Netherlands pledges 3.5 million euros for post-war Sudan

KHARTOUM, Nov 12 (AFP) — The Netherlands has offered Sudan 3.5 million euros (four million dollars) in aid for the first six months after Khartoum and the rebel forces sign a final peace agreement, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

Visiting Dutch International Development Cooperation Minister Agnes van Ardenne said in an interview with the Khartoum Monitor daily that the sum of money would go toward health and other services.

During negotiations in Kenya over the last 15 months, the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) have made dramatic progress toward ending their 20-year civil war.

Washington expects a final peace deal to be signed in December.

The Dutch minister also told the English-language newspaper that her government had already given the Kenyan-based mediators two million euros to help with logistics and organization of the Sudanese peace process.

She also said the Netherlands offered 1.2 million euros (1.4 million dollars) in humanitarian assistance for Sudan’s western Darfur region, where rebels are demanding an end to economic marginalization by Khartoum.

UN officials said the money offered for Darfur is in response to a UN drive launched in late September aimed at raising 23 million dollars for the region.

So far, UN officials said, the United Kingdom has pledged 1.6 million dollars, while Norway has promised 400,000 dollars.

UN officials say some 3,000 people have died and 400,000 others have been displaced in the conflict in Darfur which erupted in February.

At Kenanah in central Sudan on the White Nile, the Dutch minister Tuesday inaugurated a dairy plant as a joint venture by a Dutch company, Kenanah Sugar Company and the Sudanese French Bank, Al Ayam daily reported Wednesday.