EU to give 50 mln euros to African Union for Darfur

Mar 29, 2006 (BRUSSELS) — The European Union has set aside 50 million euros ($60 million) for the African Union to help it finance a six-month extension of its mission to halt violence in Darfur, EU diplomats said on Wednesday.

Under pressure from Sudan, the African Union voted this month to extend its mission in Darfur through Sept. 30, while affirming its readiness to eventually hand off to a United Nations force, which the EU and the United States pushed for.

The AU’s 7,000 poorly equipped troops in Sudan’s western province of Darfur have been unable to stop violence in which tens of thousands of people have died and 2 million have fled their homes in the last three years.

Ambassadors from the 25-member EU bloc gave a green light on Tuesday to the European Commission to prepare 50 million euros in aid, EU diplomats said.

This sum would be the EU executive’s contribution at an international pledging conference set for the end of April or May, an EU executive official said.

It would be enough to fund the AU for only two and a half to three months, the official added.

The AU says it costs around $24 million a month to run its mission, for which it relies on donor nations.

The EU executive has given 162 million euros to the AU for its Darfur mission.

Sudan continues to lobby against UN involvement. It convinced countries at an Arab League summit in Khartoum this week to promise cash for the AU’s mission to continue after the six-month extension.

The Arab offer to fund African Union forces in Sudan’s Darfur region from October is too late as troops need immediate cash to help stop escalating violence there, an AU official said on Wednesday.

“This is medicine after death,” said Baba Gana Kingibe, the head of the AU mission in Sudan. “We need the assistance now in order to be able to resolve the crisis.”

(Reuters)