 million ($195 million) for 10 crisis centers in Africa, saying droughts, floods and armed conflict ravage the continent like “silent tsunamis.”

Sudan is the biggest beneficiary and will receive EUR48 million, while Congo has been allocated EUR38 million. Burundi, Chad, Liberia, Tanzania and Uganda will each receive over EUR10 million in aid.

“We remember the victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia. But millions of vulnerable people in Africa are exposed to natural disasters like droughts, floods and insect infestations, as well as armed conflicts,” said E.U. Development Commissioner Louis Michel. “These are silent tsunamis.”

In Sudan’s western Darfur region, at least 180,000 people have died and 2 million have been displaced during two years of fighting, which began when rebels took up arms against what they saw as years of state neglect and discrimination against Sudanese of African origin.

The government is accused of responding with a counterinsurgency campaign in which the ethnic Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, committed wide-scale abuses against ethnic Africans.

The E.U. Commission said Sudan currently hosts the largest population of internally displaced people. It said the main purpose of the aid was to stabilize living conditions for those affected by war, poverty and drought.

The fighting in Congo drew in armies from six neighboring nations and, according to aid groups, left nearly 4 million people dead, mostly through starvation and disease. The United Nations, with over 15,000 peacekeepers in the country, is guarding a shaky calm.

The E.U. Commission said the population continued to suffer despite the political progress

(AP)